Dutch Minister Launches International Delta Coalition

Melanie Schultz van Haegen, Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment, officially kicked off the International Delta Coalition today.

The governments of the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, France, Myanmar, Indonesia, Japan, Mozambique, the Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam are joining forces to prevent floods and render urban deltas resilient against climate change.

The Delta Coalition was launched during the Adaptation Futures climate conference in Rotterdam, the first major adaptation conference since the Paris Climate Agreement and the largest ever organized around this topic.

Some 1700 delegates from over 100 countries are gathered in Rotterdam to work on the essential worldwide adaptation to climate change.

As EU President, the Netherlands is hosting the conference on 10, 11 and 12 May.

The Delta Coalition is focused on three goals:

  • the flood risks facing urban deltas must be placed on the agenda everywhere. By climbing on stage themselves, the delta countries hope to garner wide international support and gain access to investments by multilateral (climate adaptation) funds;
  • by sharing know-how, experience, and best practices, protection is raised to a higher level in all the countries concerned. Knowledge institutes such as the Delta Alliance will be joining forces to develop a good delta expertise infrastructure;
  • countries will be working together on achieving national and international goals. A fine example is the ongoing collaboration between Indonesia, Korea and the Netherlands to tackle flood issues in Jakarta. In addition, countries will be working together in the existing (as yet Dutch) Disaster Risk Reduction Teams.