Melvin van der Veen
Water • Climate adaptation • Alternatives • Negotiated Approach
I first learnt about the work of Both ENDS' partners during my field work in the Argentinean Paraná Delta. One year later, during my internship at Both ENDS I participated in a partner meeting for the Ecosystem Alliance in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland. These experiences have in common that I was inspired by the passion, courage, spirit and creativity our partners show when fighting for sustainable and inclusive water management.
In my work for Both ENDS, I support groups in the Global South to make their efforts possible. Sometimes, this means ensuring that partners can protest effectively and safely, for example against large-scale infrastructure threatening their living environment and nature. At the same time, by using the Negotiated Approach I would like to work with partners on solutions for sustainable water management and climate adaptation, which can prevent eventual conflicts by ensuring participation and ownership of all water users.
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Alternative
A Negotiated Approach for Inclusive Water Governance
A Negotiated Approach envisages the meaningful and long-term participation of communities in all aspects of managing the water and other natural resources on which their lives depend. It seeks to achieve healthy ecosystems and equitable sharing of benefits among all stakeholders within a river basin.
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News / 22 March 2021
The importance of a gender perspective in Dutch water policies
An increasing number of stakeholders in the Dutch water sector are acknowledging the importance of an inclusive approach to climate adaptation. However, where our knowledge institutes and companies are involved in delta plans and master plans, as in Bangladesh and the Philippines, this approach is proving difficult to apply in practice. Taking local realities, vulnerabilities and inequalities – such as those between men and women – as a starting point is essential for good plans that give everyone the opportunity to adapt to climate change.
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External link / 19 June 2020
Community-based governance for free-flowing tidal rivers (Annual Report 2019)
Tidal River Management (TRM) is based on age-old community practices. In 2019, Uttaran helped ensure that TRM was seen by policymakers as a solution to waterlogging in the delta of Bangladesh, and that the voices of women and youth were being taken into account.
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Video / 8 November 2019
Athi River Community Network
The Athi River Community Network is made up of communities who live along the Athi River watershed. Members of the Athi River Community Network promised to join forces with the Friends of Ondiri Wetland to ensure that this critical wetland is restored and conserved for the sake of current and future generations.
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News / 4 July 2019
Bangladesh: Involving communities for free rivers
Tidal rivers in the southwest coastal area of Bangladesh have been dying since flood plains were replaced by Dutch-style polders in the 70s. Rivers are silted up, and during monsoon season water gets trapped within embankments. Every year, this situation of waterlogging inflicts adverse consequences particularly on women, as they take care of the household in waterlogged conditions in the absence of men who travel to the city in search of temporary work. NGO Uttaran is advocating for a change in policy and practice.
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News / 3 July 2019
Kenya: Community Network for a healthy Athi river
Through pollution and water scarcity, communities along the Kenyan Athi River have learnt the hard way that upstream and downstream communities are inevitably connected. In response to indiscriminate impacts on the environment and people's livelihoods, civil society organisations within the Athi River Basin formed the Athi River Community Network (ARCN).
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News / 2 July 2019
Indonesia: Women’s Right to Water
The water quality of East Java's largest river, the Brantas River, is increasingly deteriorating due to a combination of industrial and household waste. This environmental pollution has a disproportionate impact on women. Yet, their participation in decision-making remains lacking. ECOTON is working to improve the situation.