NARBO
Report of the 3rd meeting of the High-level Expert
and Leaders panel on Water and Disasters (HELP)
(27th-28th May, 2014, Rotterdam, the Netherlands)
Outline of the 3rd HELP meeting
The Third Meeting of the High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) was held on 27th May, 2014 at the Stadhuis in Rotterdam, hosted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment of the Netherlands. More than 40 participants from HELP member organizations representing national governments, international organizations, civil society and private sector joined the meeting. The meeting was chaired by HELP’s Vice-Chair, H.E. Ms. Melanie Schultz van Haegen and discussed 1) Membership of HELP, 2) HELP’s Action Strategy and 3) Special Edition of Water Policy to be launched at 7th World Water Forum. HELP members visited the Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier, one of the Delta Programs and the Noordwaard polder to see the situation of the river works of the Netherlands.
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Photo of the 3rd HELP on 27th May, 2014
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NARBO’s Contribution
Dr. Keizrul bin Abdlluah, Chairperson of NARBO is one of the members of the HELP. He attended the 3rd meeting and contributed to the discussion. Especially, at the session of the publication, NARBO made the presentation on its contribution to the publication and committed to offer case studies on water and disasters in Asia such as the Thailand flood in 2011, Super typhoon Haiyan ‘Yolanda’ and the SMART tunnel in Malaysia. Dr. Keizrul stressed that the publication should contain clear messages to decision makers, and indicators for measuring the progress of water-related disaster management. He also stressed that after publication it was important to promote and support the implementation of the messages highlighted in the publication. NARBO’s proposals and recommendations were welcomed and incorporated into the future activities of HELP.
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Photo of the 3rd HELP on 28th May, 2014 (Field Visit) |
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Result & Way Forward
The meeting was a very useful opportunity to discuss the draft policy and contents of the publications which would be launched at the 7th World Water Forum in April, 2015. In the next HELP meeting, we will discuss the details of the case studies as well as the key messages to be delivered by the publication. It will be held in the 4th quarter of 2014 in the United States hosted by the US Army Corps of Engineers. NARBO committed to develop the publication by offering case studies of NARBO member countries as a representative of Asia. Therefore, NARBO secretariat will ask member organizations to offer notable case studies on water and disasters soon. Proactive contributions from member organization will be much appreciated.