The Department of Water Resources of Thailand and IHE Delft have intensified their collaboration. Under the framework of the Thai-Netherlands Development Cooperation, the Department of Water Resources (DWR), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, and IHE Delft discussed future collaboration in a meeting chaired by Mr. Bhadol Thavornkitcharat, Director General of Water Resources at the beginning of February.
Participants in the meeting were Mr. Nirut Koonphol, Bureau of International Cooperation of DWR, Ms. Pantipa Sutdhapanya, Senior Economic Officer of the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Thailand, and Prof. Chris Zevenbergen of IHE Delft, as well as other DWR officers. Preceeding this meeting, Prof. Chris Zevenbergen gave a lecture to the DWR officers on the Dutch experience with the Room for the River programme.
Flood plain
DWR is currently leading a large ecosystem-based “Room for the River” programme in river basins in Thailand. The collaboration with IHE Delft will be focused on capacity development of DWR officers in water engineering, urban flood risk management, disaster management and water governance. DWR is particularly interested in nature-based solutions: lessons learned from international and Dutch projects with emerging concepts such as the Room for the River concept and water sensitive urban design.
