Six teams selected to develop groundbreaking urban water projects in Asia

*Water as Leverage enters the next phase: Six international teams of water and climate experts, engineers, scientists, architects and urban planners have been selected to develop groundbreaking, innovative approaches to tackle the immense climate and water challenges in three cities in Asia: Semarang (Indonesia), Khulna (Bangladesh) and Chennai (India). *

The first phase of Water as Leverage was set up by the Dutch government in collaboration with a dedicated group of partners from governments, NGO’s, financial institutions, investors and community stakeholders. The teams (two per city) will receive a €200,000 contract that will allow them over the course of the next nine months to analyse and explore the challenges in the cities, connect with local stakeholders, build partnerships and participate in an incremental learning process and develop conceptual designs and proposals for groundbreaking innovative urban climate and water projects of their cities. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Dutch development bank (FMO) will help to identify projects, support their development and facilitate their implementation.

Water as Leverage The program is an initiative of the Dutch Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, Henk Ovink: ‘Water represents the most challenging and complex risk faced by humankind. Floods and droughts, pollution and water conflicts combined with a growing demand for food and energy, rapid urbanisation, migration pressures, and climate change are potentially catastrophic. Yet, the connecting and interdependent strength of water across economic, environmental, social and cultural dynamics provides us with an opportunity that cannot be ignored: water can also be the leverage for impactful and catalytic change, if only we understand its complexity, value water comprehensively and manage it transparent and inclusive. Water as Leverage is aimed at exploiting this opportunity to catalyse change and with meaningful and impactful interventions, projects and an approach we must scale up and replicate across the region and the world’.

The teams The six teams each have their different perspectives on the urban climate and water challenges. And the three cities represent a wide range of the global climate challenges. Regional and local approaches will be matched and merged with in-depth research, capacity building and planning. Plans and projects on all scales to be developed in an inclusive approach of coalition building, learning and listening. Focusing on the coast, the upstream river basins, the river-sheds, the massive urbanization speed and complexity and the increasing challenges of climate change each time will bring to their city different talents and their specific approach.

Developing opportunities With the Water as Leverage partners in the region and from the Netherlands, the teams and the cities embark on a nine month collaboration. It starts with research on the ground, building partnerships and rapidly gaining understanding of the complexity of the challenge and the way these teams can develop opportunities. Planning and design through local coalitions and with international talent. After the research phase the teams will present their first ideas to be selected and developed into bankable projects. Projects that are both implementable as well as transformative. The need to identify those interventions that tackle future challenges, merge different demands and help catalyse the needed change is at the core of Water as Leverage. Replicating our past mistakes won’t get us to a sustainable world. Identifying the interventions that matter, that help deliver on the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement and build more resilient cities is key. Only then can we scale the up as leverages for bigger impact.