The programme

Background
In 1993 and 1995,the rising waters of the rivers Meuse and Rhine had a major impact on the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people living along their banks. Roads and neighbourhoods in such towns as Koblenz (Germany) and Roermond (Netherlands) were flooded. A quarter of a million people in the east of the Netherlands were evacuated when the dikes threatened to burst. The damage caused by the flooding and state of emergency ran to billions of euros. In 2002, history repeated itself, but not along the banks of the Meuse and the Rhine; this time it was the rivers Elbe and Danube that caused enormous damage and resulted in losses running to more than ten billion euros. In Poland, the Oder flooded its banks and claimed dozens of lives. More lives were lost to floods in south-eastern France. In that sense, the Meuse and the Rhine had sent out a clear signal that something was wrong, not only in their own catchment areas but with the state of water management in general. What could be the problem?

The population of the European Union has increased considerably since 1950,and so has the general level of prosperity. The rising number of inhabitants with their ever-growing needs have made demands on space. Woods and open landscape have given way to housing, industrial estates and roads. Extensive forms of agriculture and small-scale farms have been replaced by intensive farming and large agricultural enterprises with highly controlled water management systems. Meandering streams have been straightened, and new canals and ditches have been dug. Towns situated along rivers have expanded on to the banks under the assumption that the water was under control. Many people considered water management a purely technical affair. With all our dikes, dams, pumping stations, drainage ditches and pumps, the water would do just what we wanted it to. That was the general idea, at least. As far back as 1970,however, the Club of Rome and other authorities began to warn of the consequences if we continued squeezing water into smaller and smaller spaces. The impact on flora and fauna, they said, would be disastrous and our growing dependence on technical systems meant that safety was illusory. The earth's climate is changing rapidly.

The earth is undeniably growing warmer, and human beings are partly to blame, for example because of carbon dioxide emissions. After years of intensive study and fierce debate, scientists finally reached agreement on this point at a conference in Shanghai in early 2001.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assumes that we will see an average temperature rise in the 21st century of 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius. Based on this assumption, the sea is expected to rise by 9 cm to 88 cm by the year 2100.The precipitation pattern will also change. Humid areas will generally become more humid, and arid areas more arid. The amount of precipitation will also fluctuate more sharply. For the Member States in the catchment areas of the Meuse and Rhine, this means a greater risk of flooding and extremely low rivers during dry periods. For the delta in the western part of the Netherlands in particular, the rising sea level will make it harder for the rivers to drain into the North Sea.

The programme