{"id":2253,"date":"2018-02-07T17:44:22","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T17:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sourcingmatters.show\/?p=2253"},"modified":"2021-12-22T23:04:38","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T23:04:38","slug":"episode-4-henk-ovink-world-water-czar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/2018\/02\/07\/episode-4-henk-ovink-world-water-czar\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode 4:  Henk Ovink &#8211; World Water Czar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>episode 4:<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Henk Ovink &#8211; Special Envoy International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands<\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2468 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Henk-Ovink5.crop_-1024x541.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Henk-Ovink5.crop_-1024x541.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Henk-Ovink5.crop_-300x159.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Henk-Ovink5.crop_-768x406.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Henk-Ovink5.crop_-500x264.jpg 500w, https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Henk-Ovink5.crop_-1140x602.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Henk-Ovink5.crop_-908x480.jpg 908w, https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Henk-Ovink5.crop_.jpg 1217w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Sourcing Matters episode 4 we welcome World Water Czar, Henk Ovink. \u00a0Appointed by President Obama to become the special envoy to Water for the United States, Ovink was responsible for launching the HUD and Rockefeller funded program &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rebuildbydesign.org\/\">Rebuild by Design<\/a>&#8221; &#8211; a crowdsourcing initiative which pooled top ideas of the best designers &amp; planners throughout the World to rebuild New York City after Super Storm Sandy.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>QUICK GUIDE &#8211;<\/strong><em>\u00a0this episode covers the following subjects:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>water is the essence of life &#8211; let&#8217;s learn from it<\/li>\n<li>to sustain a stable future we must &#8220;embrace&#8221; and not fight water<\/li>\n<li>contamination and scarcity of drinking water are problems of today<\/li>\n<li>how to keep freshwater in, and saltwater out<\/li>\n<li>proven solutions for climate change, sea level rise, floods, drought, famine<\/li>\n<li>creation of design competitions pooling the best minds in building resilience<\/li>\n<li>lessons from Super Storm Sandy clean-up are now changing the world<\/li>\n<li>water is leverage to change mind-sets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Sourcing Matters.show episode 4 recap:<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">90% of natural disasters in the world are water related. Currently, 2 Billion people around the globe drink contaminated water regularly, and there are 5,000 deaths a day related to poor water quality happening in Africa alone. \u00a0As you\u2019ll learn in this podcast discussion &#8211; we\u2019ve pushed off the inevitable long enough. The longterm war may be about climate change, but as we speak there are thousands of concurrent battles focused on water.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2256 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/henk-ovink.sub_.1-271x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"271\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/henk-ovink.sub_.1-271x300.jpg 271w, https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/henk-ovink.sub_.1.jpg 424w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 271px) 100vw, 271px\" \/>In our 35 minute conversation with World Water Czar Henk Ovink we learn about the many intensifying issues that need to be addressed with fresh and sea water. \u00a0More importantly, we learn not just of the problems but of the solutions found today that will scale to build resilience and stability by \u201cembracing\u201d our realities of water. \u00a0From Climate and water refugees in the developing world, and Social &amp; Political unrest in the developed &#8211; our actions have forced this staple of life to wage war on a new world order that will inevitably disrupt a shrinking world of 7 Billion. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Ovink has come to realize over decades of his work &#8211; water is leverage. \u00a0And, to properly enact change with this leverage point we need to promote the solutions to these problems first. \u00a0Ovink explains <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMankind needs disasters to Learn\u201d. \u00a0<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With 80% of the globes population expected to migrate to city densities, most often coastal cities, as more severe weather events and rising waters over the next few decades impact more &#8211; we must embrace these realities with a proactive approach. \u00a0\u00a0If not, what will be the impact on global economies? \u00a0On human &amp; Public health? \u00a0On environmental stability? \u00a0Henk shares how his initiatives to invest in system resilience have spurred change into action.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>\u201cClimate change is like a magnifying glass. \u00a0The extremes become more extreme, while becoming a new normal. \u00a0Flood, drought, raising temperatures, severe weather\u00a0events, \u00a0and sea level rise are the ways of the future.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Henk concisely describes it &#8211; resiliency is the ability to bounce-back. \u00a0With the future being a little more grim than the present we must now embrace these intensifying natural disasters to adopt change in practice and mind-sets. \u00a0It\u2019s too expensive to wait. \u00a0By engaging diverse stakeholders, Ovink has developed an arsenal of solutions that will those who use them to withstand the next storm, the next disaster, and most importantly, withstand fear and uncertainty.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chat begins with discussion of \u201cDay Zero\u201d quickly approaching in Cape Town, South Africa. \u00a0A city of 3.8 million is down to 10% of water reserves. \u00a0Even with rationing water &#8211; they&#8217;re set to run out by April 12th. \u00a0As Ovink explains &#8211; this is not unique to much of the world. \u00a0But, in a vibrant metropolitan city full of culture and innovation &#8211; it&#8217;s a bit shocking we&#8217;ve ended up here. \u00a0What&#8217;s really interesting is the reason why this is so shocking. Henk explains that we saw this coming. \u00a0With Cape Town&#8217;s high consumption and no broad reaching policy nor plan to restrict or reuse water the supply is running dry &#8211; leaving leadership and constituents to pray for rain. \u00a0From Bangkok &#8211; to &#8211; New Delhi &#8211; to &#8211; Los Angeles, this is a situation to to learn from.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4000 years of being forced innovators has uniquely suited the Dutch to educate the world on keeping freshwater in and seawater out. \u00a0In the podcast discussion Henk Ovink explains \u201cWater is culture in the Netherlands\u201d. \u00a0You see, the country is a delta, with 90% of GDP earned in flood prone areas. \u00a0Since the 12th century the Dutch have been orchestrating community efforts with shared common interests and goals focused on water. \u00a0Taxes taken to safeguard a democracy via the conduit of water is actually a 900 year old Dutch innovation. \u00a0Ovink goes on, \u201cwater has always been about connections for the Dutch people\u201d. \u00a0Now, 21 regional authorities constructed around their river basins and shared natural resources have arisen to shepherd the Netherlands into the future. \u00a0Furthermore, this practice of collaboration around common interest has built intellectual property and scalable technologies that cast a large shadow for this small country of 17 million on a global stage. The Dutch are once again becoming superpowers in a World where business-as-usual that exercises water resources based on linear perspective fraught with waste and overuse\u00a0just won\u2019t cut it anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a member of the International Advisory Board for the City of Rotterdam, the Curator for the Rotterdam 2012 \u2018Making a City\u2019, and he initiated the research program <em>Design and Politics<\/em> &#8211; Ovink has long since been interested in innovating when it comes to water. Smart design practices that utilized basketball courts and sports fields at schools like French-drains to protect infrastructure and physical assets is in his blood, and is so very Dutch. \u00a0Canals, dikes, windmills and levees all used to protect prime agricultural lands around the reclaimed deltas have unpinned Henk&#8217;s focus on \u201cembracing&#8221; water.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to Water usage in food and agriculture &#8211; there is a great deal of opportunity for innovation. \u00a0Currently, 70% of accessible freshwater throughout the global is used for agricultural irrigation. \u00a0Henk explains that 71% of the planet is covered in water. \u00a0But, 4% is sweet water, and only \u00bd % of that is available for our consumption. \u00a0Fresh water is scarce, and since we don\u2019t value water as we should &#8211; our process for growing food with agriculture is concerning in a world running up against planetary boundaries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Henk works throughout the world developing capacity for farmers through deeper education and better technologies. \u00a0From smarter planning, better mapping tech, and robust data analysis to reduce usage and present smarter planting criteria &#8211; his work with freshwater usage in raising our food is equally as important as his work in preventing \u00a0the catastrophes associated to sea level rise, storm surge and severe weather events. \u00a0In our chat Henk describes the practices he uses to reduce leakage in infrastructure, in promoting better practice that will reduce chemical run-off where water becomes the conduit of contamination and extensive unintended consequences of externalities. \u00a0As you\u2019ll hear, he also works to advance more efficient practices in irrigation &#8211; like their \u201cdrop per crop\u201d approach which promotes drip irrigation vs. traditional center-pivot.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2012 Henk Ovink was appointed by President Obama and the Secretary of HUD, Shaun Donovan, to become the special envoy of Water to the US. \u00a0He was directly responsible for launching the HUD &amp; Rockefeller funded program <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rebuildbydesign.org\/\">Rebuild by Design<\/a>\u00a0&#8211; a global crowdsourcing initiative of top designers and planners to pool the best ideas which would rebuild NYC using federal resources after Super Storm Sandy. \u00a0The program was such a success it reformulated the approach the US government used for federal payouts on Natural disasters &#8211; and thus required a new cornerstone of &#8220;resilience&#8221; built into infrastructure re-builds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Ovink describes it, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rebuild by <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Design<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at its core was to establish capacity through a coalition of public and private stakeholders via an initiatives focused on solutions with common goals. \u00a0This is part of an inspirational future that Henk Ovink weaves for us all. Now, a new competition has launched in the Bay Area of California: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.resilientbayarea.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Resilient by Design<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u00a0What&#8217;s different with this latest rev as compared to cleaning up after Super Storm Sandy, this new competition is working proactively; to strategically look at a shared future with common goals before a natural disaster hits. \u00a0That is a fundamental &#8220;change&#8221; disruptive to mankind. \u00a0\u00a0As Ovink states &#8211; it\u2019s innovation that is now the new normal. \u00a0And, as Ovink would tell you, that is fundamentally Dutch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Currently, Henk Ovink travels the Globe armed with a tool chest of hope and potential. \u00a0He&#8217;s unique. \u00a0 He comes in tow with a track record and clout to deliver on his promises. \u00a0His most recent project hits us all where it counts &#8211; now using water as leverage to change culture, society, politics and economies through both reactionary and proactive methods: \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.WaterasLeveage.org\">WaterasLeveage.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>episode 4: Henk Ovink &#8211; Special Envoy International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands . . On Sourcing Matters episode 4 we welcome World Water Czar, Henk Ovink. \u00a0Appointed by President Obama to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,29,3,37,38,7,40,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-circular-economy","category-climate","category-featured","category-ocean_fisheries","category-ocean","category-podcast","category-renee-vassilos","category-sourcing-matters","post_format-post-format-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2253"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5364,"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253\/revisions\/5364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcingmatters.show\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}