EDITORIAL
Care for the environment remains one of the most urgent issues of our times. And it cannot be said often enough: Environmental preservation and remediation is a top priority for the dredging industry as well. For those of us in the dredging industry, that is a given. But for those outside of the industry – for stakeholders, port authorities and government officials – the connection between dredging and the environment is not always so obvious.

To demonstrate the numerous ways that dredging supports sound environmental policies, IADC often joins forces with other organisations which share its concerns. Recently, in December 2011, at the request of the National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC), the CEDA-IADC Environmental Aspects of Dredging Training Course was successfully presented at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi. This course will again be offered at the PAO-Delft (Postgraduate Academic Programme, Delft University of Technology) at the end of April (see page 34).

Other support can be seen in the presentation of the IADC Award to the Best Paper by a Young Author at selected conferences. In this issue of Terra et Aqua, the Award presented at CEDA Dredging Days in November is published. The article focuses on the threat to flora and fauna which provide coastal protection, as tidal flats worldwide decrease as a result of sea level rise, subsidence by gas extraction and erosion initiated by human interventions such as construction projects. It describes the lessons learnt from a pilot nourishment executed at the Galgeplaat tidal flat in 2008 (Eastern Scheldt, The Netherlands) which is part of the “Building with Nature” programme, a joint project of dredging companies, research institutes and the Netherlands government.

Another project with a vital environmental component is that of the port expansion project in the Voh region of New Caledonia, an area that needs dredging for economic development and yet is guardian of an incredibly unique UNESCO World Heritage site. The remarkable efforts of the dredging company to validate the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) requirements included extensive monitoring campaigns, which are described here in detail.

The dredging community is also committed to the intensive research conducted in by third parties, which involve safety as well as environment. An example of this is the article on calculations for trench ploughing in sandy soil. With the growing demand for offshore wind energy, the number of submarine cables required to export the energy from wind farms to shore has also increased. Since these cables can be damaged when exposed on the sea bed, adequate protection is a critical factor in cable installation and thus the demand for detailed knowledge of actual burial capacities of the plough has increased. The article in Terra provides a calculation method to predict the towing forces required to pull the plough through sandy soil types.

The international dredging industry’s concern for and commitment to the environment – and to state-of-the-art solutions in general – is evident in the ongoing interaction between the industry and researchers at universities, knowledge institutes and engineering companies, as well as their own in-house R&D.

For an industry as dynamic as dredging, remaining on the cutting edge of technology is a challenge that is taken very seriously. Finding and working with experts and colleagues who share this enthusiasm and dedication to a sound environmental future is key to the continued advances in the industry.

Koos van Oord
President, IADC