Before looking ahead to this new decade, let us take a quick look back to 2009. One of the last events of the old year was the United Nations Climate Conference held in Copenhagen in December. Many meetings and reports preceded this event, and at one of them, BusinessEurope Conference on Climate Change in Brussels in October, President of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso emphasised that, “…climate change is a moral and an ethical issue: firstly in a development context, as developing countries are bearing the brunt of climate change, despite having contributed to it the least, and lacking the means to tackle it…. [and] climate change is a moral issue in an inter-generational context as well. We simply have no right to impose the pain and cost of climate change on future generations…. because we know it will cost more to sort out the problem, the longer we leave it unsolved”.

For those of us in the dredging industry, the Copenhagen COP15 Summit and the meetings leading up to it made concrete many facts of which we are well aware: The urgency of addressing the consequences of climate change, as well as “going green” as an economic opportunity and a stimulus for future growth and prosperity. Predictions that adapting to climate change will lead to innovations and investments in clean technologies and products have already been proven true in the dredging industry. Innovation, seeking sustainable solutions have long been our goals. The private dredging and maritime construction companies have supported and implemented sustainable remedies for coastal protection throughout the world. The leadership of the private dredging industry is already evident when it comes to developing technologies in land reclamation and flood prevention which are part of the challenges inherent in climate change. And the industry seeks cooperation with organisations such as the World Nature Fund and has launched EcoShape, a research group dedicated to finding maritime solutions through “working and building with nature”.

Since the value of waterborne transportation is recognised as by far the cleanest and most fuelefficient means of moving goods around the globe, it follows that the dredging industry itself is essential to the success of the shipping industry and port activities. In fact, the private dredging industry has been a reliable partner in planning, financing and implementing port development, expansion and improvement, to ensure that seaports are navigable and safe and at the same time environmentally sustainable. The private dredging companies are also actively participating in deliberations about how to lessen the carbon footprint through emissions control and
improved energy efficiency.

The eyewitness report from the Copenhagen COP15 Summit found in this issue of Terra et Aqua reflects this consciousness and concern. Also articles about dredging projects in Taparura, Tunesia (coastal remediation) and in Melbourne, Australia (port deepening and widening) have benefited from the dredging industry’s commitment to finding environmentally sound and sustainable solutions to the world’s maritime challenges, of which climate change is at the top of the list.

Koos van Oord
President, IADC