Dr. Wim Douven

Biography

Wim Douven is Associate Professor in Integrated River Basin Management at UNESCO-IHE in the Integrated Water Systems and Governance department. He has a background in urban and regional planning and holds a PhD in spatial informatics from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He joined the institute in 1997.

Wim Douven has wide experience in training and education, multi-disciplinary research, and institutional capacity building in the fields of integrated water and environmental resources management and Integrated River basin Management. Since 20 years he is coordinating and teaching in Master programs, supervising PhD students as well as organising and facilitating international trainings and workshops. He has led various large research projects both in western countries as well as in developing countries, all characterized by their multi-disciplinary nature.

Wim has wide experience in advising water sector organisations and knowledge institutes in designing strategies and implementation plans for institutional capacity building. He is strongly involved in educational innovation and the use of online and blended-learning methods in international education and cooperation with international partners. He is responsible for a number of MoU's with international partners of UNESCO-IHE. His main region of work since 15 years is Asia, in particular South-East Asia and the region of the Mekong River Basin.

Publications

Articles in refereed journals

Shah, M., W. Douven, M. Werner and J. Leentvaar, Farmer household flood response in a situation with flood early warning: A case study in Uria Union in the Brahmaputra floodplain, Bangladesh, accepted by Journal of Flood Risk Management.

Ostrovskaya, E., W. Douven, K. Schwartz, B. Pataki, P. Mukuyu, and R. Kaggwa (2012), Capacity for sustainable management of wetlands: Lessons from the WETwin project, Journal of Environmental Science and Policy, [doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2012.08.006].

Sanon S., W. Douven, T. Hein and P. Winkler (2012), Quantifying ecosystem service trade-offs: the case of an urban floodplain in Vienna, Austria, Journal of Environmental Management 111 (2012) 159-172.

Douven, W, J. Buurman, L. Beevers, H. Verheij, M. Goichot, N. N. Anh, T. H. Tien, N. H. Minh (2012), Resistance versus resilience approaches in road planning and design in delta areas: Mekong floodplains in Cambodia and Vietnam, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, [doi: 10.1080/09640568.2011.644848].

Beevers, L., W. Douven, H. Lazuardi and H. Verheij (2012), Cumulative impacts of road developments in floodplains, Transportation Research Part D 17 (2012) 398–404.

Marara, M., Z. Kuhanwa, N. Okello, L. Beevers, W. Douven and J. Leentvaar (2011), The importance of context in delivering effective EIA: case studies from East Africa. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 31 (2011) 286–296.

Chapters in books

Clouting H., Douven W., Ostrovskaya E., Schwartz K. and B. Pataki (2012) Framework for Analysing Institutional Capacity for Wetland Management - Case of the Gemenc Floodplain. p. X-X, In: M. Schmidt et al., (eds.) Implementing adaptation strategies by legal, economic and planning instruments on climate change, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg (in print).

Uhlenbrook, S., W. Douven, T. Bresser and R. Ranasinghe (2010) PRoACC - An integrated Post-doctoral Research Programme on Adaptation to Climate Change in the Mekong River Basin, Meeting Climate Change Challenges in Transboundary Basins: Role of Sciences, In: Herath, S., Yi, W., and Luohui, L (eds) (2010) Meeting Climate Change Challenges in Transboundary Basins: Role of Sciences, UNU-ISP, CECAR series 4, Pg. 155-162.

Recent and ongoing research projects

Climate change and water: PRoACC

PRoACC is a post-doctoral research program on adaptation to climate change with a special focus on the Mekong River Basin. In Phase 1 8 postdocs from the Mekong region studied different dimensions of climate change adaptation resulting in scientific publications and policy briefs. At the moment Phase 2 is being started up.

See: www.unesco-ihe.org/Post-Doctoral-Research-Programme-on-Adaptation-to-Climate-Change-PRoACC

Wetlands and river basins: WETwin (finished recently)

The objective of the EU FP7 WETwin project was to enhance the role of wetlands in basin-scale integrated water resources management (IWRM), with the aim of improving the community service functions while conserving good ecological status. UNESCO-IHE led Work Package 4 in which we studied management practices and institutional setting of wetland management in relation to river basins.

See: http://www.wetwin.net/about_introduction.html

Natural resources management and spatial planning: AFROMAISON

This EU FP7 project aims to propose concrete strategies for integrated natural resources management in Africa in order to adapt to the consequences of climate change. UNESCO-IHE leads Workpackage 5 'Spatial planning tools' in which we study the role of spatial planning tools to support integrated natural resources management at the meso scale.

See: http://www.afromaison.net/

Building with nature: Roads and Floods (finished recently)

This project was part of the Delft Cluster theme 'Water as a guiding principle in spatial planning'. We studied the interactions between roads and floods in the Vietnamese and Cambodian Mekong delta. Underlying question was how to plan and design roads that are economically sound and environmentally friendly? Based on the research we developed Best Practice Guidelines for the improvement of road planning and design in the Mekong floodplains of Cambodia and Vietnam.

Recent and ongoing capacity development projects

Institutional capacity building for the Centre of Water Management and Climate Change, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City

The overall objective of this Nuffic NICHE project is to strengthen capacity of policy making structures in the Mekong Delta to offer adequate solutions on water management and climate change mitigation and adaptation. This objective will be realized through institutional strengthening, training of staff and setting up a supporting research program at the Centre of Water Management and Climate Change (CWMCC) of the Vietnam National University (VNU-HCMC).

Improvement of higher education in water management in view of climate change in Vietnam

Objective of this Nuffic NICHE project is to strengthen the capacity of the Hanoi University of Natural Resources (HUNRE) and the Water Resources University (WRU) at institutional and management level to implement education, research and training and to improve the capacity of their staff in developing and transferring knowledge. Moreover, to strengthen and further develop the education offered in water management in view of climate change at HUNRE and WRU at high-quality standards to meet the needs of the sector in Vietnam.

Strengthening IWRM in Mongolia (finished)

The project aimed to improve the conditions for water resources development and management.

Support was provided both to the Water Authority, line agencies and to the national universities involved in water education. UNESCO-IHE guided three Mongolian universities - National University of Mongolia (NUM), Mongolian University of Science and Technology (MUST) and Mongolian State University of Agriculture (MSAU) - in developing and implementing a joint MSc program on IWRM.

Mekong River Commission IWRM Competency Framework

We supported the Mekong River Commission in developing a module-based IWRM Competency Framework. This framework aims (1) to familiarise the MRC Secretariat, NMCs, Line Agencies and related stakeholders with updated concepts and definitions about IWRM, Transboundary IWRM, competencies, knowledge and capacity development, (2) understand which core Transboundary IWRM competencies are necessary to develop in the MRC context, (3) obtain tools to analyse the current competencies, and (4) identify required competencies for recruitment of staff, career development paths and capacity needs assessments.

Upcoming Courses and Training workshops

Challenges and Approaches in River Delta Planning: Sharing experiences from the Mekong Delta, Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, Irrawady Delta, Ciliwung Delta and the Rhine-Meuse Delta.

This training workshop will be held from 22-26 October 2012 at Vietnam National University in HCMC and is organized by UNESCO-IHE, Alterra Wageningen UR, Deltares and Vietnam National University in collaboration with Delta Alliance. The course is held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 22 October 2012 – 26 October 2012.

The training workshop is partly a refresher course in which UNESCO- IHE and Wageningen UR alumni working in delta planning in the Ciliwung, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Irrawady and Mekong deltas come together and learn and share experiences. We support this process with a number of lectures and field visits etc. In total we expect around 30 participants from the SE Asian region.