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By
Harro ten Wolde and Niclas Mika
Environmental News Network
February 3, 2008
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch government said on Friday it
would explore new ways of protecting its coastline from the
effects of climate change, including the use of ground-breaking
sensor technology.
The Netherlands, which has a quarter of
its territory below sea level, will spend 22 million euros
($32.7 million) on anti-flooding projects. Companies and
research organizations will contribute an additional 23
million euros.
One project aims to equip all flood
defenses with sensors and electronics to monitor sudden
changes in water levels.
"The climate changes. It is
therefore of great importance to be able to predict flooding
at an early stage," the Dutch cabinet said in a
statement.
Water has long been a threat to the
Netherlands, which translates as "Low Countries,"
while global warming has contributed to a rise in sea
levels, adding to flood concerns.
The world's largest computer services
company IBM, one of the firms involved in the project, said on
Friday it planned to set up a centre for water management
which would use data and forecasting models to give earlier
flood warnings.
Djeevan Schiferli, Business Development
Executive Climate & Energy at IBM, said a number of
different suppliers were developing sensor networks
to measure the stability of dikes for example, but there were
no standards for exchanging the data.
"You need to combine all that
knowledge and information if you want to be able to know when
a situation will become potentially dangerous. All the
different components are there, but they are in some cases too
simplistic and they're not connected," Schiferli said.
The Dutch have a long history of
pioneering technology to help claw back land in the sea and fight flooding. In 1953
a massive North Sea storm breached the country's dikes and
killed about 1,800.
The government also said it would
invest in a project studying how best to use the ecosystem,
such as natural sand flows, for flood protection.
U.S. officials sought advice from Dutch
experts on water management after floods devastated New
Orleans in 2005, and Dutch firms have been central in major
coastal developments worldwide.
The Dutch government said any new technology would be available for export.
(Reporting by Harro ten Wolde and
Niclas Mika; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
akaye@nctimes.com
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