We hope you learned from and connected with leading experts from around the world to discuss fish passage engineering and research, dam removal, mapping migratory routes of fish, legislation and much more.
This webinar aimed to showcase cutting edge research, celebrate successful projects, discuss challenges and promote networking and knowledge exchange between various sectors. Now is the time to come together as a community to focus on the future of river connectivity. We hope FP2021 left you with a renewed sense of what’s possible for the world’s freshwater ecosystems!
This was a 4 day webinar organized over 4 different time zones. In each 2.5 hour session we:
Hosted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, USA
Avine Fokkens-Kelder, Deputy of the Province Fryslan
Official opening live from the Fish Migration River (The Netherlands) on day 1 (21 June)
Avine Fokkens-Kelder is a member of the Provincial Executive of Fryslân (the Netherlands). Within her broad portfolio, she is engaged in traffic & infrastructure, including De Afsluitdijk, and tourism. The Fish Migration River is one of her best projects. “The Netherlands is great at water management. This is another striking example. Fish moving from salt to fresh and from fresh to salt water through an extremely inventive river. At this iconic site, the Netherlands is showing that there are solutions where safety, preservation of fresh and salt water and nature restoration go hand in hand.”
Henk Ovink, Dutch Water Envoy
Official opening live from the Haringvliet Sluice (The Netherlands) on day 3 (23 June)
Henk Ovink was appointed by the Cabinet of the Netherlands as the first Special Envoy for International Water Affairs in 2015. As the Ambassador for Water, he is responsible for advocating water awareness around the world, focusing on building institutional capacity and coalitions among governments, multilateral organisations, the private sector and NGOs to address the world’s pressing water needs and help initiate transformative interventions.
Through his water and economic diplomacy, he connects a close network in the Netherlands with a strong and well maintained international network. He works closely with our Embassies, Consulates and Permanent Representations. The Water Envoy operates across the full spectrum of the water sector and builds lasting relationships with the most important partners, relevant government agencies, knowledge institutions, umbrella organisations, coordinating and representative bodies, businesses, and social organisations. Among the last are the World Bank, United Nations, EU and OECD. He also makes connections with other relevant top sectors such as energy, agriculture, and the creative industry.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA)
Coastal Watershed Institute (USA)
Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi (Brazil)
University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (South Africa)
University of Eldoret (Kenya)
The Nature Conservancy (USA)
University of Southampton (UK)
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (Norway)
CDM Smith (Germany)
OAK Consultants (Netherlands)
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (Austria)
National Research & Development Centre For Riverine & Lake Fisheries, Bhutan
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research - NIWA (New Zealand)
