JCP: Joint Cooperation Programme Bangladesh – the Netherlands

Supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the 4 partners in JCP, Wageningen, IWM, CEGIS and Deltares, set out to jointly address these questions in a longer term knowledge cooperation. The JCP started in November 2018 and in June 2019 an agreement with the four partners was signed. Dr. Bram de Vos, Managing Director of the Environmental Sciences Group of Wageningen University & Research, emphasized the importance he attaches to the collaboration: “For me this collaboration is an example of science for impact, how we can deal with the uncertainties and how we jointly work together to bring answers to the community.”

Questions that are being addressed are, for instance, the question from the Department of Agricultural Extension as they want to know whether there is enough water for future agriculture. This is addressed in the subproject Make it Real where the link between water and agriculture, now and in the future, is addressed. The General Economics Division (GED) and other societal parties as represented by Gobeshona platform, would like to know if they can have the Bangladesh Delta Plan (BDP2100) information close at hand. For this, an app is being prepared to have the information ‘in your pocket’ in the Information for Impact subproject. The GED also would like to have information for the assessment of projects to be taken up as part of the BDP2100, and the Bangladesh Metal Model is being developed for this purpose. Further, the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) is considering how future infrastructure will be required for the polders of the future, so the applied research project Polders of the Future is looking in to this. In the overall management of the programme, Wageningen is taking a lead for the communication, not only ensuring the quarterly newsletter, website and social media, but also providing all sub-projects with support for innovative communication about the research.