The planet is facing enormous challenges caused by human activity, increasing the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems to the forces of nature. This is worsened by the effects of climate change, which is threatening the world’s coastal defences. Van Oord has responded to these challenges by developing the Climate Adaptation Action Plan. The plan is designed to encourage meaningful dialogue between stakeholders in order to provide ready-to-scale marine solutions that help increase the resilience of the communities and ecosystems of coastal areas.

During his distinguished career as professor of Coastal Engineering at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Kees d’Angremond served as head of Hydraulic and Offshore Engineering, chair of the department of Hydraulic and Geotechnical Engineering, and dean of the faculty of Civil Engineering from 1989 to 2001. Now professor emeritus, he still works as an advisor and independent consultant. We invited Kees to a conversation with Stefan Aarninkhof, professor of Coastal Engineering and chair of the department of Hydraulic Engineering at TU Delft, to talk about their careers in the dredging industry and the role of academia in the industry today.

In today’s world, expectations for sustainable practices are fast becoming the norm. Countries, the public and communities are requesting transparency, the application of higher environmental standards and involvement in decision-making processes when new developments in a marine environment are proposed. Marine infrastructure projects not only require environmental permits and works licences to be in place, they also need a Social Licence to Operate (SLO). This article describes the social licence in this fast-changing context of information and technology, and explores tools that can be used to develop a ‘responsible project’ and provide a successful and sustainable outcome for society and the environment.

As increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contribute to global warming, it is becoming more important to consider the carbon footprint of hydraulic engineering projects. This carbon footprint is more complex than previously thought however, as it can also include the carbon dynamics of the sediments from which projects are built. The purpose of this study was to provide a first approximation from sediment-related GHG emissions of dredged sediments. Using the case study of the clay ripening pilot project (‘Kleirijperij’) in Groningen, the Netherlands, one phase of sediment processing was examined: the ripening of dredged sediments for use as a clay material in dyke construction.

Taking a fresh look at traditional, unsustainable coastal defence methods. A pioneering project discovers some inspiring concepts, including using biogenic reefs for ecosystem-based flood defence.

‘It’s clear that the solutions that we employed in our approach to engineering in the 20th century are not aging well.’ As National Lead for the Engineering With Nature initiative, Dr Todd Bridges discusses how we must have a diversified solution set in which nature is a part of the solution.

Over the past decades, there has been a growing interest in exploring innovative ways to minimise the environmental footprint of coastal developments and in nature-based approaches for shoreline protection. At Mubarraz Island near Abu Dhabi (UAE), an international oil company beneficially reused ~12 million m³ of dredged material to protect pipelines, construct a causeway and create mangrove habitat to manage coastal erosion. This ‘Working with Nature’ approach has provided a cost-effective nature-based solution for shoreline protection, with added benefits for biodiversity conservation.

Stéphanie Groen works as the Director of Coastal & Climate Change, Asia for Aurecon. Based in Singapore, she was appointed to the position at the beginning of 2020. Previously, Stéphanie was involved in marine and environmental projects for more than 15 years with DHI and her education is in civil engineering and business administration. IADC also knows Stéphanie as the winner of the Young Author Award in 2007. More recently, she was appointed as a committee member to the prestigious FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee. We were interested to hear more from Stéphanie – her views on sustainability, the collaboration with the dredging industry through FIDIC and what her new role can mean for sustainable water infrastructure projects.

Can nature-based solutions be mainstream solutions? Nature-based solutions have obvious advantages but have not been embraced at wider scale. The barriers which can hinder wide-scale application and the topic’s relevance to the dredging community are discussed.

The growing awareness of the need for diversified energy sources has collided with the maritime industry. Research initiative JOULES was created to assess the viability of a vessel being 100 per cent green by increasing efficiency and reducing emissions.

The Stanford University Policy and Engineering Responses to Sea Level Rise (SUPERSLR) project is examining various solutions and the constraints for worldwide ports which could face the challenges of sea-level rise all at roughly the same time.

The dredging and maritime industries have long been aware of the challenges of climate change. And they already are providing innovative solutions.

A joint study to explore financing of green coastal, river and port projects. Solutions are available, have been tested and are economically viable.

The book Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure gives state-of-the-art guidance on how to design, implement and manage a water infrastructure project with a dredging component to project owners, regulators, consultants, designers and contractors.

An exploration on the potential for soft, system-based measures in deltas.

Serge de Gheldere is Founder and CEO of Futureproofed and a well-known and inspirational speaker about the exciting prospects of a fossil-free, circular economy. In his presentation, “Future and Innovation” he educated the participants about climate change aspects and developments.

On 6 June 2018, sixty young professionals from IADC’s member companies came together at Hilvaria Studio’s for the association’s second annual networking event, Peering into Dredging’s Future.

Through his presentation “Climate change: business challenges and opportunities of dredging”, Serge addressed innovations which deal with the obstacles of energy transition, climate change effects, population growth, resource depletion, loss of biodiversity, pollution.