6 Water Talks - The Big Five: Henk Ovink

This is the Big Five, the companion series to the podcast Water Talks, with one-on-one interviews with some of the extraordinary speakers from the main episodes. This is a conversation with ‘Mister Water’ himself: Henk Ovink. He was influential in shaping planning and water policy in the Netherlands, but he really made his name as a member of the task force Obama created in response to Hurricane Sandy. For the past eight years, he has been the Netherlands’ special envoy for International Water Affairs. This is a big moment for him: he worked for a long time to organize the first UN conference on water in almost 50 years, together with Tajikistan. It was the high point of his time as Special Envoy, and it marks the end of his term. You can hear him in episode 1 of Water Talks, ‘Too Close for Comfort’. This is the longer version of my interview with him during the New York Water Week and the UN Water conference in 2023. Links: Henk Ovink

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Water is fundamental! That’s why, for the first time in 47 years, the UN organized a worldwide conference on water in 2023, hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan. Will it help? To find out, Tracy Metz spoke to all sorts of people in New York and the Netherlands - artists, activists, urban designers, students, officials - who all share the same sense of urgency as we are confronted with too much water or too little, too dirty and … too unequal. This… is ‘Water Talks’! This podcast is made possible by the Dutch Ministry of Water and Infrastructure (I&W).