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Creating Space for Water Collaboration with Henk Ovink

Host Veena Srinivasan speaks with Henk Ovink, world’s first “Water Diplomat”, about global cooperation, imagined redundancy, and the future of global water governance.

Nov 25, 2025

In this episode, host Veena Srinivasan speaks with Henk Ovink who is often called the world’s first “Water Diplomat” for a deep and wide-ranging conversation on trust, global cooperation, imagined redundancy, and the future of water governance around the world.

 



Henk Ovink, joins host Veena Srinivasan on Season 2, Episode 9 of the Water Data Podcast.

Henk has had an extraordinary career shaping water diplomacy and resilience – from serving as the Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to leading Rebuild by Design under President Obama after Hurricane Sandy, to co-chairing the Global Commission on the Economics of Water. He is also the Chair of the Board at IWMI.

In this episode, they discuss why trust is the foundation for any collective action and why “everything moves at the speed of trust.” Drawing from his experiences such as Rebuild by Design in the US, Water as Leverage in Asia, and global water negotiations at the UN, Henk illustrates how durable, community-owned solutions emerge.

The conversation highlights how the Global Commission on the Economics of Water reframed the hydrological cycle, equity, and valuation for policymakers worldwide.

Suggested Readings:

  1. Henk’s Bio
  2. Water as Leverage (WaL) programme
  3. Kempenaar, A., Laeni, N., van den Brink, M., Busscher, T., & Ovink, H. (2022). ‘Water as Leverage’: design-led planning for urban climate resilience. Planning Practice & Research, 39(1), 72–92. 
  4. Ovink, H., Rahimzoda, S., Cullman, J. et al. The UN 2023 Water Conference and pathways towards sustainability transformation for a water-secure world. Nat Water 1, 212–215 (2023). 
  5. Water as Leverage, TEDx talk by Henk Ovink, 2019. 
  6. High-Level Panel on Water outcome document, 2018. 
  7. The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review 
  8. The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review 
  9. The Geography of Future Water Challenges
  10. Bending the Trend, The Geography of Future Water Challenges, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, 2023. 
  11. Laeni N, Brink Mvd, Busscher T, Ovink H, Arts J. Building Local Institutional Capacities for Urban Flood Adaptation: Lessons from the Water as Leverage Program in Semarang, Indonesia. Sustainability. 2020; 12(23):10104. 
  12. de Graaf-van Dinther, R., Ovink, H. (2021). The Five Pillars of Climate Resilience. In: de Graaf-van Dinther, R. (eds) Climate Resilient Urban Areas. Palgrave Studies in Climate Resilient Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. 
  13. Ovink, H. (2015). Reform by design. Journal of Extreme Events, 2(01), 1502001.
  14. GCEW report

The Water Data Podcast is a talk show on the science, systems, and stories of water hosted by Veena Srinivasan.

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Recording by Nanditha Gogate and Nabina Chakraborty  

Video editing by Nabina Chakraborty

Graphics and artwork by Aparna Nambiar

Audio mixing and mastering by Vijay Doiphode

Podcast production and management by Nabina Chakraborty and Pavan Srinath

 

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