Documentary
Documentary
Sustainable Islands
The Dutch islands serve as the testing ground for numerous sustainability projects. This documentary portrays idealists, policy makers and innovators on their winding paths towards sustainability. Will they succeed at realizing their green ambitions or will they be thwarted by double agendas?
The starting point of this film is a trip over the water, a voyage on and around the Dutch islands. We take a behind-the-scenes look at the front runners of the energy transition who meet may obstacles in their path. The backdrop of our story is the development of an overall Climate Agreement for The Netherlands as the film bears witness to an important turning point in the debate around climate and energy in the country.
The film demonstrates the tension between security and nature management as well as between water quality and economic gain. We look at new ways of generating energy and the development of a circular economy. The representative of the province of Zeeland, Ben de Reu, shares his story with us. He is a spider in the web connecting the various municipalities of the islands of Zeeland and holds the oversight on developments in the South Western Delta of The Netherlands.
The film also shines a spot light on new water management projects in the Delta and the Wadden Islands and tracks the development of sustainability initiatives in these regions. Sea level rise is an important catalyst for change. In the north of The Netherlands - on the Wadden Islands - the local government is welcoming various innovation projects. These will help profile the region as a tourist destination and as a pioneering center for creative sustainability projects. The Wadden islands view themselves as an example to The Netherlands and to the rest of the world. However it's the south western island of Goeree-Overfakkee that takes the award for the country's most sustainable touristic location.
The islands in the South West Delta are running climate stress tests and make an effort to communicate with their inhabitants. Companies focusing on renewable energy and sustainability are mushrooming. Ports and industries are striving to meet the ambitions of the Paris climate agreement. Salty cultivation is seen as a contribution to solving the world food problem and new forms of agriculture in brackish areas are being explored. These projects are examples of a revolutionary new way of thinking. Corporations and environmental organizations which for many years have found themselves at opposite ends, are now joining forces.
The team behind "Sustainable Islands" is current working on a follow project which involves an education initiative for young and old and a new series of observations on and around sustainable projects and testing grounds. This will become a series of four or five episodes, depending on the funding we can find.
Photographs taken by Eef de Graaf in the course of this project, have been selected for the World Press Photo exhibition in Zierikzee.
www.eefdegraaf.com