Why waterways?

Inland Waterways International, founded in 1995*, aims to raise awareness of the value of navigable rivers and canals in many of the densely-populated regions of the planet. Lobbying for governments’ attention and spending on waterways for moving freight and all their other functions is a constant challenge. The other transport modes carry more weight in corporate terms, while tourism and recreational uses are considered by many decision-makers as ‘secondary’ functions, to be planned and managed at the regional or local level. So not only are we in a minority as voters in elections, we are also promoting widely differing types of waterway and economic uses, with separate political levels of responsiblity and decision-making!

In this situation, where inland waterways are ‘off the radar’ of most politicians, and often only partially on the radar of the others, communication is critical to achieving our objectives. We hope that this blog will contribute to strengthening the links among like-minded people and organisations. It’s also about a certain philosophy, a way of appreciating unique cultural landscapes and environments that we have on our doorsteps, at the same time supporting the ongoing use of waterways for transporting goods, as lifelines for industry. This means new, larger canals and locks or lifts, and building missing links in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa, where justified in economic and environmental terms.

As with any lobbying organisation, a lot of work is conducted behind the scenes. All who wish to join in are more than welcome! Details on our Membership page. These public pages will cover a wide range of topics, many derived from the web sites we have been managing for the last 15 years. Alternatively, you may wish to support our activities through a donation.

We will continue to promote the cause of sensible spending to build and maintain inland waterways for their many economic, environmental and social benefits.

* from the International Committee of the Inland Waterways Association, UK, founded by the late Ronald W. Oakley

 

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One thought on “Why waterways?

  1. I would like to use for presentation to the Indian Waterways Authority of India two of the photographs in the blog to show the extent of usage of inland waterways across the world. A brief note using the gist of the above write-up will be included in my presentation.

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