Margreet van Marle
Expert on wildfires and climate resilience
I carry out research on the effects of natural disasters on society and the way it functions. Specifically, I focus on the question of what happens to society if, for example, infrastructure fails due to flooding or wildfires.
I started at Deltares with a background in climate and became part of a team working on climate-proof infrastructure. Little by little, I built up my knowledge. It became broader on the one hand, but also deeper and more specialised on the other. Every day, I learn something new. That means I don't get bored easily! At Deltares I’m constantly being challenged and stimulated; that’s very important to me.
International challenges
Because of the international nature of my work, I visited Nepal and Germany after the floods and landslides. I've seen what it means when people are actually trapped in their homes or don't have food or fresh water. Seeing that destruction has made these challenges so much more visible and tangible to me. You realise that this is what things can really be like. It’s a reality check. In the case of the floods in Germany, it's not that far from home at all.
During my PhD, I was in Indonesia. There, I witnessed the fast pace of deforestation. One day I saw trees up to the horizon, yet a few weeks later they were all gone – all the way up to that same horizon. I realised then even more what a square of, say, 25 by 25 kilometres on a satellite image means in reality. That left a deep impression on me, and I found it very sad to see.
Our future
For the past 1.5 years, I’ve been increasingly asking myself if our solutions will be in time. Can we save our planet? In that time, I also became a mother and that makes the world look different. In 35 years, my child will be as old as I am now. The world will definitely be different by then. Her childhood will be less carefree than mine.
On the other hand, I also recognise that we can’t influence everything, that we cannot prevent everything. So perhaps we should ensure that we all become more resilient. That’s where my work comes in.
Trust really matters to me. There are a lot of sensible people in the world. What we can do is inform and advise, and then we have to trust that our advice will be listened to. I hope that our research brings important knowledge to decision-makers. This is how we can be influential.
Amazement, and continuing to be amazed, is an important driver for me. I want to keep seeing beauty in everything around me. That, together, we try to see what it is that we want to protect and what it is that we want to continue to care for. If many of us are willing to change our mindsets, I think we can go very far.