The Netherlands is one of Europe's most innovative countries on tackling rising waters.
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00:00 It keeps one and a half million people safe.
00:04 The Maasland storm surge barrier closes if the water is expected to rise three meters or more.
00:11 Two steel arms, both as tall as the Eiffel Tower, close off the port of Rotterdam.
00:18 For real, we have closed now twice in 25 years.
00:24 We expect to be closing more often in the future, of course.
00:28 Originally this barrier has been in sight for a lifetime of 100 years.
00:32 And already in the design we encountered about 50 centimeters of sea level rise.
00:38 So it's already in the design.
00:40 But of course we all can't look that specifically into the future.
00:44 So we expect somewhere between 2060, 2090 we have to make alterations, possibly.
00:53 A quarter of the Netherlands is located below sea level. According to the UN, sea levels are currently rising more than twice as fast as in the 20th century.
01:05 The barrier is tested once a year, drawing a crowd of hundreds. They aren't worried.
01:11 I think we all live under water. And we are all used to thinking about it.
01:18 If we can come up with something like that, we can also add the extra half a meter.
01:23 And another half a meter, I think.
01:26 Innovation is also seen as the answer by a local entrepreneur.
01:31 In the port of Rotterdam, this floating farm has 40 cows whose milk is processed below deck.
01:38 The idea was born after Hurricane Sandy hit New York in 2012 and food ran out fast.
01:46 Food supply in a city has a lot to do with logistics.
01:50 And if something overflows, there is no more logistics.
01:54 Then the idea came up, if you build climate-adaptive, that means you go up and down with the tides, on the water, then you are less dependent on logistics.
02:05 That idea is spreading. Singapore and Dubai have expressed interest in opening floating farms of their own.
02:13 As this country continues to tackle the rising sea levels, it is barriers like the Maaslandkering which are giving people confidence that this country has what it takes to weather the storm.
02:26 This is Fernand Van Tetz reporting for Euronews from Rotterdam.
02:29 them.
02:29 [WHOOSH]