Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) is the cooperating instituitional partner for AQUACROSS Case Study One: Trade-offs in ecosystem-based fisheries management in the North Sea aimed at achieving biodiversity strategy targets and is represented on the SPBTT. RWS is part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and is responsible for major water and other infrastructure, as well as environmental objectives including maintaining the ecological integrity of major lakes, rivers, estuaries, and coastal areas of the Netherlands.

Joost Backx represents RWS and Case Study One on the SPBTT. Mr. Backx is a senior strategic advisor at RWS, where he has more than 17 years experience, initially as the head of the wetlands department and now as a senior advisor on the national implementation of the WFD, MSFD, and Natura 2000 EU directives. Along with his work at RWS, he is the Dutch delegate in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the chair of the joint Dutch – Flanders Scheldt commission on Monitoring and Research in the Scheldt estuary, and a member of the transnational Dogger Bank Steering Group.