Deltas

Water defines and enables human development. Ecosystems and economies depend on water.  The impact of climate change will be most acutely expressed through water.  Deltas are particularly vulnerable to water-related climate risks.

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seagrass
Article

Seagrass is a threatened yet crucial coastal ecosystem

Seagrass along with mangroves and coral reefs are critical for the health of coasts around the world. They are found in bays and estuaries around the world. But they are threatened by projects, pollution, fishing and the rise of sea levels. This video says why it is important to preserve these to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

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Amphi Nest, India's first amphibious building prototype
Case Study

Amphi Nest, India's first flood-resilient amphibious pavilion prototype

Amphi Nest is India's first working prototype of a flood-resilient amphibious building. NestAbide is working on amphibious houses and other flood-resistant projects for people living in flood-prone areas. It rests on the ground like an ordinary house, but its buoyant foundation lifts it up and floats when floodwaters come.

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Barrier in Indonesia
Case Study

Building with nature in Demak, Indonesia

This case study describes how the Indonesian government has responded by piloting the Building with Nature (BwN) approach in the Demak district of Central Java province.

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Mira River
Case Study

Colombia: Community participation in adaptation through food security

The 90.8-km-long Mira River connects several ecosystems, from mangroves along the Pacific coast through humid tropical forests to cloud forests and scrublands at the river’s origins in the Andes mountains. This case study describes the impacts of climate change on the delta's ecosystems.

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Bangladesh
Case Study

Managing Water Resources and Disaster Risk in Bangladesh

Bangladesh occupies the world’s largest delta, making it highly vulnerable to recurrent natural disasters. However, the delta, if properly managed, could also be an engine of economic growth. The country recently adopted the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100.

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Impressions of large-scale floating cities
News

Legal Framework for Sustainable Floating City Development

Floating city development has been recognized as a solution to climate change. The Netherlands is a front-runner when it comes to living on water. The blog describes the legal challenges that need to be overcome in order to realize large scale floating cities.

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Bartels and Vedder floating house in The Netherlands
Article

Supporting Regulations for Floating Development

Dutch regulations on floating development are often used by other countries. We republish here in Dutch the guide that maps the bottlenecks in being able to comply with the technical regulations in the Building Decree 2012 and indicate how these can be resolved.

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Community of Practice webinar: How can floating development help adaptation to climate change.

Case Studies

Lighthouses show where to go – and where to avoid. These “lighthouse” case studies explore best practices in climate adaptation and resilience interventions in delta countries. 

Video Deltas The Netherlands

Deltas

Due to their fertile floodplains, easy access to the ocean and inland water transport, most deltas are densely populated. Many deltas are engines for economic growth, and have higher GDP per capita than the economies in which they are located.  The Mekong Delta supports a population of 20 million people and approximately a quarter of Vietnam’s GDP. 

Without action on adaptation, the projected losses in some delta regions are large enough to stifle entire economies: for example, 9% of GDP per capita in the Volta Delta and 19.5% in Bangladesh. These losses will come from damage to infrastructure, crop production and fishing. The indirect consequences, such as the loss of livelihoods and food security, would be severe.

Key findings

There is an urgent need to improve understanding of what works in delta environments, and share lessons and information across countries for scaling up. Climate adaptation in delta areas is a complex issue best looked at through a systems lens. 

In any particular delta, adaptation strategies require an in-depth and scientific understanding and a strong baseline that includes analysis of risk exposure and drivers of change.  This in turn requires better, open-access climate data collection.

Climate-change adaptation is a long-term game. Making deltas more climate resilient requires thinking in terms of decades, and creating legal and political frameworks that are conducive to long-term, integrated planning. Frameworks must be agile and flexible enough to change tack when needed.

Communities must be at the center of adaptation planning and action. Vulnerable groups in delta areas face issues that are hard to distinguish from climate impacts. Their meaningful participation must be embedded in approaches that address all their concerns and engage them in co-creating solutions.

Nature-based solutions, combining ‘green’ and ‘gray’ infrastructure, are promising but need urgent scaling. They are often also conducive to achieving multiple objectives, such as creating local jobs in operations and maintenance while building climate resilience. 

Deltas need dedicated governance structures organized on water management principles. Deltas often cut across administrative and national boundaries, creating significant governance challenges.

Nonetheless, adaptation in deltas needs an increased level of long-term financing commitments. Financial resources should be targeted to those who need adaptation most, but many low-income countries do not have the necessary resources. Innovative financial instruments are needed, such as climate resilience bonds and debt-for-resilience swaps. Development partnerships should go beyond the typical five-year project cycle.

Resilient Asian Deltas Initiative

Scaling up nature-based solutions

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RESILIENT ASIAN DELTAS INITIATIVE
Assement of high potential & scalable nature-based solutions in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Assement of high potential & scalable nature-based solutions in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

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Landscapes

Cape Town was near day zero in 2018. The drought that threatened to turn off the taps in Cape Town was made three times more likely by global warming, according to a study. Credit picture perfect istock.
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Urban Resilience

Disasters, climate change, and rapid urbanization pose a serious risk to the provision of urban water services including safe drinking water, sanitation, and safe drainage.

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Cross Cutting

Eifel, Elz valley, flood disaster, July 15th 2021. Europe is highly urbanised and has too few natural buffers that can infiltrate extreme amounts of heavy rainfall. Markus Volk. istock.
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Nature based solutions

Nature based solutions work with and enhance nature to restore and protect ecosystems and to help society adapt to the impacts of climate change. Adaptation calls for the increased use of nature based solutions with multiple benefits which at the same time provides for livelihoods, ecosystem life support and community resilience.

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A river basin in a mountanous region.
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River Basins

Collaboration in a river basin is needed to share increasingly scarce resources, manage water related risks emerging from various land uses and prevent flooding by linking upstream and downstream activities. Upstream areas need to ensure spatial planning that is mitigating floods for downstream areas. 

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