America's WETLAND: World Delta Dialogues

Video profile of DELTAS2010:World Delta Dialogues.

The world's largest deltas have many shared characteristics: they are densely populated -- close to half a billion people live on or near deltas -- and their inhabitants are becoming increasingly vulnerable to flooding and erosion that result in conversions of land to open water. These deltas are areas of rich biodiversity, which will also decline as a result of habitat conversion. Approaches to restoring and protecting deltas worldwide are complicated by diverse environmental and economic interests and assets of the region including wetlands, fisheries and waterfowl together with energy, security, cultural resources, community resiliency, navigation and transportation infrastructure. In addition, recent research reveals that sea-level rise, subsidence, reduced sediment flows and floodplain engineering are placing many ecologically and economically important deltaic systems in crisis.

To address the many complex issues and interests at play in deltaic regions, cooperation among stakeholders in the world's deltas is needed to share promising practices and technology, develop intellectual capital and build knowledge about scenarios for future sustainability. To foster this cooperation, the America's WETLAND Foundation in partnership with the Royal Netherlands Embassy, The Nature Conservancy and the Greater New Orleans Foundation organized DELTAS2010: World Delta Dialogues.

The inaugural World Delta Dialogue—DELTAS2010—convened in New Orleans, Louisiana from October 17 - 20, 2010 and attracted a select delegation representing governments, NGOs, and the science and engineering community from across the globe, along with local and regional authorities on the world's great deltas.

DELTAS2010 was an invitation-only, four-day, hands-on conference focused on designing sustainable development, restoration and protection scenarios for world deltaic regions, using the setting of the Mississippi Delta as the focus for the discussion. In addition to pre-conference, off-site lab sessions, tours and thematic plenary sessions, a series of facilitated, highly interactive working design charettes produced cross-disciplinary approaches to the issues facing deltas worldwide.

DELTAS2010 resulted in a report of findings that will be presented to organizations interested in comprehensive forecasting, best practices, technology transfer, research, and policy for deltaic regions.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• World Delta Dialogues
• America's WETLAND
• deltas
• Mekong
• Mississippi
• New Orleans
• fisheries
• energy
• sustainability
• coastal restoration
• coastal erosion