Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 105362 |
| Journal | Ocean and Coastal Management |
| Volume | 198 |
| Early online date | 7 Sept 2020 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2020 |
Abstract
River deltas and estuaries are disproportionally-significant coastal landforms that are inhabited by nearly 600 M people globally. In recent history, rapid socio-economic development has dramatically changed many of the World's mega deltas, which have typically undergone agricultural intensification and expansion, land-use change, urbanization, water resources engineering and exploitation of natural resources. As a result, mega deltas have evolved into complex and potentially vulnerable socio-ecological systems with unique threats and coping capabilities. The goal of this research was to establish a holistic understanding of threats, resilience, and adaptation for four mega deltas of variable geography and levels of socio-economic development, namely the Mekong, Yellow River, Yangtze, and Rhine deltas. Compiling this kind of information is critical for managing and developing these complex coastal areas sustainably but is typically hindered by a lack of consistent quantitative data across the ecological, social and economic sectors. To overcome this limitation, we adopted a qualitative approach, where delta characteristics across all sectors were assessed through systematic expert surveys. This approach enabled us to generate a comparative assessment of threats, resilience, and resilience-strengthening adaptation across the four deltas. Our assessment provides novel insights into the various components that dominate the overall risk situation in each delta and, for the first time, illustrates how each of these components differ across the four mega deltas. As such, our findings can guide a more detailed, sector specific, risk assessment or assist in better targeting the implementation of risk mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Keywords
- Adaptation, Climate change, Comparative study, Estuaries, Governance, Mekong delta, Resilience, Rhine delta, Risk assessment, River deltas, Vulnerability, Yangtze river delta, Yellow river delta
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Aquatic Science
- Environmental Science(all)
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
- Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)
- Oceanography
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Ocean and Coastal Management, Vol. 198, 105362, 01.12.2020.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Profiling resilience and adaptation in mega deltas: A comparative assessment of the Mekong, Yellow, Yangtze, and Rhine deltas
AU - Kuenzer, C.
AU - Heimhuber, V.
AU - Day, J.
AU - Varis, O.
AU - Bucx, T.
AU - Renaud, F.
AU - Gaohuan, L.
AU - Tuan, V.Q.
AU - Schlurmann, T.
AU - Glamore, W.
N1 - Funding information: The research presented in this paper was undertaken in the context of the WISDOM ( www.wisdom.eoc.dlr.de ) and DELIGHT projects ( www.delight.eoc.dlr.de ), both funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF . The funding source had no impact on the content of this study. We furthermore thank all the stakeholders, decision makers, scientists, and other experts who contributed to our assessment of delta resilience.
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - River deltas and estuaries are disproportionally-significant coastal landforms that are inhabited by nearly 600 M people globally. In recent history, rapid socio-economic development has dramatically changed many of the World's mega deltas, which have typically undergone agricultural intensification and expansion, land-use change, urbanization, water resources engineering and exploitation of natural resources. As a result, mega deltas have evolved into complex and potentially vulnerable socio-ecological systems with unique threats and coping capabilities. The goal of this research was to establish a holistic understanding of threats, resilience, and adaptation for four mega deltas of variable geography and levels of socio-economic development, namely the Mekong, Yellow River, Yangtze, and Rhine deltas. Compiling this kind of information is critical for managing and developing these complex coastal areas sustainably but is typically hindered by a lack of consistent quantitative data across the ecological, social and economic sectors. To overcome this limitation, we adopted a qualitative approach, where delta characteristics across all sectors were assessed through systematic expert surveys. This approach enabled us to generate a comparative assessment of threats, resilience, and resilience-strengthening adaptation across the four deltas. Our assessment provides novel insights into the various components that dominate the overall risk situation in each delta and, for the first time, illustrates how each of these components differ across the four mega deltas. As such, our findings can guide a more detailed, sector specific, risk assessment or assist in better targeting the implementation of risk mitigation and adaptation strategies.
AB - River deltas and estuaries are disproportionally-significant coastal landforms that are inhabited by nearly 600 M people globally. In recent history, rapid socio-economic development has dramatically changed many of the World's mega deltas, which have typically undergone agricultural intensification and expansion, land-use change, urbanization, water resources engineering and exploitation of natural resources. As a result, mega deltas have evolved into complex and potentially vulnerable socio-ecological systems with unique threats and coping capabilities. The goal of this research was to establish a holistic understanding of threats, resilience, and adaptation for four mega deltas of variable geography and levels of socio-economic development, namely the Mekong, Yellow River, Yangtze, and Rhine deltas. Compiling this kind of information is critical for managing and developing these complex coastal areas sustainably but is typically hindered by a lack of consistent quantitative data across the ecological, social and economic sectors. To overcome this limitation, we adopted a qualitative approach, where delta characteristics across all sectors were assessed through systematic expert surveys. This approach enabled us to generate a comparative assessment of threats, resilience, and resilience-strengthening adaptation across the four deltas. Our assessment provides novel insights into the various components that dominate the overall risk situation in each delta and, for the first time, illustrates how each of these components differ across the four mega deltas. As such, our findings can guide a more detailed, sector specific, risk assessment or assist in better targeting the implementation of risk mitigation and adaptation strategies.
KW - Adaptation
KW - Climate change
KW - Comparative study
KW - Estuaries
KW - Governance
KW - Mekong delta
KW - Resilience
KW - Rhine delta
KW - Risk assessment
KW - River deltas
KW - Vulnerability
KW - Yangtze river delta
KW - Yellow river delta
KW - Agricultural robots
KW - Agriculture
KW - Ecology
KW - Economics
KW - Land use
KW - Water resources
KW - Adaptation strategies
KW - Agricultural intensification
KW - Coastal landforms
KW - Comparative assessment
KW - Qualitative approach
KW - Quantitative data
KW - Socio-ecological systems
KW - Socio-economic development
KW - Economic and social effects
KW - adaptive management
KW - assessment method
KW - coastal landform
KW - comparative study
KW - delta
KW - economic conditions
KW - estuary
KW - risk assessment
KW - strategic approach
KW - sustainability
KW - China
KW - Yellow River
KW - Adaptation
KW - Climate change
KW - Comparative study
KW - Estuaries
KW - Governance
KW - Mekong delta
KW - Resilience
KW - Rhine delta
KW - Risk assessment
KW - River deltas
KW - Vulnerability
KW - Yangtze river delta
KW - Yellow river delta
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090283947&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105362
DO - 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105362
M3 - Article
VL - 198
JO - Ocean and Coastal Management
JF - Ocean and Coastal Management
SN - 0964-5691
M1 - 105362
ER -