The DELTAS project brings together world experts from the physical and social sciences with local stakeholders from government and non-profit organizations to enhance our scientific understanding of deltas as coupled socio-ecological systems.

Over the next three years, the cumulative research and knowledge of the team will develop a science-based integrative modeling framework that can be used to assess delta vulnerability and guide sustainable management and policy decisions at the regional and local scales.  This modeling framework will be tested on three delta demonstration sites: the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) delta, the Mekong River delta (MRD), and the Amazon River delta (ARD).

Learn more about the DELTAS project, including why deltas are threatened, our Belmont Forum sponsor, our project researchers and partners, the research framework of the DELTAS project, the demonstration deltas, and list of publications.

Recent Activities:

The BF DELTAS team are coordinating an event, with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, on River deltas at the crossroads: transformative change for people and ecosystems that will be held at the IUCN Water Pavilion, September 2, 15.30-16.30, during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii.

BF DELTAS dinner meeting at the AGU Fall Meeting December 17, 2015 in San Francisco, California.

In the News:

• Scientific American:  Embankments Exacerbate Sea Level Rise in Bangladesh (PI Steve Goodbred)
• BF-DELTAS led a special issue of papers in Sustainability Science addressing delta social-ecological systems through multi-disciplinary lenses. "Sustainable Deltas: Livelihoods, Ecosystem Services, and Policy Implications", Sustainability Science, Vol. 11, Issue 4, 2016.
• NSF News features the NSF/Belmont Forum funded Deltas project in recognition of World Oceans Day 
• The Elephant in the Room: Amazonian Cities Deserve More Attention in Climate Change and Sustainability Discussions by Eduardo Brondizio has been published in the Nature of Cities blog.
• Washington Post:  From the Mississippi to the Ganges, river deltas are in major trouble.
• The Conversation:  Delta cities, wealthy or not, face rising risk from sinking land.
• Deltas at Risk:  Profiling Risk and Sustainability in Coastal Deltas of the World.
• Dealing with population migration in Bangladesh by Sylvia Szabo has been published in the World Bank Blog End of Poverty In South Asia as part of the Global Sustainable Delta Initiative, SD2015.
• ICSU-endorsed initiative Sustainable Deltas 2015 launches in Rotterdam.

Public Outreach:

• Minute Earth: Why Do Rivers Have Deltas? (Published on Dec 16, 2015; 500,000+ views as of Dec 8, 2016)
• Science on a Sphere
• River Delta animation
• Delta Modeling tools: CSDMS Web Modelling Tool
• iRods: BF Deltas group data repository