Delta sustainability from the Holocene to the Anthropocene and envisioning the future
Publication date
2024
Authors
Anthony, Edward
Syvitski, Jaia
Zăinescu, Florin
Nicholls, Robert J.
Cohen, Kim
Marriner, Nick
Saito, Yoshiki
Day, John
Minderhoud, Philip S. J.
Amorosi, Alessandro
Editors
Advisors
Supervisors
Document Type
Article
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taverne
Abstract
River deltas offer numerous ecosystem services and host an estimated global population of 350 million to more than 500 million inhabitants in over 100 countries. To maintain their sustainability into the future, deltas need to withstand sea-level rise from global warming, but human pressures and diminishing sediment supplies are exacerbating their vulnerability. In this Review, we show how deltas have served as environmental incubators for societal development over the past 7,000 years, and how this tightly interlocked relationship now poses challenges to deltas globally. Without climate stabilization, the sustainability of populous low-to-mid-latitude deltas will be difficult to maintain, probably terminating the delta–human relationship that we know today.
Keywords
Taverne, Global and Planetary Change, Food Science, Geography, Planning and Development, Ecology, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Urban Studies, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 13 - Climate Action
Citation
Anthony, E, Syvitski, J, Zăinescu, F, Nicholls, R J, Cohen, K M, Marriner, N, Saito, Y, Day, J, Minderhoud, P S J, Amorosi, A, Chen, Z, Morhange, C, Tamura, T, Vespremeanu-Stroe, A, Besset, M, Sabatier, F, Kaniewski, D & Maselli, V 2024, 'Delta sustainability from the Holocene to the Anthropocene and envisioning the future', Nature Sustainability, vol. 7, no. 10, pp. pages1235–1246. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01426-3