FEST: 'The unsustainability of coastal river deltas: towards (climate) adaptation?'
Friday Earth Sciences Talk
Dr Frances Dunn (Researcher Geographical Hydrology, Dept. of Physical Geography)
Coastal river deltas are home to over 5% of the world’s human population but cover less than 0.5% of global land area, with these high concentrations of human activity due to the abundant natural resources in deltas. Unfortunately, many of the current uses of deltas are incompatible with the hydrogeomorphological maintenance of delta land, so these human activities result in the destruction of the environment on which they rely. These activities prevent sediment deposition by flooding, which would otherwise compensate for land subsidence and compaction, resulting in relative sea-level rise and associated flooding, salinity intrusion and land loss.
Considering the global challenges of climate change and sea-level rise, along with the pressures of human development, deltas are facing an uncertain future. This talk will cover why these issues are occurring in deltas, and what can be done to promote sustainable delta environments.
With the Friday Earth Sciences Talks (FEST) we intend to bring the departments of Earth Sciences and Physical Geography together. The aim is to present (mostly) Utrecht-based Earth Sciences in an accessible way in order i) to stay familiar with each other’s work across disciplines and ii) to help (in particular MSc.) students in their orientation on possible graduation specialisations and future careers. Alumni are also invited.
- Start date and time
- End date and time
- Location
- Koningsberger building - Pangea room; hybrid via https://tinyurl.com/fest-teams
- Entrance fee
- no fee or registration