Research project: Deltas, Vulnerability & Climate Change: Migration & Adaptation
Deltas contain large populations totalling about 500 million people worldwide. Deltas are extremely fertile and often support high population densities based on agriculture/fisheries. They are thus important for food security and also a major focus for development as many of the people living there are poor and reliant on subsistence livelihoods. Temporary and permanent migration is already a widespread phenomenon in deltas, and the fear is that future sea-level rise and sinking land levels coupled with other climate-linked environmental changes (e.g. drought, flooding, etc.) might mobilise large numbers of people and cause mass internal and international migration. The DECCMA project seeks to understand migration within deltas: how climate change and sea-level rise might influence it, and the extent to which it serves as an effective adaptation. Furthermore, it aims to provide better evidence to inform policy makers about the possible futures of deltas, how adaptation can mediate potentially adverse impacts of climate change, and the potential role of migration as an adaptation option. The project study sites are the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta (Bangladesh and India), Mahanadi delta (India) and Volta delta (Ghana).
