Integrated assessment of social and environmental sustainability dynamics in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, Bangladesh

Abstract

Integrated assessment of social and environmental sustainability dynamics in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, Bangladesh Nicholls, R. J.; Hutton, C. W.; Lazar, A. N.; Allan, A.; Adger, W. N.; Adams, H.; Wolf, J.; Rahman, M.; Salehin, M. Published in:Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science DOI:10.1016/j.ecss.2016.08.017 Publication date: 2016 Document Version Peer reviewed version Link to publication in Discovery Research PortalCitation for published version (APA): Nicholls, R. J., Hutton, C. W., Lazar, A. N., Allan, A., Adger, W. N., Adams, H., ... Salehin, M. (2016). Integrated assessment of social and environmental sustainability dynamics in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, Bangladesh. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 183(B), 370-381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2016.08.017 General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in Discovery Research Portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from Discovery Research Portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain.• You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Abstract: Deltas provide diverse ecosystem services and benefits for their populations. At the same time, deltas are also recognised as one of the most vulnerable coastal environments, with a range of drivers operating at multiple scales, from global climate change and sea-level rise to deltaic-scale subsidence and land cover change. These drivers threaten these ecosystem services, which often provide livelihoods for the poorest communities in these regions. The imperative to maintain ecosystem services presents a development challenge: how to develop deltaic areas in ways that are sustainable and benefit all residents including the most vulnerable. Here we present an integrated framework to analyse changing ecosystem services in deltas and the implications for human well-being, focussing in particular on the provisioning ecosystem services of agriculture, inland and offshore capture fisheries, aquaculture and mangroves that directly support livelihoods. The framework is applied to the world's most populated delta, the GangesBrahmaputra-Meghna Delta within Bangladesh. The framework adopts a systemic perspective to represent the principal biophysical and socioecological components and their interaction. A range of methods are integrated within a quantitative framework, including biophysical and socio-economic modelling and analyses of governance through scenario development. The approach is iterative, with learning both within the pro...

Evolving deltas: Coevolution with engineered interventions

“…The goal of the Programme was to protect the Dutch delta both now and in the future, with a changing climate, as well as guaranteeing fresh water during dry periods (Van Alphen, 2015). Other deltas are adopting a similar delta plan approach, including the Mekong and the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, with the creation of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (Schiermeier, 2014, Nicholls et al, 2016.…”

“…The level of the economy can therefore be seen to influence adaptation. This is particularly the case for the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (Nicholls et al, 2016). There is a clear interaction between land use and economic interest of the managers, with the land uses that have a higher economic value, having more money spent on engineered interventions.…”

Ecosystem Services, Well-Being and Deltas: Current Knowledge and Understanding

“…These trends are apparent in delta regions under stress (Nicholls et al 2016). In the GBM delta, for example, there are high levels of soil and water salinity (Amoako Johnson et al 2016).…”

“…The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2005) popularised the term and drew on findings across hydrology, systems modelling, development economics, resilience theory and others to advance the concept and its applications. Much of the effort in ecosystem services has been in delineating and classifying ecosystem service types and processes, and in mapping and measuring ecosystem services and their benefits (Nicholls et al 2016;Naidoo et al 2008). In addition, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment sought to characterise long-term future trends and sustainability through global and sub-global scenarios.…”

Drinking water salinity associated health crisis in coastal Bangladesh

“…These unions belong to 7 Socio-Ecological Systems, SES (Adams et al, 2016) and correspond to wet season rice only (Aman), dry season irrigated rice cultivation (Boro), saltwater shrimp aquaculture (Bagda), freshwater prawn aquaculture (Golda), Riverine char lands, Sundarban dependent zone and coastal marine periphery (Figure 1). It was hypothesized that, dominant land use at a particular geographical location (i.e.…”