Following on the success of DELTAS2010, the America’s WETLAND Foundation will convene the second international leadership conference, bringing together national and international experts to identify best practices and comprehensive strategies for sustaining deltas, using the Mekong Delta in the Asian Continent as a model.
The Mekong Delta is considered Southeast Asia’s rice bowl, providing food for millions of people throughout the region. Climate change and upstream hydropower development are major concerns for food security and regional stability, with more than 19 million people depending upon the regular, seasonal flow of the Mekong River for their livelihoods. As Asia continues to develop and grow, both in population and economy, harmonizing water management, development, ecological function, and agriculture will be a major challenge in the region. Representatives of government, NGOs, policy, and science from the world’s great deltas, will participate and discover common sustainability challenges and solutions.
To restore and sustain deltas requires the best science and engineering, true compromise and the political will to make it reality. The future sustainability of an entire system and its natural and economic assets relies on open and sincere dialogue and cooperation to move initiatives from concepts to results. The goal of DELTAS2013 is to clarify the way forward in making the tradeoffs necessary to ensure sustainable deltaic regions and the critical benefits they provide.