Integrated assessment of social and environmental sustainability dynamics in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, Bangladesh
Integrated assessment of social and environmental sustainability dynamics in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, Bangladesh
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 Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta within Bangladesh. The framework adopts a systemic perspective to represent the principal biophysical and socio-ecological 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 project team and with national policy-making stakeholders. The analysis is used to explore physical and social outcomes for the delta under different scenarios and policy choices. We consider how the approach is transferable to other deltas and potentially other coastal areas.
370-381
Nicholls, R.J.
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Hutton, C.W.
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Lazar, A.N.
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Allan, A.
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Adger, W.N.
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Adams, H.
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Wolf, J.
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Rahman, M.
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Salehin, M.
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20 December 2016
Nicholls, R.J.
4ce1e355-cc5d-4702-8124-820932c57076
Hutton, C.W.
9102617b-caf7-4538-9414-c29e72f5fe2e
Lazar, A.N.
d7f835e7-1e3d-4742-b366-af19cf5fc881
Allan, A.
e5d1044c-99b9-4944-9c96-140a8fcecb5e
Adger, W.N.
3ea78e95-a5ce-4a50-a59a-722bbee23e8a
Adams, H.
8b36a1da-74d5-4d92-84b1-7183c25f8214
Wolf, J.
13cf5067-f460-4851-9a09-d6bf7efe575b
Rahman, M.
2579d8ef-1bdd-4f29-be0b-5f056e40f357
Salehin, M.
a2a3f1f2-3826-427a-a35f-750b8fb7990e
Nicholls, R.J., Hutton, C.W., Lazar, A.N., Allan, A., Adger, W.N., Adams, H., Wolf, J., Rahman, M. and Salehin, M.
(2016)
Integrated assessment of social and environmental sustainability dynamics in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, Bangladesh.
[in special issue: Sustainability of Future Coasts and Estuaries]
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 183, part B, .
(doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2016.08.017).
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 Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta within Bangladesh. The framework adopts a systemic perspective to represent the principal biophysical and socio-ecological 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 project team and with national policy-making stakeholders. The analysis is used to explore physical and social outcomes for the delta under different scenarios and policy choices. We consider how the approach is transferable to other deltas and potentially other coastal areas.
Text
__soton.ac.uk_ude_PersonalFiles_Users_sf1f15_mydocuments_FEE_CMEES_ePrints_estuarine and coastal shelf science 09 August 2016_R Nicholls.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 16 August 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 August 2016
Published date: 20 December 2016
Organisations:
Energy & Climate Change Group, GeoData
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 400422
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/400422
ISSN: 0272-7714
PURE UUID: b4cc7331-beeb-490d-8686-807807889c5f
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Date deposited: 16 Sep 2016 09:34
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:53
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Contributors
Author:
A. Allan
Author:
W.N. Adger
Author:
H. Adams
Author:
J. Wolf
Author:
M. Rahman
Author:
M. Salehin
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