ISLAMABAD: Speakers highlighted the escalating challenges faced by river deltas worldwide and stressed the need for shared solutions and urgent climate action. The webinar, titled “Community Voices-Deltas Unite: Urgent Call for Climate Action with a United Nations Convention for Conserving River Deltas (UN-CCRD),” was organized by The African Centre for Climate Actions and Rural Development Initiative (ACCARD) in collaboration with various partners.
Speakers at the event represented communities and stakeholders from five major river basins: the Indus River, Nigerian Niger River, Mekong River, Congo River, and Saint Lawrence River. The delta regions in these basins are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels, saltwater intrusion, changing river flows from melting glaciers, increasing dam construction, and shifting rainfall patterns in the highlands. Indigenous peoples and local communities residing in these areas are not only affected by these changes but are among the most vulnerable to the adverse consequences of climate change on water resources.
The worsening climate crisis emphasizes the urgent need for accelerated efforts to address the growing impact of climate change on water resources. This impact includes human migration, especially among young people, water scarcity, poverty, hunger, communal conflicts, and new disease outbreaks.
To address these challenges, the speakers called for the establishment of a “United Nations Convention on River Deltas (UN-CCRD).” This international multi-stakeholder platform would facilitate dialogue and transformative action to address impending water challenges and global crises related to food, conflict, and freshwater shortage.
Susan Sgorbati, Director at the Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA) at Bennington College, emphasized the dangerous effects of climate change on global water supply and security. She noted that flooding alone could put an additional 1.6 billion people at risk by 2050.
Climate Change Challenges Faced by Indus Delta
Community representatives from the Indus River basin, including Altaf Siyal, Mukhtar Mahar, and Mir Baloch, highlighted the challenges faced by the Indus Delta, such as seawater intrusion, coastal erosion, land degradation, wetland degradation, groundwater contamination, and surface water pollution. These challenges are primarily attributed to reduced water flow from upstream to downstream, diminishing river flows to the delta, and rising temperatures caused by climate change.
The speakers stressed the importance of a multi-stakeholder collaboration at various levels to address climate stress in the Indus Delta and urged the adoption of the UN-CCRD convention from a global to a district level.
Freeman Elohor, Founder and Centre Coordinator for the African Centre for Climate Actions and Rural Development, shared that together with the University of Vermont, the University of Colorado, the government of Nigeria’s Bayelsa State, and the Pakistani government, they approached the United Nations (UN) during the March 2023 Water Conference in New York. This initiative recognized the need for a convention to protect river deltas, address climate-related issues, and protect human rights.
The UN-CCRD platform aims to blend indigenous knowledge with science and coordinated government interventions with local communities to create a global network of community scientists.
Other speakers at the event included Prof. Asim Zia from the University of Vermont, Prof. Tan Sinh Bach from Hanoi National University, Godi Godar from the Congo River Basin, Diana Rice from the Saint Lawrence River Basin, Prof. Kevin Xu, Ho Huu Loc from the Mekong River Basin, and Emma Spett from the Saint Lawrence River Basin. The event highlighted that the shared problems of river basins require shared solutions, with local communities having a crucial voice in the process.
