Experts to study climate change effects people in deltas

Researchers from five countries, including India, Egypt and Ghana, will study the effects of climate change on inhabitants of the Ganga-Brahmaputra deltas in Bangladesh and India, an expert said Wednesday.

Experts from the UK, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana and India will investigate regions, including the delta of the Nile in Egypt and the Ganga-Brahmaputra in Bangladesh and India, as part of the project 'Deltas, Vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation (DECCMA)' over five years.

"It will study the ways in which these populations have adapted to these changes and use these adaptive strategies to help devise future policy with regard to these areas," said Tuhin Ghosh, School of Oceanographic Sciences, Jadavpur University, here. He heads the Indian delegation.

In addition, two smaller deltas, the Mahanadi in Odisha and the Volta in Ghana, are also under the ambit of the project that seeks to gain insights into the adaptive strategies of these communities in the last 50-100 years.

"Deltas are extremely vulnerable regions and the people living there are under tremendous climate stress. We need to develop an integrated assessment tool, which will gauge the bio-physical, social and economic factors needed to identify viable adaptation options for the people of these climactic hot spots to live sustainably," Ghosh added.