T he ‘Building with Nature’ approach aims to rehabilitate the mangrove greenbelt, which protects against coastal erosion, by constructing permeable dams from local natural materials to create new mudflats that mangroves can reclaim. The technique faced challenges because there was too much land subsidence from groundwater extraction. The economic side of the intervention— incentivizing the community to maintain the mangrove greenbelt by improving aquaculture—was a success. An investment of €8 million is on course to achieve break-even within five years.

Over the centuries, deltas have given rise to some of the world’s greatest cities—and those cities have always been open to the world. They have thrived not only in the trade of goods, but also in the exchange of ideas. Today, as the world faces up to the need to adapt to climate change, it has never been more important for delta countries to learn from one another.

That is the thinking behind the Global Center on Adaptation ‘lighthouse’ report: “Living with water: climate adaptation in the world’s deltas“. The report brings together inspiring case studies from around the globe to galvanize governments and citizens to help the half a billion people living in delta communities who are imperiled by climate change.