The First UNCCRD Delta Summit 2025, themed “DeltasUNite to save our deltas” was aimed at delivering a White Paper to the United Nations to make operational the UN Convention for Conserving River Deltas (UNCCRD), unveiled and approved at COP28. 

The event discussed the critical challenges threatening river deltas worldwide, emphasizing the urgent need for community-driven governance to secure the future of river deltas, focusing on sustainable development, locally led adaptation, and raising resilience. River deltas, home to over half a billion people, face severe threats from climate change impacts—like sea-level rise and flooding—compounded by pollution and urbanization. Deltas such as the Chao Phraya, Mekong, Niger, and Nile face risks to biodiversity, food security, and local communities.

The Summit gathered more than 140 participants from 24 countries across four continents to forge policies for delta conservation under the new United Nations Convention for Conserving River Deltas (UNCCRD), increased stakeholder collaboration, and the groundwork for an UN-recognized Global Deltas Day.

The Summit featured twelve plenary keynotes, four plenary panel discussions, forty technical presentations and nine breakout sessions. Discussions focussed on a wide spectrum of issues and topics related to delta sustainability, including ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, sustainable land-use planning, cultural heritage, economic resilience, infrastructure development, climate change challenges, governance gaps, strategies for resilience building and adaptation and use of technology, data and indigenous knowledge. Representatives from government, academia, private enterprises, international organizations, and community-based organizations actively engaged in the discussions, ensuring a multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary, and bottom-up approach to addressing delta challenges, integrating perspectives from policymakers, researchers, and grassroots organizations.