The First UNCCRD Delta Summit 2025, themed “DeltasUNite to save our deltas” is 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 targets the critical challenges threatening river deltas worldwide, emphasizing the need for urgent, collaborative action to protect these ecosystems. 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 will gather diverse stakeholders, including governments, academia, private sectors, and indigenous communities, 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.
Through plenary sessions, workshops, and discussions, participants will address topics including pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, human rights, and transboundary cooperation.
The summit will also address the urgent need for community-driven governance to secure the future of river deltas, focusing on sustainable development, locally led adaptation, and raising resilience.
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THEMATIC AREAS
SPEAKERS
H.E. Senator Douye Diri
Executive Governor,
Bayelsa State Government, Nigeria
Dr. Augustine Arukwe
Professor, Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU), Norway
Dr. Xiuzhen Li
Professor, State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, China
Dr. Andy Large
Professor of River Sciences, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, UK
Amb. Freeman Elohor Oluowo
Founder and Center Coordinator, African Centre for Climate Action and Rural Development Initiative (ACCARD)
Dr. Indrajit Pal
Associate Professor and Chair, Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
Dr. Andrew Henderson
Professor of Physical Geography, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, UK
Dr. Altaf Siyal
Professor, Sindh Agricultural University, Pakistan
Dr. Philip S. J. Minderhoud
Asst. Professor & NWO Veni Laureate,
Wageningen University and Research, Netherlands
Dr. Hue Le
Senior Researcher and Lecturer, Vietnam National University Central Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (VNU-CRES)
Dr. Kehui Xu
Professor, Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University
Mr. Bradley Mellicker
Head, Climate Mobility Innovation Lab in Asia and the Pacific, International Organization for Migration
Ms. Irene Karani
Policy Adviser,
African Climate Foundation (ACF)
Dr. Faith Ka Shun Chan
Professor,
University of Nottingham Ningbo, China
ORGANIZERS
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS
