Deltaic Gateways – Linking Source to Sink

River deltas are one of the most significant coastal morphological features and depositional systems. Most of the sediment delivered to the oceans by rivers has been deposited in the coastal zones, where it has built numerous deltas. These delta systems are significant not only for helping sedimentary and marine geologists understand modern processes and ancient rocks, but also for their human populations, port and City infrastructures, and natural and living resources. The Asian coast has many large and distinct river deltas, which have abundant resources and products and sustain a huge human population. These delta systems receive approximately 75% of the worldwide sediment discharge from the land to the oceans and collectively compose the largest depocenter on Earth. On the other hand, these deltaic environments are vulnerable to numerous and frequent geo-hazards, such as tsunamis, typhoon storms, monsoon floods, droughts, and sea-level rise, and recently they have been subject to anthropogenic impacts from engineering projects, urbanization, and land-use changes.

International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) Project 475, Deltas in the Monsoon Asia–Pacific Region (DeltaMAP), has been organizing international conference on deltas annually. First meeting was held in Bangkok and Ayutthaya on January 15–20, 2004 in conjunction with 5th International Conference on Asian Marine Geology partially, and 2nd meeting was held in Ho Chi Minh City on January 9-16, 2005. Both meetings were co-organized with APN project Mega-Deltas of Asia (2003-2004: PI, Zhongyuan Chen). CCOP DelSEA project also co-organized 2nd meeting and 3rd meetings held in Brunei on January 13-19, 2006. Through the first three meetings, more than 300 participants have joined from 22 countries, and a regional capacity of networks has been established. Participants from various fields exchanged scientific ideas and new findings and discussed scientific issues and cooperation during the conference. Each meeting report can be found at web pages of IGCP-475 and APN Mega-deltas given on the Circular cover page. Under the painstaking effort made by all involved participants, we have also been successful in obtaining a new APN funded project (2-years: 2007-2009). The project theme is Asian Mega-deltas: Monsoon circulation in relation to deltaic coastal hazards and future mitigation – millennial to seanal demensions. We are thus combining the Asian Megadeltas’ conference through Bangladesh venue like the previous pattern, and do hope this provides you all respective delta coast scientists a forum to deepen our exchange on the project goals.