A recent study published in the scientific journal Nature focuses on global carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and natural fires. Deltares colleague Margreet van Marle is the lead author and worked together with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and other organisations. The research helps us to understand how quickly climate change progresses, as the carbon emissions caused by deforestation have a large impact on the climate.

A new timeline of global carbon emissions caused by deforestation was developed. This timeline is the missing link in understanding the global carbon cycle. It implies that the natural CO2 absorption by land and oceans are more efficient than originally thought.

More information:

New land-use-change emissions indicate a declining CO2 airborne fraction

Earlier this year Deltares published 19 stories showing how our innovative and sustainable solutions contribute to complex and urgent challenges facing society.

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The Markermeer is one of Europe’s largest freshwater lakes. Using sand and sludge from the area, a new archipelago has been built in the lake. The past five years several parties participating in the Knowledge and Innovation Programme Marker Wadden (KIMA) investigated how these islands can be created, and what they mean for the lake’s water quality and the region’s biodiversity. Deltares coordinated the knowledge programme.

These findings will be shared during the International Marker Wadden Conference in Amsterdam from 12-14 October.

The increased saline water intrusion has not only cost the Mekong delta millions of dollars yearly in freshwater shortage and crop loss, but is also identified as the key to its strategic land use planning.  In his PhD research Sepehr Eslami quantifies the contributions of various environmental stressors, such as climate change, land subsidence, and riverbed erosion in response to upstream entrapments and sand mining. He also develops various environmental pathways for the delta for the first time. 

On 29 April, Sepehr successfully defended his PhD on ‘Environmental change in a mega-delta Dynamics of salt intrusion in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta’ at Utrecht University. Sepehr started his PhD at Utrecht University in 2015, joining our Deltares Singapore office in 2020. His research focused on salt intrusion in the Mekong Delta – the world’s third largest delta. With a population of over 20 million, the Mekong Delta supplies over 50% of Vietnam’s food. Sepehr’s work has expanded on past, present, and future dynamics of salinity in the delta.  

Deltares’ mission – enabling delta life – is more urgent than ever. Across the world, deltas are under pressure. Not just as a result of growing populations and economies, but also due to climate change, rising sea levels, and land subsidence we face transitions that have huge societal impact.

Knowledge of water and subsurface is of immense importance to tackle the societal challenges we face. We must look further ahead and see that time is running out, and that is why we must accelerate now. At Deltares, we prioritise Dutch, European, and global missions. The impact of these goals determine our priorities and our actions. Mission-driven work is being put into focus with so-called moonshots – ambitious goals with major societal importance that can only be reached by working together. Want to know more about our moonshots? Watch our animation Let’s work together on Enabling Delta Life.