On the Progress Meeting of the UN Ocean Decade “Mega-Delta Programme” hosted last month by the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research (SKLEC), East China Normal University, scientists from Pakistan, China and several other countries shared their progress in research and announced that online archives on the scientific data for major river deltas will be set up to share with partners. Known as the vertebra of Pakistan’s ecology and economy, the Indus Delta is the fifth largest in the world and home to the seventh biggest mangrove forest. 

The complex system of swamps, mudflats, and streams are home to rice, cotton, and wheat plants, fish and prawn, mangrove forests, and wild animals, offering various sources of income to the inhabitants. 

However, recent years has witnessed a sharp decrease in sand and water supply to the delta area. A World Bank study shows that the sediment that reaches the delta has declined from an estimated 270 million tonnes per year at pre-development levels to 13 million tonnes in 2019. The rising sea level and offshore storm surge have triggered beach erosion and salt-water encroachment, leading to the degradation and death of mangrove forests and decreased production of fish and shrimp. 

The Third Pole, a platform dedicated to promoting information and discussion about the Himalayan watershed and the rivers that originate there, released that around 1.2 million people from the Indus Delta have already migrated to Karachi. According to Dr. Samina Kidwai, Director of the National Institute of Oceanography, Pakistan, the challenges faced at the Indus River Delta include coastal erosion, mangrove degradation and decreased fishery production. 

“Comprehensive management of water and sand resources in the entire drainage basin is required”, said Li Xiuzhen, Professor of Ecology and Deputy Director for International Affairs, State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University.