International Forum on World's Great Deltas to Convene in New Orleans

DELTAS2010 will Focus on Mississippi River as Model for Addressing Coastal Crises

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The inaugural meeting of the World Delta Dialogues, an international forum bringing together coastal leaders and scientists from across the globe, will be held in New Orleans October 17-21 to focus on best practices and comprehensive strategies for creating sustainable deltas, using the endangered Mississippi River Delta as a model.

The America's WETLAND Foundation with its partners, The Royal Netherlands Embassy, The Nature Conservancy, the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the National Conference of State Legislatures, announced the conference following a helicopter tour of the Mississippi River Delta early Tuesday morning.

"Amid the chaos and confusion of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the nation has heard a great deal about our loss of vital wetlands – indeed a very vulnerable delta region – and today we saw the extent of the loss from the air," Val Marmillion, managing director of the America's WETLAND Foundation, said.

Joining "the best and the brightest" working in the Mississippi River Delta will be representatives from other major deltas, including the Rhine in Germany, the Ganges in India, the Yangtze and Yellow in China and the Mekong in Vietnam.

The participants will include government officials, foundations, Non-Governmental Organizations, policymakers and scientists.

Karen Gautreaux, of The Nature Conservancy, said, "TNC has been monitoring the impact of the oil spill across the Gulf coast. It is very clear that recovery from the oil spill must go beyond responding to the spill," Gautreaux said. "It must address restoration of the whole system."

Dr. Robert Twilley, professor, LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, said a 2006 group of scientists at an America's WETLAND Foundation symposium came up with technically brilliant suggestions for reversing coastal loss, but did not take into consideration other resiliency issues such as tourism, policy and regulatory considerations, fish, oysters and wildlife, community and cultural interests, navigation, transportation and energy.

"But these challenges and the tradeoffs required will be front and center at DELTAS2010," Twilley said.

"Since the 1930s, the leveeing of the river has deprived Louisiana's marshes of fresh water and nutrients and resulted in a dramatic loss of land," Twilley said.

Dr. Denise Reed, University of New Orleans marsh expert, noted that the 2006 technical group included experts in geology, ecology, engineering and economics from the U.S., the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Egypt, Italy and Australia.

"It was the strong consensus of the group that sustainable restoration of the coast and all it supports can only be achieved by redirecting the flow of river sediments away from the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico," Reed said.

At DELTAS2010, groups representing diverse interests will work together "to discuss potential solutions and trade offs and identity critical opportunities for additional research," Reed said. "It's exciting and I can't wait to get started."

Louisiana Senate President Joel Chaisson, D-Destrehan, and Bill Pound, executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures, announced they would convene delegations of legislative leaders from the four states that comprise America's Energy Coast – Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama – as part of the conference.

The America's WETLAND Foundation manages the largest, most comprehensive public education campaign in the Louisiana's history. The Campaign is raising public awareness of the impact of Louisiana's wetland loss on the state, nation and world. The initiative is supported by a growing coalition of world, national and state conservation and environmental organizations and has drawn private support from businesses that see wetlands protection as a key to economic growth. For more information, visit www.americaswetland.com.

SOURCE America's WETLAND Foundation