International conference: Deltas in times of climate change - Rotterdam 2010

The two official Dutch research programmes on climate change and spatial planning (Climate changes Spatial Planning and Knowledge for Climate), the City of Rotterdam and the C40 (a group of the world's largest cities committed to tackling climate change) invite scientists, politicians, policy-makers and practitioners to share their knowledge and experience in a major international conference on climate adaptation.

The conference pursues three main goals:

1. exchanging up-to-date top science on climate change and delta planning
2. strengthening international cooperation between deltas and delta cities
3. exploring and strengthening the links between science, policy and practitioners

Abstracts for an oral or poster presentation for the scientific sessions of the conference can be submitted before 15th March 2010. The period has been extended for one month to offer also those people who only recently received the call for abstracts, the opportunity to contribute to the conference.

The conference will bring both disciplinary and multi-disciplinary contributions in the fields of planning, policy science, geo-sciences, meteorology, economics, governance, engineering and ecology.

The abstracts will be expected to fit within one of the themes:

1. Regional climate, sea level rise, storm surges, river run-off and coastal flooding
2. Fresh water availability under sea level rise and climate change
3. Climate change and estuarine ecosystems
4. Climate change and climate proofing in urban areas
5. Competing claims and land use in deltas under climate change
6. Governance and economics of climate adaptation
7. Decision support instruments for climate adaptation policy
8. Climate and health in delta areas
9. Managing extreme weather risks.

The organizers of the conference intent to publish the best papers in special issues of various scientific journals. The final programme includes 70 challenging sessions of interest to policy makers, practitioners, business people, politicians and scientists. These sessions cover a broad range of issues related to climate change in deltas: flood risk management, fresh water availability, health, climate in the city, land use conflicts, governance, economics and estuarine ecosystems.