Marc Goichot

As governments and non-state actors strive to minimize global warming, a primary strategy is the decarbonization of power systems which will require a massive increase in renewable electricity generation. Leading energy agencies forecast a doubling of global hydropower capacity as part of that necessary expansion of renewables. While hydropower pro...

Owing to only a few decades of human influence and unsustainable management of the Mekong River basin’s natural resources, the Mekong Delta is receding rapidly. Most of the delta landform, home to 17 million people and an economic powerhouse, could slip below sea level by 2100. Avoiding such a catastrophic impact will require concerted actions that...

Deltas worldwide are at risk of elevation loss and drowning due to relative sea-level rise. Management strategies to restore or enhance sedimentation on delta plains, Sedimentation-Enhancing Strategies (hereafter SES) are now being pursued in many deltas but there has been limited cross-disciplinary and cross-delta review. Here we compare 21 existi...

The Yangtze River contains the highest fish diversity and most important inland fishery resources in China, but its biota and ecosystem services face an uncertain future. The river and its basin have undergone vast changes from centuries of human impacts, and fish stocks are in a particularly dire situation. A complete 10- year moratorium on commer...

The geomorphology of the Rufiji River delta was investigated with emphasis on the influence of the delta’s context, including the river basin, and remote-sensed delta-plain channel connectivity and shoreline morphological, sedimentary and hydrodynamic variations. The Rufiji is influenced by its East African Rift Valley tectonic context, high inter-...

Non-technical summary There has been a long history of conflicts, studies, and debate over how to both protect rivers and develop them sustainably. With a pause in new developments caused by the global pandemic, anticipated further implementation of the Paris Agreement and high-level global climate and biodiversity meetings in 2021, now is an oppor...

Healthy rivers provide a broad range of services that benefit economies and communities but the concepts of water security, as well as water management in practice, have tended to focus on a narrow set of those services. Accomplishing the diverse objectives bundled under water security—including water quantity and quality, linkages with food securi...

Sand mining (used here as a generic term that includes mining of any riverine aggregates regardless of particle size) is a global activity that is receiving increasing media attention due to perceived negative environmental and social impacts. As calls grow for stronger regulation of mining, there is a need to understand the scientific evidence to...

An Amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

A morpho-sedimentary analysis of the Ayeyarwady delta shoreline was conducted based on a field mission in Myanmar in November 2016 and interpretation of satellite images spanning the period 1974-2019. These analyses were complemented by data on land-to-water conversion and vice versa within a 2 km-wide coastal fringe, and on MERIS-derived seasonal...

The question of the rampant erosion of the shorelines rimming the Mekong River delta has assumed increasing importance over the last few years. Among issues pertinent to this question is how it is related to mangroves. Using high-resolution satellite images, we compared the width of the mangrove belt fringing the shoreline in 2012 to shoreline chan...

Free-flowing rivers (FFRs) support diverse, complex and dynamic ecosystems globally, providing important societal and economic services. Infrastructure development threatens the ecosystem processes, biodiversity and services that these rivers support. Here we assess the connectivity status of 12 million kilometres of rivers globally and identify th...

The Ayeyarwady River delta (Myanmar) is a tide-dominated, meso-macrotidal delta characterized by multiple distributary mouths and affected by low to moderate-energy southwest monsoon waves. The delta lies in the pathway of tropical cyclones, of which the most devastating was Nargis (2-4 May, 2008), which resulted in severe socio-economic damage. Th...

River delta shorelines composed of sand may be characterized by complex spatial and temporal patterns of erosion and accretion even when sand supply is readily available. This is especially the case for deltas with multiple mouths subject to significant wave and tide influence. High-resolution topographical and wave and current measurements were co...

River delta shorelines may be characterised by complex patterns of sediment transport and sequestering at various timescales. These aspects are examined with reference to the mouths of the Mekong River delta, the world’s third largest delta, backbone of the Vietnamese economy and home to nearly 20 million people. Very high-resolution SPOT 5 satelli...

As international concern for the survival of deltas grows, the Mekong River delta, the world's third largest delta, densely populated, considered as Southeast Asia's most important food basket, and rich in biodiversity at the world scale, is also increasingly affected by human activities and exposed to subsidence and coastal erosion. Several dams h...

The Mekong delta, in Vietnam, is the world's third largest delta. Densely populated, the delta has been significantly armoured with engineering works and dykes to protect populations and infrastructure from storms, and shrimp farms from saltwater intrusion. Considerable development pressures in Vietnam and in the upstream countries have resulted in...

The Lower Mekong River has been an important research topic for at least 15 years, notably in the fields of hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, and the impact of dams. Recent papers refer mostly to the impact of the Lancang chain of hydroelectric dams constructed on the Chinese section of the river. Among the pending scientific questions are (1) the...

Sand and gravel mining from rivers has increased throughout the developed countries since at least the mid-1900s, for construction (concrete) and for landfill (railways, motorways, land reclamation in flooded areas, offshore reclamation). Over the past 30 years, this phenomenon has spread due to the economic development of countries such as China,...

Deltas are economic and environmental hotspots, food baskets for many nations, home to a large part of the world population, and hosts of exceptional biodiversity and rich ecosystems. Deltas, being at the land–water interface, are international, regional, and local transport hubs, thus providing the basis for intense economic activities. Yet, delta...

Engineering works in river basins that explicitly take into account floodplain hydraulic processes and dynamics, demonstrate a move towards more sustainable development in riparian areas. In this paper, this concept is applied to road planning and design in floodplains. The paper suggests that although a resilience strategy might require higher ini...

Marc Goichot describes the balancing act that the conservation organization WWF will play between energy and ecosystem demands in the Mekong river basin. The case of Quang Nam Province's Vu Gia-Thu Bon river-basin is illustrative of the considerations facing developers when tackling hydro power-development. The Mekong River's mainstream is a major...

This document presents a set of Best Practice Guidelines for road development and rehabilitation in the Mekong floodplains of Cambodia and Viet Nam. The guidelines are developed under the ‘Roads and Floods’ project1. The guidelines are based on the review of local practice, international experience, and case study results. They are intended for use...

This document presents a set of Best Practice Guidelines for road development and rehabilitation in the Mekong floodplains of Cambodia and Viet Nam. The guidelines are developed under the ‘Roads and Floods’ project1. The guidelines are based on the review of local practice, international experience, and case study results. They are intended for use...