Poster: Coastal squeeze in the Ayeyarwady delta

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Merel Kroon, Jolien Rip, Martine Rutten, Marcel Stive, Sai Wunna

Tuesday 30 june 2015

17:30 - 17:35h at Asia (level 0)

Themes: (T) Special session, (ST) Deltas from multiple pressures to integrated solutions, Poster pitches

Parallel session: 7C. Special session: Deltas - from multiple pressures to integrated solutions.

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Coastal squeeze is the reduction in the space of coastal habitats to operate (Phan et al, 2014) and an important cause for coastline retreat, increase in flood risk, salinity intrusion etc. Land use changes, such as deforestation and urbanization, reduce the space of natural habitats, such as mangrove forests, and cause deterioration of these habitats, that leads to reduction of their natural protective and provisioning functions. Costs related to these function losses can be avoided by early recognition of coastal squeeze and early action. In this research we investigate how remote sensing imagery data can contribute to early recognition of coastal squeeze. The case study is the lower Ayeyarwady delta in Myanmar, a crucial agricultural zone nicknamed the ‘Ricebowl of Myanmar’ . The coastal zone in Myanmar is subject to climate change, urbanization, extreme weather conditions (cyclones), increase in agri- and aquaculture and (illegal) felling of mangrove. This has already led to large loss of biodiversity and increased flood risk. Remote sensing analysis based on LANDSAT imagery has been done in attempt to identify land use and coastline change.change, urbanization, extreme weather conditions (cyclones), increase in agri- and aquaculture and (illegal) felling of mangroves. This has already led to large loss of biodiversity and increased flood risk. The objective of this research is to identify land use changes over the last 25 years and relate these to coastal squeeze. This will be done by means of remote sensing analysis, combined with field data gathered in December 2014 and January 2015. A qualitative process analysis will be done to identify physical factors that influence the sustainability of the coastal zone. Hot spots of coastal squeeze will be identified.