Land-River-Coastal Systems
Land, rivers, lakes, and wetlands mobilize, transform, and deliver water and chemical constituents to the world's coastal zones. The coupled nature of this system is only now beginning to be recognized. Further, the human dimension of this linkage has been poorly articulated, yet the slender coastal fringe surrounding the land mass is particularly vulnerable to changes in upland drainage basin dynamics.
This lack of knowledge becomes critical as some estimates indicate that 50-60% of the global population currently lives in the coastal zone and this fraction is sure to rise over the coming decades. The recognition of drainage basins as linked land-ocean systems with an explicit human dimension is a unique aspect of the LaRCS initiative.
The graphics on the right represent global wetlands and sediment trapping, as taken from the World Water Development Report II database.