ABSTRACT
The Bangladesh and Nile deltas are often cited as among the most vulnerable regions to sea-level rise driven by greenhouse warming (IPCC 1990a, b; Jacobson 1989b; Milliman, Broadus, and Gable 1989; Titus 1986). The geographic exposure of these two deltas, high population densities, poverty, and limited ability to defend themselves against natural disaster have placed them as archetypes among the world's “worst cases” of potential global-change impacts. Closer examination of these two cases, however, makes clear not only the importance of their vulnerability but also the huge uncertainties that remain about the impacts and the complex of options for response. As such, it emphasizes the critical role of uncertainties in global environmental-risk analysis, as argued in various chapters of this volume, beginning with chapter 1.
