Bangladesh is dominated by three great rivers – the Jamuna–Brahmaputra, Ganga, and Meghna – that combine to feed sediment into one of the World's largest deltas in the Bay of Bengal. The Jamuna River has developed in a region of significant tectonic activity associated with Himalayan uplift and development of the Bengal foredeep. The bedload, although only ~10% of the total sediment load, is critical in generating a wide array of bedforms of different scale that drive channel change and migration. Within the Jamuna River, the ubiquitous occurrence of bifurcations and confluences is a key aspect of the river channel pattern and dynamics, and these features form important nodes in the braidbelt. The nature of floodplain sedimentation and inundation is vital in planning annual crop growth and may adopt great significance in the ongoing debate on the sources, causes, and accumulation of arsenic in the groundwaters of Bangladesh.

The main rivers of Bangladesh are boon and bane for the country. They supply water and fertile sediments allowing multiple crops per year, hundreds of waterways for navigation, rich fish stock and habitat diversity. But especially the dynamic, unpredictable Brahmaputra influenced rivers erode fertile floodplain land with long established settlements, flood embankments, roads, and all other communal infrastructure. The high sediment load and resulting continuous shifting of river courses impedes navigation and the inflows into the important distributary offtakes. Stabilization of these largest and most unpredictable rivers on the planet presents a huge challenge. Bangladesh has systematically developed the technology and experience to stabilize longer reaches of riverbanks and has commenced towards a holistic approach to stabilizing the Brahmaputra System from the Assam border to the Bay of Bengal. Current developments are concentrated in the Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Program, from which we present three recent key developments. First, we demonstrate phased gradual stabilization of the 60 km reach just upstream of the confluence with the Ganges following an adaptive approach, responding to massive riverbank erosion but also seizing the opportunities offered by the rivers during particular years towards systematic stabilization and land reclamation. Second, we show how an array of morphological prediction methods and mathematical models, developed over the past 25 years, is used for the planning and the design of interventions for stabilization. Third, we demonstrate our experiences with an innovative construction method for long guiding revetments, consisting of sand-filled geo-textile bags under water. Additionally, we discuss the feasibility, costs, benefits, environmental impacts and social impacts of river stabilization also with special attention to the pivoting role of stable distributary offtakes in the context of a wider river management plan.

The main rivers of Bangladesh are boon and bane for the country. They supply water and fertile sediments allowing multiple crops per year, hundreds of waterways for navigation, rich fish stock and habitat diversity. But especially the dynamic, unpredictable Brahmaputra influenced rivers erode fertile floodplain land with long established settlements, flood embankments, roads, and all other communal infrastructure. The high sediment load and resulting continuous shifting of river courses impedes navigation and the inflows into the important distributary offtakes. Stabilization of these largest and most unpredictable rivers on the planet presents a huge challenge. Bangladesh has systematically developed the technology and experience to stabilize longer reaches of riverbanks and has commenced towards a holistic approach to stabilizing the Brahmaputra System from the Assam border to the Bay of Bengal. Current developments are concentrated in the Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Program, from which we present three recent key developments. First, we demonstrate phased gradual stabilization of the 60 km reach just upstream of the confluence with the Ganges following an adaptive approach, responding to massive riverbank erosion but also seizing the opportunities offered by the rivers during particular years towards systematic stabilization and land reclamation. Second, we show how an array of morphological prediction methods and mathematical models, developed over the past 25 years, is used for the planning and the design of interventions for stabilization. Third, we demonstrate our experiences with an innovative construction method for long guiding revetments, consisting of sand-filled geo-textile bags under water. Additionally, we discuss the feasibility, costs, benefits, environmental impacts and social impacts of river stabilization also with special attention to the pivoting role of stable distributary offtakes in the context of a wider river management plan.

Bangladesh, occupying low-lying floodplains and tidal plains, has one of the largest and the most disaster-prone populous deltas in the world. The Bengal Delta is a tide-dominated delta, where tides play the key role in the sediment dispersal process and in shaping the delta. There are many studies and reports on river-dominated deltas, but research is sparse on tide-dominated deltas. The Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers, which combined form one of the three largest riverine sources of water and sediment for the world's oceans, have developed the Bengal Delta to its present form with an aerial extent of 10⁴ km². About 10¹² m³ of water with 10⁹ tonnes of sediment per year make this system morphologically active. In the last five decades, the Bengal Delta has prograded at a rate of 17 km²/y, whereas most large deltas elsewhere in the world suffered from sediment starvation. Delta progradation always makes the river system unstable, and rapid changes cause the delta to become dynamic. Sea level rise induced by unequivocal climate change and subsidence would make the delta more vulnerable in the coming decades. Although some literature is available on the millennium-scale development process of the Bengal Delta, sound knowledge on the decade-to century-scale processes of the delta development for facing the threats of climate change and deltaic subsidence is limited. In addition, there are significant differences in opinions and widely varying findings in the literature to the response of the delta to different natural and human interventions. Against this backdrop, relevant available literature on Bengal Delta and deltas elsewhere in the world, is reviewed and evaluated to provide direction for future research that would help to form a way out of the present situation and a way into sustainable planning for this delta.