Fluvial systems are considered as the economic engine in tropical regions; they have a central role in electricity production, and sustain the bulk of agricultural production and other high-value economical activities based on natural resources extraction (mining, fishing, timber). At the same time they can also be drivers of natural disasters such as floods, bank erosion and rapid channel migration. The overall scope of this project is to provide an integrated assessment of long-term direct impacts of climate variability and human-induced change and management of tropical rivers basins by identification, quantification and modeling of key hydro-geomorphologic indicators during the past and present times. The potential impacts of global change on fluvial systems and of their socio-economic implications will also be analyzed.

The most recent example of this is more than 120 km shift of the Kosi river in India when the new channel, ~32km wide carried 900,00 m3 of discharge and affected more than 500,000 people.