The papers from the Tenth International Symposium on Land Subsidence due to be held in Delft, the Netherlands in April 2020 are now available open access as PIAHS Volume 382.

Facilitating scientists in exchanging ideas and sharing research results and inspiring stories has always been the aim of the International Symposia on Land Subsidence. Organized by a local organizing committee under the auspices of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and the UNESCO Land Subsidence International Initiative, already nine successful symposia have been held since the first in Tokyo (Japan) in 1969. Contributions to each International Symposium were published as full papers by the IAHS, thereby creating an impressive collection of papers on land subsidence, freely available and accessible.

Scientists play an important role in providing the data, information, knowledge and tools to allow for well-founded decision making. TISOLS will bring together international experts from around the world to share the latest research and insights on natural and anthropogenically induced land-level lowering. A platform is provided to share our understanding of land subsidence, reliable data, and innovative techniques. Only an integrated effort will facilitate targeted strategies and solutions for long-term sustainable living conditions in subsiding areas. TISOLS takes on the challenge of linking geodetical, hydrological, geotechnical and geological knowledge to policy and socially acceptable solutions. To foster the link between the natural and social sciences and between science and society, five thematic sessions were created: (i) measuring and monitoring land subsidence, (ii) understanding land subsidence, (iii) modelling of land subsidence, (iv) impacts of land subsidence, (v) land subsidence coping strategies. The same themes have been used as chapters in the present PIAHS.

In the winter of 2020, the world has witnessed the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 or the coronavirus. Quickly it became clear that international travelling was considerably restricted and in the following weeks, large-scale meetings were completely banned. TISOLS 2020, to be held from 20–24 April 2020, had to be postponed to 2021. The new date for TISOLS is 17–21 May 2021, hoping that by then the situation has improved enough to be able to organize a great meeting.

While TISOLS was postponed just weeks before the original date, the Proceedings had almost been finished. It was decided to pursue the publication as planned to share the exciting research results and to do justice to all the work performed. The Proceedings contain a record of 136 papers of high quality from all over the world. The contribution to all five themes, including the themes focusing more on social sciences, is large. They are all essential to deal with land subsidence and we are grateful that we managed to link them here. We hope that this volume of papers will furnish inspiration for land subsidence research and policy formulation around the world, and we look forward to sharing the presented research results of these Proceedings in 2021!