Living Deltas Hub
UKRI GCRF Report 2019-2024
Contents
Ecosystem Conservation, Restoration and Protection
Water quality monitoring in the Red River Delta
The challenge of mangrove restoration
Using lake sediments to identify human impacts on aquatic ecosystems
Meet the Researcher: Dr Abhra Chanda and Dr Richard Walton
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
The Global Delta Risk Index: integrating risk and sustainable development domains
Reliability of coastal protection and investment priorities in Bangladesh
Nature-based Solutions to respond to pluvial flooding in the Mekong Delta
Meet the Researcher: Ly Bui Ha and Jinghua Jiang
Livelihood Diversification and Adaptation
Ecologically sensitive organic farming in the Mekong River Delta
Red River Delta mangrove honey
Integrated assessment of livelihood risks and adaptations, including youth entrepreneurship in Bangladesh
Meet the Researcher: Md Feisal Rahman and Niki Black
Capacity Strengthening of Delta Communities
Ecosystem services for diverse livelihoods in the Mekong River Delta and the GBM Delta in Bangladesh
Health and nutritional status of communities in the GBM Delta in Bangladesh
Pathways to resilience and wellbeing in the GBM delta in India
Meet the Researcher: Lucy Roberts and Laura Beckwith
Delta Community Resilience and Wellbeing
Localising the SDGs and mapping SDG interactions for sustainability and inclusive action
Collaborating with NGOs to bring generations together for locally-led climate action
Volunteering for climate adaptation and disasters in the Indian Sundarbans
Meet the Researcher: Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan and Sumana Banerjee
Foreword
The roll out of the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) marked a high point in UK postcolonial ambitions for imaging development futures in innovative ways. By emphasising equitable ways of working, the GCRF promised a new generation of globally equipped, interdisciplinary-trained researchers and teams working across and beyond restrictions of difference, whether geographic, paradigmatic, language or other axes of social exclusion (notably race, gender, life course and sexuality). It has been my privilege to see up-close how the Living Deltas Hub has sought to address this crucial agenda, and to have seen how what started out as a funding mandate has been delivered as standard through the ‘nitty gritty’ of the Hub’s daily practice over more than five years. Enacting equitable partnerships became both a process and outcome at the heart of the Hub community’s achievements across five outcome domains: disaster risk, livelihoods, ecosystems, delta community resilience and wellbeing and capacity strengthening of delta communities and stakeholders. These outcome domains form the central structure of this five-year report.
Building and maintaining equitable partnerships in these contexts can never be a one-size-fits-all model or one-off task. The Covid-19 global pandemic and damaging cyclones brought dark times to the Living Deltas Hub as a community, yet solidarity, care, concern, and compassion continued to define all Hub working relationships. The sudden curtailment of GCRF funding cast a long shadow on Hub activities, requiring a protracted period of re-negotiation through 2020 and 2021. Despite such unexpected and detrimental structural impediments, efforts to build and nurture equitable partnership working continued across the Hub and with a growing list of external partner organisations. These inspirational experiences are now being taken forward in on-going network relationships and individual careers, as the ‘Meet the Researcher’ sections of the Report illustrate so vividly. In this report we can view the impressive achievements of the Hub through their experiences and as, in the words of Sumana Banerjee (page 36), how they all learnt ‘how to walk barefoot’ in the delta.
Professor Nina Laurie
University of St Andrews
Chair, International Advisory Board
Living Deltas Hub
Introduction
Launching the twelve Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Hubs in 2019, Professor Andrew Thompson, GCRF Champion for UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) emphasised that “the sheer scale and ambition of these Hubs is what makes them so exciting” as, together, they aimed to deliver “a coordinated global response with ... researchers working in partnership with governments, NGOs, community groups, international agencies, and academics across developing countries ... The Hubs are among the most ambitious investment the UK has to date made in international development research”.
The Hub commenced in March 2019 with 20 research organisations and some 20 partner organisations. In that time, the Living Deltas Hub has conducted highly interdisciplinary research for five years involving the natural & physical sciences, the arts & humanities, and the social sciences to characterise delta trajectories and tipping points (Figure 1), assess the ability of deltas to support diverse livelihoods and, in partnership with governments, NGOs, business and industry develop forward-looking policy for more sustainable delta futures. By mid-2024, partner numbers had risen to over 90 collaborating organisations and the Hub community in total comprised over 200 people from many different countries. In five years, the Hub has fostered a depth of understanding on sustainable delta futures only achievable through equitable partnerships involving sustained engagement of its 130+ academic researchers with a diverse range of stakeholders including NGOs and governments, industry and business, and civil society groups.
This five-year report outlines many of the outcomes we have delivered through our work on three major Asian mega-deltas - the Red River and the Mekong River deltas in Vietnam and the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) delta in Bangladesh and India. It describes our approach to natural-cultural heritage-sensitive knowledge co-creation through equitable partnerships to arrive at shared goals (Figure 2). Throughout, we emphasise the importance of creating a Hub legacy through capacity strengthening, and are especially proud of the fact that, of our 130+ academic researchers, 65 are early career researchers. We have therefore delivered on our intention of building the next generation of delta researchers. Our work has thrived despite the global Covid-19 pandemic, a series of damaging cyclones impacting Bangladesh and India, changes to the UK’s Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget - which essentially removed all twelve GCRF Hubs’ funding in 2020, followed by an extensive period of reporting to UK Government to re-secure our funding in late 2021.
Despite the impacts described above, the Living Deltas Hub has to date produced over 220 academic papers, held over 300 substantive engagement events of which two-thirds were international, received almost 80 awards and been associated with over £32 million of further funding. Sadly, in our five years, the Hub has also lost deeply cherished colleagues, and we fondly remember here Professor Saleemul Huq from our International Advisory Board, Dr Umme Kulsum Navera from BUET in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Dr Trung Chi Tran from VNU-CRES in Hanoi, Vietnam.
I hope, through reading about our work in this Report, you gain a flavour of the many achievements on which we intend to build from 2025 onwards through a formalised Living Deltas Research Network. Further information (academic papers, policy briefs, blogs etc.) can be found on our webpage: www.livingdeltas.org/resources.
Professor Andy Large
Newcastle University
PI and Director,
UKRI GCRF Living Deltas Hub
Figure 1:
Trajectory of delta social-ecological systems (SES) under rising human pressure over time, emphasising the relationship between increasing risk and vulnerability and loss of resilience related to degradation of delta ecosystem structure and function (more recently threatened further by climate change). There is an imperative to avoid tipping into more degraded or ‘collapsed’ states and the Hub’s 5-year research aimed at addressing this threat. Original SES descriptors modified from Renaud et al. 2013, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 5, 644-654.
Figure 2:
The Living Deltas Hub intended outcomes, our SDGs-oriented delivery mechanism, and how we work through a natural-cultural heritage-sensitive approach for more resilient delta futures.
Ecosystem Conservation, Restoration and Protection
Deltas encompass coastal mangroves, large and dynamic river systems and myriad water bodies. Each of the deltas the Hub has worked in is under significant threat due to population increase, land degradation and biodiversity loss, all exacerbated by climate change. The Hub has collected data vital to assessing delta ecosystem integrity.
For the first time, the Hub has:
Implemented novel monitoring techniques to assess tidal dynamics in mangroves - vital information to underpin mangrove restoration essential to buffering future sea level rise.
Established new water quality monitoring networks across the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Red River deltas.
Pioneered the use of lake sediments to understand aquatic ecosystem responses to human impact over time.
Together, this work increases our understanding of how human impacts are changing deltas and allows us to help governments and stakeholders deliver effective strategies for risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
CASE STUDY 1:
Water quality monitoring in the Red River Delta
In the Red River Delta we created a river water quality monitoring network, allowing us to assess spatial-temporal variability and trends over time across the delta and identify and quantify anthropogenic factors behind these changes. Our Red River Delta monitoring network consists of 21 sites at strategic locations along main tributaries, and upstream and downstream of human impacted regions and confluences. We have collected ~30 parameters on a monthly basis - physico-chemistry, nutrients, water stable isotopes, organic matter concentrations, primary producers - over the 5-year period from April 2019 to March 2024. We have also collected daily river flow and precipitation data for the period.
We identify a decrease of upstream pH in the Thao, Lo, and Da rivers from >8.0 in the early 2000s to an average of 7.5 today. A similar decline in pH over time has been observed for other large river systems rising on the eastern Tibetan plateau e.g. the Mekong and Yangtze Rivers. We demonstrate that this decline in pH is due to anthropogenic impacts, primarily deforestation, acid rain and mining. We also observe a clear trend of declining pH in urbanised areas which is attributed to high organic matter loading.
Our innovative work using NO3 dual stable
isotopes has allowed identification of nitrate-N sources in the catchment. Our Material Flow Analysis modelling demonstrates the relative contribution of urbanisation and agricultural activities in changing water quality over this time. The operation of upstream hydrological regimes (dams) also play a role in driving pollutant fluxes downstream.
In the previously unmonitored Indian Bengal Delta, the Hub established systematic sampling in 23 sites spread across the delta and its estuaries. These are sampled on a seasonal basis (pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon), an effort that involves a full two-week boat voyage to reach all sites.
Our monitoring in the Indian Bengal delta has highlighted an acute scarcity of freshwater due to increased salinity. Saline intrusion across the delta is not even, with an increase of salinity in central channels indicating that upstream land management changes are reducing the characteristic seasonal freshwater flushing to this part of the delta.
Our monitoring in the Indian Bengal delta has highlighted an acute scarcity of freshwater due to increased salinity. Saline intrusion across the delta is not even, with an increase of salinity in central channels indicating that upstream land management changes are reducing the characteristic seasonal freshwater flushing to this part of the delta.
CASE STUDY 2:
The challenge of mangrove restoration
The world has lost over 6,000 km2 of mangrove forests since 1996 and delta countries have ambitious plans to restore mangroves and reverse their decline.
However, 80% of mangrove restoration projects fail because mangroves are all-too often planted in the wrong place, as they are either too exposed or too sheltered. The Hub has addressed this by developing an innovative tool - the Mini-buoy, a low-cost sensor used to measure currents, waves, and tides - thereby measuring three key parameters that influence whether mangrove saplings flourish or fail. We have designed the Mini-buoy so that they are easy to build using materials that are easily accessible around the world (see Balke et al. 2021, HESS 25 1229-44).
We have deployed our Mini-buoys in Thai Binh in the Red River, Cau Mau province in the Mekong River, and at the margins of the Indian Sundarban in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta. Mini-buoys data from the Thai Binh Nature Reserve in the Red River Delta clearly evidences how mangrove restoration plantations were too waterlogged, which meant that saplings and young trees failed. We are working with managers at the reserve to deploy Mini-buoys to inform selection of more appropriate sites for future planting and we are tracking their progress at these new sites.
Mini-buoys therefore offer a game-changing tool for mangrove restoration, providing the underpinning data to facilitate decisions about appropriate sites for new plantations. They also offer the potential to understand other threatened coastal habitats, like salt marshes, seagrass meadows, and oyster reefs.
CASE STUDY 3:
Using lake sediments to identify human impacts on aquatic systems
The lack of long-term decadal monitoring in tropical river deltas means it is difficult to detect when and how delta ecosystems and water quality have changed over time.
Data about the timing of when impacts started, as well as their rates and trajectories, are essential for appropriate responses through resource management and delta policy development. In the absence of lengthy environmental data, palaeolimnology - the study of past lake and wetland sediments to reconstruct historical limnological and climatic conditions - can provide long-term perspectives of natural baselines (i.e. prior to the main period of human disturbance). This can help quantify variability within delta ecosystems and the impacts humans are having on the environment, also providing evidence to underpin policy or management strategies to improve their quality.
Using lead-210 dating, our delta palaeolimnology uses chronologically constrained sediment cores to provide temporal context in the study of organic and inorganic remnants found in sediments (referred to as proxies).
Stressors on river delta systems may be better understood using palaeolimnology. This diagram illustrates various stressors that may have significant impacts on delta systems. Sediments accumulating in aquatic systems may hold clues as to how the system is responding over time, and if systems are responding to management plans aimed at mitigating human impacts.
This allows us to uncover the historical environmental conditions of aquatic systems and their catchments over timescales of decades to millennia (infographic Walton et al. 2023, Anthropocene Review). In the Living Deltas Hub we have pioneered these approaches in delta settings to document human impacts on aquatic ecosystems at 19 lake and wetland sites across the Red River, Mekong and Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna deltas. Our research evidences that there has been a step-change in sedimentation rates at all these sites, which coincides with agricultural expansion and intensification and other land use changes. Alongside these changes there is also evidence for a shift in aquatic ecosystems to a more nutrient-rich status and through lake coring we can determine when this eutrophication process began. While water remains an important symbol of life and rebirth in many delta cultures, when compared to larger river channels, ponds are under-researched. Our work on delta community ponds has been published in an innovative and accessible multimedia format - a first in regional geography (Moorhouse et al. 2021, Geo 8, e00103). This recent historical context provides vital longer-term information to inform contemporary approaches to delta management.
During my time in Living Deltas I contributed to the research design and implementation of a new water quality network in the previously unmonitored Indian Bengal Delta in West Bengal. Such monitoring was much needed given the total absence of any delta-wide water quality information and the threats to the delta from local, regional and global environment change.
I executed systematic sampling in 23 pre-fixed stations spread across the GBM-I estuaries sending weeks at a time afloat in the beautiful Sundarbans. I also helped in sampling sediment cores from ox-bow lakes situated upstream from the delta to study the history of rivers that drained and led to the formation of the GBM delta. I participated in sampling lentic (standing water) ecosystems - primarily several types of shallow ponds (used for multiple livelihood purposes) in the Indian GBM delta - and have worked in teams studying and analysing the biogeochemical status of these ponds.
Having the opportunity to work with researchers from across the world has been a privilege. Working in the Hub has improved my knowledge of data analysis and sediment sampling techniques. As a physical scientist,
I have been able to learn how to work across disciplines, and understand how biogeochemical data has implications for delta society and the economy.
My role in the Hub was to use lake sediments to understand changes in hydroclimatic variability over time and to determine the impacts of human activities on lake ecosystems. This represents pioneer science as nothing like this had been done in the deltas before. My time in the Hub has allowed me to develop new practical and analytical skills and has supported my growth as a cross-disciplinary researcher.
The most exciting aspect of my work so far is our emerging evidence quantifying human impacts on lake ecosystems over recent historical times. For the first time, policy makers and resource managers have real data that provides them with the chance to be proactive in their efforts toward becoming more sustainable and resilient.
Throughout my work I have learned how to prepare for all kinds of challenges. For example, I spent two years marooned in the UK as a result of the Covid pandemic instead of on the deltas, coring. Working on something of the scale of the Hub can be frenetic and I’ve learned that progress is best achieved through meaningful collaboration. The work I have done would not have been possible without the enthusiasm and dedication that so many of our Hub colleagues based in the deltas have shown. For that I will be always grateful.
Since leaving the Hub, Dr Walton is now a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton.
““After many years, when I return, there are still many trees. The temperature in Vietnam is often high ... Green trees not only bring shade but also create a clean and cool environment.””
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Delta social-ecological systems are increasingly threatened by natural hazards through increases in their frequencies and/or magnitude, increased exposure and in some places, increased vulnerability. Hub research has investigated ways to better characterise these risks within a broader framework of sustainable development and developed tools and approaches to provide scientifically informed, practical and realistic solutions to reduce these risks. We have developed an innovative web-based app, DeLTAS (Delta Learning Tool for Assessing Sustainability: www.deltastoolkit.com), designed to use respondents’ knowledge of nine major delta elements to both build an integrated picture of delta status and identify gaps in knowledge which may be hindering efforts to sustainably manage the deltas for the future.
For the first time in these deltas, the Hub has:
Integrated indicators typically used to characterise the dimensions of risk to natural hazards with sustainability indicators emanating from the Sustainable Development Goals to address combined disaster risk reduction and sustainable development objectives.
Developed a modelling environment to identify the most suitable locations for deployment of different types of Nature-based Solutions to reduce flood risks.
Demonstrated that maintaining existing embankments in polder areas in Bangladesh bring more benefits than raising embankment height, and that a combination of coastal afforestation with well-maintained embankments constitutes an effective hybrid solution to reduce impacts from storm surges on embankments.
CASE STUDY 1:
The Global Delta Risk Index:
Integrating risk and sustainable development domains
Risk assessments related to natural hazards typically cover the dimensions of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Increasingly, social and ecological dimensions of risks are being considered simultaneously to characterise risks to social-ecological systems. It is well known that disasters triggered by natural hazards affect development gains, and that development can increase or decrease risks. The Hub is integrating indicators that address both risk and sustainability dimensions synergistically, something that is not systematically yet done.
The Global Delta Risk Index (GDRI) has previously been developed explicitly to characterise sub-delta scale disaster risks linked to natural hazards. The intent of our research was to develop the GDRI further by incorporating relevant indicators used to characterise progress against some of the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) targets. Impact chains were developed through a literature review, and by working in partnership with stakeholders in the Red River, Mekong and Ganges-Brahmaputra-Megna deltas, we visualised cascading effects from hazards, other anthropogenic changes, vulnerability, and ultimately risk to livelihoods from multiple natural hazards. Linkages between risk dimensions and processes and indicators from the SDGs and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) were identified and integrated within a new, unified framework (Infographic: Cremin et al. 2023, Sustainability Science 18, 1871-91). The new version of the GDRI therefore now incorporates indicators and information that integrates classical risk dimensions with the SFDRR and the SDGs, providing a more systemic perspective on risk and informing on risk reduction measures that also consider sustainable development dimensions.
Alignment of the Global Delta Risk Index original framework with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development Goals. Source: Cremin et al. 2023. Sustainability Science.
CASE STUDY 2:
Reliability of coastal protection
and investment priorities in Bangladesh
The coastal social-ecological system of Bangladesh is struggling to cope with the combined impacts of recurrent cyclones and associated storm surge hazards as well as with the impacts of climate change on infrastructure, lives and livelihoods. Embankments are the principal infrastructure implemented around the system of polders to protect the tidal floodplain from the highest spring tidal flood. However, embankments repeatedly fail to protect the floodplains during low and moderate strength storm surges. Strengthening of embankments is a priority in national level planning and policy documents, with emphasis on increasing the height (and width) of polder embankments. The Hub’s work addresses the major question of whether raising embankments is necessary as a climate change protection measure, or whether investment should be prioritised towards maintenance of the existing infrastructure.
We have investigated coastal embankment reliability in protecting tidal floodplains from cyclonic storm surge for the last two decades using a range of hydrodynamic simulations of storm surges using different scenarios constructed around embankment heights, and sea level rise.
Our findings for a range of plausible sea level rise scenarios indicate that coastal embankments, if kept at design heights and properly maintained, will protect tidal floodplains inside the polders against moderate to large cyclonic storm surges.
Cyclone and storm surge-induced damage to embankments and subsequent inundation inside polders are predominantly linked to structural weakness and lowered height of embankments. Our findings clearly demonstrate to policymakers that more benefit will result from systematically strengthening and maintaining embankments, as opposed to the costs of wide-scale raising of embankment height. Finally, our work in SW Bangladesh shows that a combination of coastal afforestation with well-maintained embankments offers significant potential as a hybrid (grey and green) Nature-based Solution for lessening impacts of storm surge thrust force on embankments by as much as 50%, thus reducing maintenance needs over the long term.
CASE STUDY 3:
Nature-based solutions to respond to pluvial flooding in the Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta, characterised by unique geographic and climatic conditions, is highly susceptible to flooding, which is often caused by the confluence of high river flow, high tide, and heavy rainfall. The Hub has focused modelling on Can Tho, the largest city on the Mekong Delta, which is particularly vulnerable to such compound flood events. Through systematic statistical analysis of historical data, our research highlights how these factors are combined to exacerbate flood risk in the region.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognized for their potential in sustainable flood risk management as well as creating further benefits, e.g. water quality improvement. However, traditional design and implementation of NbS often relies heavily on subjective experience, leading to variation in effectiveness. Loughborough University Hub co-investigators developed an innovative semi-automated framework to identify the most suitable locations for deployment of different types of NbS to achieve optimised performance. This involved multiple factors including flood risk, topography, infiltration capability, and land use. The approach integrates a high-performance hydrodynamic model with numerical methods representing various NbS to simulate the performance of NbS under different flood scenarios.
Results demonstrate a significant reduction of flood risk across different scales and highlight the importance of systematic design to better achieve the potential of NbS.
Additionally, the Loughborough team has developed a new Coupled Human And Natural Systems (CHANS) modelling framework to mitigate the risk of pluvial (rainfall-driven) flooding. The new CHANS framework has been successfully demonstrated through leveraging hierarchical reinforcement learning (RL) to guide scheduling and deployment of mobile pumping stations for effective emergency flood management in Can Tho. Our aim is holistic integration of optimised NbS and RL-informed emergency management to provide a future-proof approach for effective urban flood risk management to address the complex challenges created by climate change and urbanisation.
I have been a senior researcher at the Central Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES), Vietnam National University, Hanoi for some 20 years. In this time I have been a researcher on numerous research and development projects, spanning environmental conservation, sustainable development, and community resilience. These projects have been funded by donors such as UKRI, IDRC (Canada) and several government ministries in Vietnam. I have had extensive experience of working with local authorities, communities, and other civic organisations, managing several projects. Within the Living Deltas Hub I have worked on the Red River Delta from the inception of the Hub in 2019 up to the end of its UKRI funded period in 2024.
With the Hub Deputy Director, Dr Hue Le, I helped lead the CRES team carry out household surveys investigating delta tipping points and local livelihoods in Hai Phong, Thai Binh and Ninh Binh provinces. One of the roles I most enjoyed on the Hub was helping overseas researchers from the Living Deltas Hub with the logistics of conducting their field studies in the Red River Delta. I have really benefited from my time as part of this unique, international research Hub and look forward to more opportunities for collaborating with Hub colleagues in coming years.
I joined the Living Deltas Hub as a research associate in compound flooding risk management to bridge my academic interests with real-world impact, particularly in addressing climate change effects on the Mekong deltas. The Hub has been a valuable experience for me, both professionally and personally.
Through the Hub, I've honed my statistical analysis skills and gained a deeper understanding of flood dynamics in the Mekong Delta. Working with an interdisciplinary team from over five countries and institutions has taught me the importance of collaboration and effective communication, which are essential in any research environment. The support from experienced mentors, specialised workshops, and networking opportunities has been invaluable.
One of the highlights of my involvement was developing a spatial distribution framework for Nature-based Solutions (NbS). This tool strategically places NbS based on flood risk and geographical characteristics. Unlike traditional methods, it integrates risk and environmental factors, semi-automatically allocating different NbS types accordingly. This tool provides practical insights into improving flood mitigation strategies.
Being part of the Hub has made me a more skilled and motivated researcher. My experience gained through the Hub's helped me secure a Vice-Chancellor Independent Research Fellowship at Loughborough University, and will allow me to build on my Hub research through studying the effects of Nature-based Solutions in the Vietnam Mekong Delta across a range of scales.
““Before there was no place to go in case of river erosion or cyclone, now we can go to the cyclone centre and take shelter.””
Livelihood Diversification and Adaptation
Livelihoods in deltas are highly diverse. For most people, particularly in rural communities, these livelihoods are dependent on healthy ecosystems. Natural ecosystems are threatened by human activities, natural hazards and the multiple impacts of climate change. The livelihoods of communities, such as agriculture, aquaculture and industrialization, contribute to environmental degradation and thus endanger their livelihoods through feedback. Through almost 5,000 household surveys, the Hub has analyzed community livelihoods in depth and co-developed strategies with communities to increase their resilience.
The Living Deltas Hub has:
Worked with communities to co-develop resilient livelihoods.
Supported communities to develop these livelihoods and/or protect the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend.
Developed tools to analyze livelihoods and their complex drivers in order to propose solutions for more resilient livelihoods in the face of future multiple threats.
Together, this work increases our understanding of how livelihoods are dependent on ecosystems, how these ecosystems could and should be preserved so that they can continue to supply vital ecosystem services. Working in partnership with communities has allowed us to identify more resilient livelihoods for coastal communities in the deltas.
CASE STUDY 1:
Ecologically sensitive organic farming in the Mekong Delta
Rice is a key staple food and income source for millions of smallholder farmers in the Mekong River Delta. It is also an important source of export income for Vietnam. Shrimp aquaculture production and fresh vegetable production are a growing industry for local people. However, the Mekong Delta’s food system is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and changes in the biophysical environment. Intensive rice, shrimp and vegetables farming require high quantities of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and artificial feeds which pollute the water and aquatic environments, and degrade soils and biodiversity.
The Hub has collaborated with academics and external stakeholders: government, NGOs, business, and farmers to undertake research for promoting sustainable agricultural food systems in Soc Trang, Ca Mau and An Giang provinces. After three years of conversion from conventional to organic rice, 22 smallholder farmers in Soc Trang province have improved their income, and a total of 50 hectares of converted rice areas were certified fully organic. Organic rice net return after the Hub’s intervention was VND mil 35/ha, significantly higher than the conventional rice crop.
Vitally, trust was built between farmers, cooperatives and traders, and farm extension advisors. In addition, some very small Khmer households in the Tri Ton District of An Giang province adopted organic vegetable farming methods to trade with local safe food enterprises.
A key additional benefit was observed whereby biodiversity of the paddy fields increased, with wild freshwater fish, rice field crabs, and reptiles returning to the rice paddy fields. Modelling showed that the quality of water and soils was much improved. The research findings have been adopted through revised local government organic agriculture policies, as well as environmental and natural resources management policies. In May 2024 our research findings were disseminated to farmers and businesses and representative staff of the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development in the Mekong Delta, at an international workshop on delta agricultural food systems, health, and natural-cultural heritage. Research outcomes have also been linked to the Vietnamese government's One Million low carbon rice initiative.
CASE STUDY 2:
Red River Delta mangrove honey
The Hub conducted focus group discussions and key informant interviews with officials at the city, district and commune levels, and worked to help authorities, the local cooperative director and beekeepers recognise the importance of beekeeping for local economic opportunities. We supported the beekeeping group in developing a plan of operations,with training provided for group members.
A One Commune One Product (OCOP) certification dossier with the Vinh Quang mangrove honey certification has been submitted to the District People's Committee of Tien Lang. With the OCOP certification, beekeeping group members are confident that many more customers will appreciate the artisan nature of Red River Delta mangrove honey. The Vinh Quang case study evidences that environmentally friendly beekeeping in the mangrove forests brings beekeepers economic benefits. Beekeeping is considered a new livelihood for coastal communities living next to the mangroves, contributing to poverty alleviation for coastal rural Vietnam. In encouraging beekeepers to be active protectors of mangroves, the Hub is promoting livelihood diversification and adaptation and enhancing sustainable mangrove management.
Vinh Quang is a coastal commune of Tien Lang district, Hai Phong City in the Red River Delta. The commune has between 3,500 and 4,000 hectares of mangrove forest. Villagers are engaged in farming rice and cash crops (e.g. tobacco, onions, garlic), animal husbandry, aquaculture and fishing. Recently however, agriculture and aquaculture have been severely affected by saline intrusion, water pollution, and climate change.
The Living Deltas Hub is promoting sustainable alternative income - mangrove flower honey production - thereby helping villagers to contribute to the protection of the local mangrove ecosystems. This in turn, helps them sustain their livelihoods and adapt to climate change. Mangrove forest beekeeping is a long-established practice and, according to elderly people in the commune, bees play a key role in pollinating agricultural crops. Locals believe that use of chemicals to increase crop productivity leads to declines in bee populations, seriously impacting crop yields.
CASE STUDY 3:
Integrated assessment of livelihood risks and adaptations, including youth entrepreneurship in Bangladesh
The coastal zone of Bangladesh is composed of distinct social-ecological systems (SES). Within these, people adopt single or multiple interdependent livelihoods. The Hub has developed a Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) model to systematically assess livelihoods of different communities and their specific risks, analyse trade-offs between strategies and identify strategies for delta community resilience. We are quantifying how risk to a particular livelihood may increase with increasing stress towards ‘livelihood tipping points’, and how and to what extent strategies targeted towards reducing this risk may create more favourable conditions to ensure the sustainability of that specific livelihood group.
We applied the CHANS model to the coastal SES located in the Sundarbans Impact Zone, where a major fraction of livelihoods comprised Sundarbans fishers, honey collectors) and Golpata (Nipha palm tree) fruit collectors. Together with crop farmers, shrimp cultivators, marine fishers, labourers and off farm services, the surveyed group contained a high degree of livelihood diversity (47% engaging in two, and 34% in three or more, livelihood activities).
Our CHANS modelling enabled quantification of different social-political-economic-physical settings, the interdependencies among livelihood adaptations and impact of interventions on different livelihoods within a system. The integrated CHANS model generates plausible livelihood risk scenarios incorporating changing climate impacts and policy interventions in different settings, and thus helps more risk-informed planning decisions to be taken for greater sustainability of traditional delta livelihoods.
In addition to research on traditional SES livelihoods, the Hub’s work is showing that engaging delta communities, especially youth, in entrepreneurship is critically important. The Hub Youth in Entrepreneurship (YiE) initiative, launched in the delta in close partnership with six youth-facing NGOs, demonstrates that what delta youth ultimately need is ‘micro-incubation’, a locally formed platform to provide targeted assistance from the very early stages of business start-ups. Implications for policy are (a) that detailed value chain mapping of the most promising products is essential, and (b) that delta youth-centric entrepreneurial policy at all levels from local to national is needed, aligning with locally relevant entrepreneurial opportunities and constraints.
I worked with the Hub's Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team, and was directly involved in developing the monitoring and evaluation framework of the Hub. I spent an exciting two and half years with the Hub between March 2020 and November 2022. It was a tremendous learning experience for me and contributed to strengthen my knowledge on delta management and honed my research skills. During my stay with the Hub, I made new friends and met colleagues with diverse perspectives and knowledge which shaped my thinking.
The care, support and guidance I received from my supervisor Prof. Louise Bracken as well as the Hub Director Prof. Andy Large and Hub Manager Libby Wood largely shaped my time with the Hub. I learned first hand from my Hub colleagues how to support a large and diverse team of researchers and keep them motivated during difficult times such as the Covid-19 lockdowns.
The academic and professional lessons acquired during my time with the Hub will inform my scientific thinking and professional actions in the future. I cherish my memories of the Hub and the values we shared in developing a strong network of researchers working to build sustainable and climate resilient futures for river deltas.
Since leaving the Hub, I have been based in Dhaka, working as Senior Water and Climate Adaptation Specialist for the Global Centre on Adaptation.
Creative methods enable multiple means of communicating feelings, knowledge and observation, fears and future aspirations. Part of my work in Living Deltas used creative methods with artists and young people across India, Bangladesh and UK to explore and share responses to nature and changing environment and consider positive approaches to future sustainability.
In India we worked with two Kolkata based artists/ filmmakers with 12 to 19 year olds from Bali villages, Sundarbans. The week-long workshops explored the impact of climate change through drawing, storytelling and photography and culminated in an exhibition in Bali.
In Munshiganj, Bangladeshi Sundarbans, we created stories and placards with a Dhaka filmmaker/journalist and school children aged 12 to 16 and ran a mangrove planting workshop in collaboration with a local NGO, demonstrating practical measures in mitigating climate change. Creative outputs were shared internationally between young participants.
Our research found that cultural practices (performances, beliefs, stories) in the delta reflect the close relationship between humans and environment and contribute to sustainable deltas by promoting responsible and caring interactions and social continuity.
Working on the Living Deltas Hub reinforced my view of the criticality of championing the integral role of culture in achieving better environmental sustainability, especially in highly vulnerable river deltas.
““In the past people collected honey from the forests, there was no need to keep bees because of the forest ... This place was covered with forests.””
Delta Community Resilience and Wellbeing
Delta communities are currently experiencing an increase in exposure to the impacts of wider climate change, as well as reduction of income from traditional agriculture-based livelihoods due to erosion, saline water intrusion, extreme weather events and associated impacts. Disaster risk is not only linked to the severity of hazards, or the number of people or assets exposed but is also a reflection of the susceptibility of the system to be adversely affected by the hazard.
Delta dwellers’ vulnerability can be the greatest factor in determining the risks they face, and their resilience. Building delta community resilience requires navigation of a suite of social-cultural, geographical and ecological complexities. The Hub’s research and the data collected through in-depth community engagement provide vital evidence to underpin strategies to foster resilience and wellbeing. We have:
Implemented a major household survey, generating data from 3,949 households in the GBM Delta (India and Bangladesh) and the Red River and Mekong River deltas in Vietnam. This has generated information on community perceptions and experiences of natural hazards, and hopes for the future.
Developed a detailed livelihood vulnerability framework for how vulnerability links to land use, land cover dynamics, and ecosystem services, and quantified the role of ecosystem services for diverse livelihoods in both the Mekong River Delta and the GBM Delta in Bangladesh.
In the GBM Delta in Bangladesh, generated evidence around the health, nutritional status and wellbeing of delta dwellers and the impact of disasters on these.
CASE STUDY 1:
Ecosystem services for diverse livelihoods in the Mekong River Delta and the GBM Delta in Bangladesh
The Hub carried out research on ecosystem services in Ben Tre Province in the Mekong Delta and in the Sundarbans region in Southwest Bangladesh. The Sundarbans, renowned for its diverse biodiversity and distinctive socio-ecological system, is ideal to study the interplay between ecological dependency, income levels, livelihood priorities, and vulnerability to natural hazards.
Our research revealed distinct patterns that underscore the importance of ecosystem services in sustaining delta communities, with different ecosystem services prioritized by different livelihood groups. Households with lower incomes exhibit a higher reliance on ecosystem services, highlighting the crucial role these services play in supporting livelihoods. Approximately one third of the Sundarbans respondents are engaged in fishing and subsistence is intricately connected to the mangrove forest system. Half of those surveyed depend primarily on mangrove forests and watercourses. As income rises, other ecosystems (e.g., agriculture fields, aquaculture, wetlands, and grazing lands) contribute to peoples’ earnings. High-income groups are less affected by hazards, suggesting a complex relationship between income, ecological dependency, and vulnerability.
Coastal ecosystems in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta provide an array of ecosystem services to people. However, these coastal regions face rapidly rising climate change exacerbated issues. The dominant land use in Ben Tre is orchards (49% of land cover). Aquaculture ponds for shrimp cover 17% of the land, with rice now only covering 6% of the province. The Hub’s research addressed gaps in our understanding of the capacity of food production systems to provide ecosystem services, as well as co-benefits (synergies) and/or trade-offs amongst different ecosystem services. Addressing these gaps is crucial in the context of contemporary land management and rising climate change-induced challenges. The take-home message is that in terms of regional and local climate regulation and net primary productivity, orchards have higher ecosystem services provision potential than aquaculture with occurrence of ‘hotspots’ (zones of very high ecosystem service provision) being primarily in orchard areas.
Thus orchards (typically a mix of Coconut with other salt tolerant local fruits) might hold the key to system resilience in the face of rising salt intrusion and higher incidence of drought.
CASE STUDY 2:
Health and nutritional status of communities in the GBM Delta in Bangladesh
The GBM delta in Bangladesh (GBM-B) is one of the most vulnerable regions of the world in terms of natural hazards, yet evidence around the health-related impact of disasters is scarce. The Hub’s research by icddr,b - one of the world’s leading global health research institutes - generated evidence around health, nutritional status and wellbeing of delta dwellers. Of 3,213 adult individuals surveyed, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression were very common, and health-related quality of life scores were lower compared to other population groups in Bangladesh (0.68 versus 0.76). Of 508 children aged under-five years surveyed, 27% were stunted (compared to the national average of 24%) while 16% were wasted with 28% underweight - higher than national averages of 11% and 22%, respectively. Socioeconomic status and loss of income due to repeat disasters were identified as significant influencing factors.
According to residents, frequent disasters in the area result in shortage of food and fresh water. Disasters also affect livestock and the wider agricultural system resulting in reduced production of milk and a limitation of access to nutritious food.
The Hub’s research evidenced widespread food insecurity (prevalence 39.5%) in the GBM-B, where 3% of households were classified as experiencing severe food insecurity.
This lack of food security was found to be more profound in terms of economic and health effects for those affected by recent disasters. Lack of disaster preparedness and a focus on post-disaster activities was identified as a challenge. Healthcare provision during disasters also lacks adequate surge capacity to provide the right care at the right time. Lack of skilled manpower, insufficient infrastructure and resources and poor communication systems were identified as major challenges to healthcare provision during disasters.
As well as highlighting the importance of studying interrelationships between climate change and health, equity gaps in health and nutritional status and lack of access to food, the Hub’s evidence base will help the design of targeted interventions to improve health and wellbeing of the delta dwellers of Bangladesh.
CASE STUDY 3:
Pathways to resilience and wellbeing in the GBM Delta in India
The GBM delta in India (GMB-I) forms one of the largest hydrological systems and contiguous mangrove ecosystems in the world. Its richness in biodiversity and man-animal coexistence created a place entangled in contestations compounded with rising climate hazards like cyclones, flooding and sea level rise. 4.5 million people have been caught between the conflicting realities of socioeconomic development to improve livelihoods of the majority versus fragile ecology and the need to conserve these unique tropical coastal ecosystems.
To address the vulnerability of local communities, mainstream development measures revolve around infrastructure. They constitute top-down and piecemeal approaches focusing on embankments, cyclone shelters and relief activities during extreme events and ignore social-ecological attributes of the dynamic delta landscape. Frequently these interventions prove ineffective in reducing vulnerability of people or conserving ecosystems. The Hub’s research developed a shared understanding among diverse stakeholders on vulnerability, wellbeing and resilience.
Focus group discussions and workshops in four areas of the GBM-I quantified dimensions of the delta socio-ecological system, connections between system attributes and sub-attributes, sustainability challenges and helped develop pathways towards suitable alternatives. Our research developed communication tools to create a collective and holistic understanding of vulnerability, resilience and wellbeing of delta communities and ecosystems. Traditional, siloed, narratives of conservation, saline intrusion, embankments and other infrastructure can adversely influence the overall wellbeing of rural delta communities.
We have shown how mapping the intersectionality of social, physical, economic and environmental dimensions of development pathways helps a better understanding of the value of multifaceted vulnerability assessments. Our research has shown how a sense of wellbeing enables improvement in social capital and agency formation in delta communities, raising their ability to cope with rapidly changing delta landscapes and rising natural hazards.
In the Living Deltas Hub, I worked closely with the Red River Delta team on the flux of riverine suspended sediment and heavy metal concentrations to understand if the delta is currently acting as a source or a sink of pollutants to the coastline and how this might change under future climate.
My work on the Hub spanned the difficult period of January 2020 - August 2021 when most Hub members were locked down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Communication and enthusiasm across the Hub could have been badly affected, but it was a time that the Hub community came together, learning the value of technology for communication and working together to achieve results.
Working on the Hub has changed my approach to research design and I now consider the impact of my research in a much broader sense. I aim to integrate community knowledge and needs into environmental research and understand, appreciate, and consider interdisciplinary social and physical science approaches to environmental challenges.
I am now more aware how understudied many tropical regions are in my area of research, despite the enormity of environmental challenges that these regions face. It has encouraged me to continue to collaborate with Hub colleagues, but also to highlight this inequality in research intensity to my students.
Since leaving the Hub, I am now Lecturer in Environmental Change at University College London.
Before joining the Living Deltas Hub, I completed my PhD in International Development at the University of Ottawa Canada. In my PhD I focused on community-led adaptation to climate change in urban areas. I held the position of Research Fellow at Northumbria University with Living Deltas from February 2021 to February 2022. As part of Work Package 1, I delivered key informant interviews with civil society and government stakeholders working on environmental issues in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
I also collaborated with colleagues at Newcastle University and An Giang University on an intergenerational research project that combined participatory mapping and oral histories to understand how younger and older people experience environmental change in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Both the research findings and reflections on this innovative methodology were published as journal articles and a book chapter as well as being presented at conferences.
Working with other colleagues at Northumbria University, I co-designed and facilitated participatory online research with young environmental leaders in the Mekong Delta to understand what it means for young people to participate in organised environmental activities and lead others in their own way. This was a particularly enjoyable aspect of my work with the Living Deltas Hub.
Since leaving the Hub I am now based in Cambodia and working as Mekong Coordinator at the Australian Water Partnership.
““What we need for the future in our area is sustainable embankments. Then we don’t need anything else.” ”
Capacity Strengthening of Delta Communities
The Living Deltas Hub’s research and engagement activities have enabled the exchange of knowledge and ideas between different actors. The Hub uses the Utrecht University definition of transdisciplinarity as ‘research that integrates knowledge across academic disciplines and with non-academic stakeholders to address societal challenges.’ A key aim is to ensure that scientific rigour meets societal relevance. Capacity-strengthening is multi-directional as we learn together and develop ideas and approaches to support delta sustainability. Through connecting with non-academic actors at community, local, national, and international levels the Hub has developed new approaches for generating data, kick-started dialogues, and proposed solutions to address key delta sustainability issues.
Over the life of the Hub, we have had over 130 researchers directly engaged in carrying out Hub activities, with around 60% being employed by on-delta institutions, with an additional 10% being Vietnamese, Bangladeshi and Indian nationals employed through our other institutions in the UK, Europe, the US and Canada. Importantly, some 50% have been early career researchers. Researchers have consistently reported that collaborations and partnerships developed have been one of the key takeaways from their time in the Hub. The following case studies highlight the Hub’s work on understanding and monitoring key sustainability issues in different deltas co-developed via the relationships and networks we have built with community, civil society, academic and government actors.
CASE STUDY 1:
Localising the SDGs in the Red River Delta and mapping SDG interactions in the Mekong Delta for sustainability and inclusive action
While SDG implementation in Vietnam occurs through different national target programmes and is integrated in socio-economic development plans, there is a lack of joined-up approaches. Our research shows that, in Vinh Phuc and Nam Đinh provinces in the Red River Delta, the biggest challenge to SDG implementation is inadequate cooperation and cohesion between implementing departments. In response the Hub developed a tool kit - Participatory Local Resource Assessment - that promotes greater local participation by highlighting the interconnected nature of the SDGs and how they can be integrated across different departments, ministries and agencies.
The Hub has provided training on monitoring, natural resources, family finance planning, and community mobilisation initiatives targeting green agriculture. This enhanced farmers’ resilience by improving knowledge around the importance of protecting ecosystems for SDG progress. The Hub has encouraged SDG implementation through policy advocacy while creating learning and exchange opportunities between communities and government departments. Our Red River Delta work promotes local engagement with SDG16 for more adaptive governance.
In the Mekong Delta the SDGs are also used to promote coordinated and inclusive government-level solutions. However, this high-level approach ignores local and indigenous practices - the delta ecosystem is vital to biodiversity and agriculture, but delta dwellers have little say in its governance.
In each of the Mekong Delta's four hydrological zones - the upstream zone, the middle freshwater zone, the coastal brackish water zone, and the Ca Mau coastal zone, SDG focus group discussions were held with local communities (16% Khmer, 84% Kinh). We confirmed that SDG targets for employment and sustainable rural development do influence local decision-making, but that ecosystem protection was seen as less important than livelihoods and growth.
For the Mekong Delta, the Hub has evidenced that:
Delta ecosystem services support agriculture and protect the region from natural hazards.
For SDG2 and SDG6, new agricultural technology and practices may increase income inequality and harm ecosystems.
Economically vulnerable, structurally marginalised, and climate-at-risk communities' needs lack consideration. Small-scale and landless farmers in particular face SDG trade-offs.
There is a need for delta ecosystems and environmental flows to be included in coordinated transboundary water governance (SDG 6.5).
CASE STUDY 2:
Collaborating with NGOs to bring generations together for locally-led climate action
The Hub has worked with rural communities in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and the Bangladesh Sundarbans to explore older and younger generations experiences of environmental and climate change. Teams of early career researchers in both countries were trained in oral history and visual methods, and engaged with over 200 women and men aged between 18 and 87 years of age over repeat visits to the communities.
Our research found that people in rural delta communities, irrespective of their age, share many similar experiences of, and concerns about, environmental change and climate change, and that in both Vietnam and Bangladesh there exists significant mutual respect between generations regarding their different knowledge, skills, and capacities.
In January 2023, to further explore the concept of intergenerational solidarity and the climate crisis, we brought together representatives from leading youth and older peoples' NGOs, HelpAge International and Restless Development, for a webinar and series of follow-up research engagements.
The direct outcome was a co-funded pilot between the Hub and the NGO initiative in Nepal and Uganda to test the value of bringing older and younger people together to share experiences of, and discuss responses to, the impacts of climate change in most-affected communities. Together with local partner organisations, the Hub co-designed a programme of intergenerational dialogue sessions and grants for follow-up work in rural and urban communities in both countries. 101 people participated actively in the sharing of existing, and generation of new ideas for responding to the challenges they face. A short film and publication share the results of this pilot initiative.
Based upon the positive outcomes in both Uganda and Nepal, the Hub engaged with HelpAge International to develop policy briefs and advocacy activities in both Vietnam and Bangladesh to highlight the need to engage older people in responding to the climate crisis, and the potential of uniting generations for climate action.
Joint fundraising is now underway for a larger, multi-country, programme of work.
CASE STUDY 3:
Volunteering for climate adaptation and disasters in the Indian Sundarbans
The Hub’s work on volunteering in the Indian Sundarbans emerged from the question – “Who is doing the work for climate adaptation and disaster preparedness and response in the Indian Sundarbans?” Documentation of the adaptation providers and disaster responders usually mentions service providers. This research uses participatory methods to generate new evidence on the ways delta dwellers and organisations mobilise and organise voluntary labour to respond to disasters and adapt to the changing environment.
Our work evidenced that, in the Indian Sundarbans, voluntary labour is undertaken for three main purposes: (a) climate adaptation e.g., creating mangrove nurseries, planting trees, embankment maintenance, (b) disaster response including embankment retrofitting, post-disaster recovery, community kitchens, and (c) supporting livelihoods through creating self-help groups, accessing marketing opportunities, skills development and providing livestock. We observed diverse ways of organising voluntary work - as part of planned programmes of NGOs, volunteer-led but emerging from planned programmes, and in everyday life responding to impromptu needs of the community.
This is the first time in this region that research was undertaken on the role of voluntary work in climate change adaptation and preparedness and response to disasters. Through its focus on the voluntary work of marginalised communities affected by climate change, our evidence base challenges the usual narrative on volunteering by those who are better-off. Our research outcomes call for wider recognition of the importance of voluntary work by marginalised communities in meeting the challenges of climate change, and for creation of more inclusive and fair approaches to volunteer mobilisation.
Through participatory research design (photovoice and diaries) volunteers became co-researchers, enhancing their capacities and fostering a sense of pride in their contributions. Participants felt that documenting their work through photographs or diaries helped them preserve memories and evaluate their work. The preliminary findings were disseminated through exhibitions and a bilingual book nurturing community engagement and relationships, and featured in a UN Volunteers report, ‘The contribution of volunteering to climate action and community resilience’.
Within Living Deltas I have been involved in a range of activities investigating and promoting river basin protection and community empowerment in the Red River Delta. I have had the opportunity to work with experts in the areas of water resources, climate change, agro-ecology, community development and communication.
My work has revolved around the 2030 SDG Agenda
and has played an important part in increasing local awareness of SDGs and localising opportunities for monitoring SDGs and protecting natural resources. By raising local awareness and capacity to take action, my research has made a noticeable contribution to climate, biodiversity and to gender equity through raising public awareness in conservation and restoration of delta ecosystems.
The Hub has enabled me to improve my research skills and motivated me to be more confident working across a range of disciplines and with a range of stakeholders including decision makers, scientists, and private businesses.
Over my time involved in the Hub I have been able to build deeper connections and collaboration with local partners in the Red River Delta. This has helped me not only personally, but also supported our Hub-funded partner organisation NARECO (formerly WARECOD), as well as fostering connections with community members among and outside the Vietnam River Networks.
I have been involved in a range of activities including day-to-day project management, focus-group discussions, in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and stakeholder workshops. I have worked on disaster risk reduction, risk, vulnerability, gender, ecosystem services, and Sustainable Development Goals.
I have also been a part of a hydrodynamic team monitoring using mini-buoys in the Indian Sundarban. While I was primarily a project manager at the outset of Living Deltas, these projects have made clear that research is now my preferred profession, and I plan to get involved in research in the future to learn more and expand my experience of sharing research findings in a simple and accessible manner.
I have especially valued the collaborative spaces the Hub created for co-learning and knowledge exchange. The greatest skill I acquired was taught by residents of the Indian Sundarban - how to walk barefoot through the coastal mudflats! That insight is something I will forever cherish.
While the physical wounds from the sharp-edged tree roots and snails hidden deep in the mud have long healed, the whole experience still resonates loudly with me regarding the daily challenges that delta residents face and how these are becoming more difficult to cope with due to rapidly accelerating climate change in the coastal region of the Sundarbans.
““People often help each other when they are sick, and also to repair roads, or build bridges.””
DeLTAS Toolkit - Delta Learning Tool for Assessing Sustainability
The Hub has designed an innovative and free-to-use delta sustainability assessment toolkit aimed specifically at practitioners, delta managers, researchers, and policymakers.
The DeLTAS toolkit was a key deliverable promised in our funding application to UKRI, has been developed from the Living Deltas Hub research programme focusing on the GBM (India and Bangladesh), Red River and Mekong River deltas, and is designed to be applicable to any populated delta world-wide. It uses your knowledge base to build an integrated picture of your delta’s environmental and social ‘health’, and (b) identify gaps in knowledge which may be hindering efforts to sustainably manage the delta for the future.
Importantly, the DeLTAS toolkit does not depend on any specific data availability, meaning that no requirement is made of respondents to refer to, or provide, any data that might be deemed sensitive. The toolkit is designed specifically to rely on your knowledge (or lack of knowledge) of delta condition for nine key ‘delta elements’ (Figure 3): ecosystem vitality (sediments; water; ecology & biodiversity), ecosystem services (regulating, provisioning and cultural ecosystem services) and the delta social system (risk & vulnerability; application of the UN SDGs in delta-specific situations; governance & adaptation).
The DeLTAS toolkit deliberately emphasises equal priority for the natural & physical sciences, the social sciences, and the arts & humanities as the only way to derive integrated solutions for the highly complex and interrelated issues that impact deltas ecosystems and the societies that depend on them.
The outcome for you is a holistic, yet deliberately simple, high-level assessment of the interconnected nature of your delta system, its status, threats facing it, and opportunities for a more sustainable future. We do this by providing immediate feedback by a simple yet powerful ‘Delta Dashboard’ / environmental report card with percentage scores for the delta as a whole and for the nine delta elements individually.
We are confident this will become a valuable tool for delta sustainability assessment world-wide. The toolkit is available at www.deltastoolkit.com.
Figure 3:
The DeLTAS toolkit’s nine key ‘delta elements’
Final Reflections: Looking to the Future
The stories you read in this Report are just some headlines of what the Living Deltas Hub has achieved in a relatively short time in partnership with delta communities, the UK FCDO, the UN, delta country governments and ministries, NGOs, business, and industry. For more stories, and access to publications, blogs etc., please visit our website’s resources page.
Our funder, UKRI, informed us in early 2019 that enterprises as huge as the twelve GCRF Hubs would take at least a year to get up to speed. A year later, just five days after our 2nd Annual Hub Meeting in Kolkata, international travel ceased, global lockdowns ensued, and the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in our Hub funding being removed. Here, we acknowledge the UK universities in the Hub which provided emergency funding to maintain our research activity and partnerships while the Hub cohort bid to UK Government for reinstatement of funding (less 27%). The buy-in, collegiality, and determination of the entire Hub community throughout was immense, and colleagues were unanimous that, despite Covid-19, we would deliver on our ambitions and our moral responsibility for our on-delta partners - the delta dwellers themselves.
Any difficulties the Hub has faced in its five years pale into insignificance however with the immense issues faced in all three major deltas in which we work. Land use change, landscape degradation, biodiversity loss, saline intrusion, drought, and floods are examples of issues that will be exacerbated by the ‘wicked multiplier’ of climate change and its often unanticipated social-ecological feedbacks. The transboundary Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) Delta spanning India and Bangladesh is a delta in peril: the Bay of Bengal has the highest rate of sea level rise globally and is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events induced by sea surface warming. Both the Mekong and Red River Deltas are hugely affected by upstream damming and land use change. Risk is considerably magnified when multiple climate-related hazards overlap or follow one another to create a ‘climate cascade’. During the Hub’s lifetime the GBM delta has been hit by a series of damaging cyclones and our climate modelling shows such tropical cyclones will become larger and more damaging in the future (Ali et al. 2023, Geophysical Research Letters 50).
Even though we are at the end of our five-year UKRI GCRF funding phase, the Hub is categorically not going away. We are establishing a formal Living Deltas Network to maintain our research community (especially early career researchers), build wider delta partnerships regionally and globally, and win research funding to enable the vital work the Hub has started to continue. The Network will use the same website www.livingdeltas.org and play a lead role in initiatives such as the emerging United Nations Convention for the Conservation of River Deltas (UNCCRD), with which the Hub has been integrally connected since its unveiling at COP28. We welcome you to join us on our journey.
“Even though we move through different deltas, we hear the same echoes time after time.”
Professor Andy Large
Newcastle University
PI and Director
UKRI GCRF Living Deltas Hub
Photo Credits
Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, Satellite view
(Adobe Stock Image under license)
Mekong Delta Landscape (Minh Nguyen)
Indian Sundarbans 2019 (Andy Large)
Red River Delta Water Quality monitoring (Suzanne McGowan)
Minibuoy in Indian Sundarban (Cai Ladd)
Tram Chim Mekong Delta 2023 (Andy Large)
South West Bangladesh 2019 (Andy Large)
Embankment erosion, South West Bangladesh 2019 (Andy Large)
Can Tho pluvial flooding (Andy Large)
Footbridge, Bangladesh Sundarbans (Md Zahid Hasan)
Crab farming, Bangladesh Sundarbans (Md Zahid Hasan)
Organic Rice, Soc Trang, Vietnam (Van Kien Nguyen)
Vinh Quang Mangrove Honey Bees, Vietnam (Ly Bui)
Traditional craftmaking, South West Bangladesh (Manoj Roy)
Vinh Quang Mangrove Honey Bees, Vietnam (Ly Bui)
Indian Sundarbans (Indrajit Pal)
Focus group discussion, South West Bangladesh (Tarun Bisht)
Rainwater conservation, Gabura, South West Bangladesh (Md Zahid Hasan)
Indian Sundarbans (Andy Large)
South-Central Bangladesh coring expedition 2022 (Andy Large)
South-Central Bangladesh coring expedition 2022 (Andy Large)
Focus group discussion, Ben Tre, Vietnam (Tarun Bisht)
Resilience workshop, Sandeshkhali, India (Subha Chakraborty)
Horinkhola, Bangladesh (Abdul Mobin, Ibna Hafiz)
VOCAD in Indian Sundarbans (VOCAD Participant 1)
Indian Sundarbans (Indrajit Pal)
