Deltas in Crisis: From Systems to Sophisticated Conjunctions

Abstract

In recent years, threatened deltas have emerged as a significant matter of concern in numerous fields. While Earth System science and social-ecological systems focus on topics like global water circulation and sediment transport, social scientists tend to consider the problems facing particular deltas in the context of modernization or (post)-colonial development. There is nevertheless broad agreement that the delta crisis raises fundamental questions about modern approaches to infrastructure planning. Thus, environmental and sustainability scientists have come to recognize “the social” as integral to the delta crisis. This understanding of “the social,” however, takes two quite different forms. As an object of social-ecological systems research, the social is modeled alongside ecological systems. However, as a context for scientific interventions in environmental policy it appears as an obstacle to achieving sustainable delta policies. Based on a careful examination of Earth System science and associated discourses, we show that this instability of “the social”, combined with the ambition to integrate ‘it’ in an encompassing system poses serious problems for interdisciplinary delta research and for more imaginative and inclusive collaborative efforts to tackle the delta crisis—including, but going considerably beyond, policy and governance. Rather than integrative systems, we argue that the situation requires the creation of sophisticated conjunctions of epistemologies, methods, and practices. Such conjunctions, we suggest, pave the way for a cosmo-ecological approach, where social, environmental and sustainability sciences work together with designers, urban planners, policy-makers, and affected or concerned citizens on solving multi-scalar delta problems by working across their differences.

A multiplicity ofprek(s): Enacting a socionatural mosaic in the Cambodian upper Mekong delta

“…Thus, we end by highlighting our favored enactment of prek(s) as a profoundly networked socionatural mosaic, where numerous human and more-than-human beings are provided with generous opportunities for living together. Emphasizing the possibility of "conjunctions" (Jensen and Morita, 2020;Yates et al, 2017) that "interfere with modernity" (Choi, 2020), this ontological politics, we suggest, has implications for environmental knowledges and delta management far beyond the gates that dot Kandal's landscape.…”

“…This means engaging prek(s) as far more decentered and encompassing ways than enactments that reduce the landscape to a grid-type network of channels. It means embracing the scalar potentials of ontological pluralism (Jensen and Morita, 2020, Yates et al., 2017). Beyond irrigation and agricultural intensification, we are thus interested in scaling-up prek(s) as a socionatural mosaic .…”

Causes and consequences of tipping points in river delta social–ecological systems

“…Regulating and controlling groundwater extraction is needed to avoid subsidence, groundwater salinisation and the accumulation of pollution. 24: Garschagen et al ( 2011 ), 4 & 23: Hossain et al ( 2017 , 2020 ), 50: Jensen and Morita ( 2020 ) 74/75: Kumar et al ( 2020 ), 8-12: Renaud et al ( 2013 ), 13: Hoan et al ( 2019 ), and 52: Sherin et al (2020) Regulating land use to avoid smallholders’ land loss and enhancing the protection and conservation of ecosystems through policies is needed to reduce industrial forcing on landscapes. Developing effective measures of habitat protection must be planned in regard of communities’ livelihoods.…”

“…24: Garschagen et al ( 2011 ), 4 & 23: Hossain et al ( 2017 , 2020 ), 50: Jensen and Morita ( 2020 )…”

Conclusion. Confluences and Distributaries in Delta Life

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Towards a deltaic lensLife in river deltas has become a matter of global concern. Threatened by rising sea levels and subsiding surfaces, starved of sediments and susceptible to extreme weather events, trapped in disadvantageous economies and governed by unaccountable, often postcolonial administrations, deltas and their inhabitants are known to be in crisis (Jensen and Morita 2020; Nicholls et al 2020). Propounding insights into the lives of delta inhabitants around the world, this book has shown that these people are indeed struggling on various fronts, yet signifi cantly, these fronts do not easily align with the dimensions of the global delta crisis.

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