Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development: Securing the Future of Coastal Deltas in the Anthropocene

Dear Colleagues,

Sitting at the intersection of geological, ecological, and human processes of change, coastal deltas are amongst the world’s most vulnerable socio-ecological environments. Many coastal deltas (e.g., the Nile, Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, and Mekong) are highly fertile and productive systems, as well as significant biodiversity hotspots. Often described as “cradles of civilization”, deltas such as these have been sites of human activity and settlement for centuries, if not millennia, central to the livelihoods, cultures, and economies of local communities and national populations.

Comprising just 5% of Earth’s land area, modern-day deltas are home to more than 500 million people and play a key role in maintaining environmental and economic functions that are critical to the delta dwellers. However, they are increasingly facing a multiplicity of natural and human-induced pressures, such as unchecked urbanisation, infrastructure development, industrialisation, and capital expansion. At the same time, coastal deltas find themselves on the frontlines of climate change, increasingly exposed and vulnerable to rising sea levels, flood risk, saline intrusion, tropical cyclones, and storm water surges. Some of these impacts are more subtle and chronic, but in other cases, they are more direct and acute. Recent instances of tropical cyclones, such as Amphan (2020) and Yass (2021) in the Indian and Bangladesh Sundarbans, illustrate the severe impact of these climate-related disasters on local communities—impacts measured in lives and livelihoods lost, people displaced, as well as substantial financial burdens to regional and national economies.

In these tumultuous times, how to maintain sustainable, equitable, and resilient delta systems that can continue to generate social and economic prosperity and flourishing biodiversity in support of local communities and wider society is critical. Arguably, this requires adaptive and transformational environmental policies and governance to be put in place. This represents a huge challenge, as deltas are often missing or maligned in national policy systems.

Understanding how to develop transformational environmental policies and governance to steer delta systems along a sustainable trajectory remains a crucial evidence gap to be bridged. Many questions remain unanswered, such as, what are the key policy challenges and barriers facing decision makers in developing effective delta policies? How should delta policies be designed, coordinated, and implemented? How are current policies impacting delta systems and their sustainable development? What role do/should different sectors and stakeholders play in delta policy and governance decision-making processes? How can delta environmental policy and governance systems acknowledge and effectively navigate different social, cultural, economic, and political trade-offs and synergies?

In this Special Issue, we are therefore concerned to focus on publishing original research articles that  address how environmental policies can positively contribute to enhancing and supporting the sustainability of coastal delta systems, with a particular focus on: environmental governance; sustainable transformation of delta systems; biodiversity conservation; nature-based solutions; adaptive and thriving communities under uncertainty; collective action and innovation; inequalities and gendered vulnerabilities; delta voices, cultures, heritage, and indigenous communities.

We are particularly interested in articles that adopt critical stances and address these issues from the perspectives of locally led adaption, just transition, social and environmental justice; gender-transformative approaches, intergenerational equity, transformational change and innovation; multi-level governance, policy design, implementation and evaluation; futures thinking; and systemic risk. Whilst we are open to all geographical contexts, we also strongly encourage articles that focus on delta systems in low- and middle-income countries and those in Asia in particular.

We welcome diverse articles from research and practice, drawing on different epistemologies and ontologies across disciplines (natural, social, and political sciences and humanities) and especially encourage interdisciplinary contributions and those articles that bridge the boundary between science and policy. As such, empirical studies drawing on multiple case studies, reviews, and conceptual submissions that adopt novel epistemological or methodological approaches are welcomed.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Adam P. Hejnowicz
Dr. Anh Ngoc Vu
Guest Editors

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• environmental policy
• environmental governance
• sustainable development
• coastal deltas
• climate change adaptation
• transformational change
• livelihoods
• Anthropocene