River Delta Communities
The Climate and River Delta Communities project focuses on the urgent need to protect river systems that sustain livelihoods, with local community involvement in restoring river deltas
The ongoing River Delta Communities action research project highlights the vital role of healthy rivers in supporting livelihoods and mitigating climate change.In the summer of 2024, a New Futures Fellowship group contributed to this ongoing action research, focusing on four key delta communities: the Mississippi, Mekong, Danube, and Tana rivers
Mississippi River Delta
The Mississippi River Delta is one of the most productive and biodiverse ecosystems in the United States, supporting a wide range of wildlife and providing critical habitats for fish, birds, and other species. The Mississippi River Delta (United States) study underscores the importance of small-scale community-led restoration in concert with large-scale restoration efforts.
Mekong River Delta
The Mekong Delta is a rich and diverse ecosystem known for its extensive network of rivers, swamps, and islands, which supports millions of people through agriculture, fisheries, and trade while facing significant challenges from climate change, urbanization, and environmental degradation. The Mekong Delta is vital for both biodiversity and the livelihoods of millions, playing a central role in Vietnamese culture by providing food and jobs for a significant portion of the population. However, it faces numerous environmental challenges, including the construction of upstream hydropower dams and the impacts of climate change, leading to the shrinking and sinking of the Mekong River Delta
Danube River Delta
The Danube River is the second-longest river in Europe, flowing through ten countries and serving as a vital waterway for transportation, trade, and cultural exchange while supporting diverse ecosystems and communities along its banks. During a workshop in Romania's Danube Delta, our fellow Genesis Daquinan engaged with local fisherfolk, who shared the hardships they’ve faced since the 2006 sturgeon fishing ban, and other community members. Despite tourism offering some income, it is seasonal, and no sustainable alternatives have been provided, leaving many struggling. While the quiet resilience of these communities is admirable, it highlights the need for conservation policies that take into account the economic impact on those affected. To learn more, check out his project, “Community Voices in Restoring the Danube Delta”
Tana Delta
The Tana Delta in Kenya is a vital wetland ecosystem that supports diverse wildlife and local communities, providing crucial resources for fishing and agriculture while facing significant threats from land-use changes, climate change, and development pressures. Restoration activities in the Tana Delta have attracted diverse stakeholders, supported by both international and local alliances. While a recent survey showed that local communities are actively engaged in participatory forest management, it also revealed that these initiatives are limited in scope, with representatives emphasizing the urgent need to scale up efforts for greater impact.
Communities are eager to engage in resolving conflicts and contributing to solutions within their local river delta communities. They need more than “a seat at the table”; they need the resources, authority, and influence to effectively shape the decisions that impact their lives.
Read more about the four Delta case studies in the 2024 New Futures Fellows white paper.
Meet the Fellows
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Jessica Sirois
Climate + River Delta Communities
Jessica is a wildlife biologist who has had the privilege of studying threatened and endangered species from the Florida Everglades to the Missouri River in North Dakota. She has seen firsthand how threats to ecosystems not only affect wildlife, but also the surrounding human communities that depend on these areas. She is interested in community-based conservation and finding holistic solutions to environmental challenges. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources with a concentration in geographic information systems through Clemson University. She holds a B.S. in Wildlife and Conservation Biology from the University of Rhode Island.
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George Njoroge
Climate + River Delta Communities
George is a Research Fellow at SEI Africa Center, currently on sabbatical to pursue a PhD at the University of Dundee, Scotland. His interdisciplinary research studies examine various issues in environment and development. George's environmental career began in small-scale initiatives in both rural and urban communities in Kenya. In rural settings, he provided support to wildlife conservation strategies, nature-based enterprises, resolution of human-wildlife conflicts, and natural resource use conflicts pitting pastoral and farming communities. In urban informal settlements, he was involved in community mobilization and training, and fostered community participatory methodologies in various locally driven development initiatives. George is passionate about linking knowledge with policy, practice, and learning through communication and advocacy.
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Genesis Daquinan
Climate + River Delta Communities
Gen is a spatial sciences scholar at the University of Groningen and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he is learning interdisciplinary theories and methods (structured around environmental science, spatial justice, and digital humanities) to create pathways for island sustainability. During his undergraduate degree in fisheries at the University of the Philippines, he studied mangrove mapping through his thesis and engaged in scicomm internships at Asian Scientist Magazine and the World Wildlife Fund. Having lived near a river that once neared biological death, Gen is keen on understanding how ecological histories and folk knowledge can help (co)design resilient futures.
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Mayumi Sato
Climate + River Delta Communities
Mayumi is a Gates Cambridge scholar and PhD student at the University of Cambridge, and the Founder of SustainED. She has several years of experience working with marginalized and climate-affected communities globally, including refugees and migrant workers, low-income racialized youth, Indigenous hill tribes, and timber labourers across North America, Asia, and Europe. Her academic and advocacy interests involve co-creating campaigns and initiatives for impact-based community development and research. She is a National Geographic Explorer and has received awards from Audi Environmental Foundation, Peace First, and Global Solutions Initiative, among others, for global advocacy on environmental and social equity.
Fellowship Advisor
Jeff Opperman
Climate + River Delta Communities 2024, Climate + River Communities 2023
Jeff is WWF’s global lead freshwater scientist and works across the WWF network and with external partners to direct research that can strengthen conservation strategies and to integrate science into freshwater programs and projects. Jeff’s scientific and policy research has been published in journals such as Science and Nature and he is the lead author of the book Floodplains, published in 2017. Jeff strives to communicate the challenges and opportunities for nature conservation to broad audiences through op-eds, articles and blog posts in outlets including the New York Times, Foreign Policy, and Outside. Recently, Jeff has been exploring the overlap between music and conservation. He holds a PhD in ecosystem science from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.S. in biology from Duke University.
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