The ENGAGE4Sundarbans team will participate in the 28th European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS), taking place in Heidelberg, Germany, from October 1–4, 2025. During the conference, the team is organising a panel titled “Living with and Recovering from Coastal and Riverine Disasters: A Critical Approach to Riskscape”.

Under this panel, Samiya Selim, Director and Professor, Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, and Md Nurul Islam, Lead Researcher, Research and Evaluations at SAJIDA Foundation, will deliver a presentation on “Governing the Commons: An Ethnographic Exploration of Local Adaptation Response to Complex Global Problems.”

Emilie Cremin, Institute of Geography and Sustainability – IGD, University of Lausanne, Switzerland; Souradip Pathak – IIT Kharagpur, India; and Tapas Mondal – SJSM, NGO, Kolkata, India, will be delivering a presentation on “Restoring Rights and Resilience: Ādivāsī Communities, Traditional Knowledge, and Environmental Conservation in the Indian Sundarbans” during the panel. 

Emilie Cremin will convene this panel. 

The discussion will focus on the challenges faced by riverine, deltaic, and coastal regions of South Asia, which are regularly exposed to cyclones, floods, and storm surges. These recurring hazards not only damage agriculture and infrastructure but also displace communities. The panel will explore how different stakeholders respond to these risks—through public management, community initiatives, agro-ecological practices, and nature-based solutions—while critically examining their effectiveness. By engaging with questions of power, the hydrosocial cycle, and local socio-ecological contexts, the session seeks to foster knowledge exchange on sustainable reconstruction and adaptation in complex, multi-risk environments. 

Learn more about the conference: Click Here 

Riverine, deltaic, and coastal areas of South Asia are frequently affected by hydrometeorological hazards, such as cyclones, floods, and storm surges. These recurring events damage agricultural production and public and private infrastructure. As a result, erosion of the coasts and banks has led to the displacement of many villages. For this panel, we are seeking contributions that examine the adaptive strategies deployed by different categories of stakeholders to cope with and adapt to hazards. The effectiveness of public management of hazards through structural (extension of embankments, construction of shelters, etc.) and non-structural (awareness raising, support for adaptive strategies, etc.), individual and collective strategies based on agricultural adaptations and agro-ecological technologies used in rice or shrimp farming, nature-based solutions initiatives, coastal or river restoration practices and other alternatives are all being called into question. Overall, we aim to create a site-based knowledge exchange that critically addresses the issue of adaptation by examining power relations between public and private sector actors to highlight the limitations of strategies adaptation. We thus wish to explore the source of the problem, considering the hydrosocial cycle and the social, economic, and ecological situations that support sustainable reconstruction in spaces exposed to multiple risks.

Convenor : Emilie Cremin

Presentations

Governing the commons: an ethnographic exploration of local adaptation response to complex global problems.

Selim Samiya – Center for Sustainable Development, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Islam Nurul – Sajida Foundation, Sajida Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh

This paper examines the critical role of place-based, localized governance systems for protecting and restoring commons i.e access to land access and water systems that benefit communities over corporate investment. It highlights the importance of community-centric governance approaches and bottom-up policy frameworks in fostering resilience by returning the rights of commons to the communities.The study emphasizes the need for localized governance of commons and a bottom-up policy approach to enhance social resilience of coastal communities facing the complex dual challenges of climate change and human intervention. By analyzing the role of the local governance system in managing shared resources, the paper aims to provide actionable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and community stakeholders involved in common resource management and policy formulation.

Indigenous Lessons on Delta Adaptation

Theocharis Angelos – Department of Media, Culture, Heritage, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Indigenous worldviews encompass nuanced understandings of cultural adaptation, recognising change as an intrinsic part of sustaining living cultures and landscapes amid environmental shifts. Many Indigenous communities perceive time as cyclical, fostering continuity and resilience through transformation. This paper examines Indigenous adaptation strategies in deltaic environments, where climate crisis exacerbates existing ecological vulnerabilities. Drawing on Indigenous films from the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta in Bangladesh, the Red River and the Mekong Deltas in Vietnam, I will explore how Indigenous narratives illustrate adaptation as a complex interplay of loss, resilience, and innovation. Dao filmmakers in Vietnam document shifts in traditional cultural practices due to resource scarcity. Khmer communities in the Mekong Delta, facing soil salinization and erratic weather, adopt alternative livelihoods. The Munda people of Bangladesh, displaced by climate disasters, navigate transformations in social and economic practices while maintaining cultural identity. This paper argues that Indigenous strategies frame adaptation as a relational, forward-looking process that integrates cultural continuity with necessary transformations.

Restoring Rights and Resilience: Ādivāsī Communities, Traditional Knowledge, and Environmental Conservation in the Indian Sundarbans

Crémin Emilie – Instititute of Geography and suistainability – IGD, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Souradip Pathak – IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India
Tapas Mondal – SJSM, NGO, Kolkata, India

This article delves into the environmental history of ādivāsī communities, including the Munda and Santal, who rely on the Indian Sundarbans for their livelihoods. Displaced during colonial rule, these communities have since developed a symbiotic relationship with the forest, acquiring extensive ecological knowledge critical for its preservation. Despite their expertise, ādivāsī communities face severe challenges from recurrent
geophysical and human-made hazards. Additionally, they face significant socioeconomic challenges. They are among the poorest and most vulnerable groups in India, with limited access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities. Their exclusion from forest areas, driven by conservation policies and development projects, has further undermined their livelihoods. Their vulnerability is exacerbated by socioeconomic
marginalisation, exclusion from forest areas, and the impacts of development projects like tourism and industrialisation.