Research Steps

Step 1 Delta level: Institutional analysis of spatial fit

At the delta level, we analyze how polders and related water management infrastructures are governed in the southwestern region of Bangladesh.

Step 2 Polder level: Institutional analysis of user groups’ organizational capacity

At the polder-level, we explore how the application of controlled flooding and sediment accretion techniques will affect rural livelihoods.

Step 3 Feedbacks: Interacting delta- and polder level governance solutions

Step 3 regards the study of feedbacks that operate across scales and that are related with modes of governance (e.g., technocratic, participatory, and sociocratic), and with incongruency in mental models of the actors involved.

Step 3 Living Polders: Optimization of governance

Steps 1-3 will identify deficiencies with regard to current delta level governance of TRM, polder level user organizations, and the innovation system in place.

People

Scientific publications

• Nath, S., Dunn, F. E., van Laerhoven, F., & Driessen, P. P. (2021). Coping with crisis on the coast: The effect of community-developed coping-strategies on vulnerability in crisis-prone regions of the Ganges delta. Journal of Environmental Management, 284, 112072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112072
• Nath, S., van Laerhoven, F., Driessen, P., & Nadiruzzaman, M. (2020). Capital, rules or conflict? Factors affecting livelihood-strategies, infrastructure-resilience, and livelihood-vulnerability in the polders of Bangladesh. Sustainability Science, 15, 1169-1183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00818-6
• Nath, S., van Laerhoven, F., & Driessen, P. P. (2019). Have Bangladesh’s Polders Decreased Livelihood Vulnerability? A Comparative Case Study. Sustainability, 11(24), 7141. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11247141