Indigenous Lessons on Delta Adaptation

Abstract

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.