Description

The East-West Center (EWC) and the Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum (CEF) will collaborate with Southeast Asian partners to study the multidimensional vulnerabilities and socio-ecological transformations of three major deltas: the Chao Phraya Delta from Bangkok to Suphan Buri, Thailand; the Mekong Delta from An Giang Province, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and the Mahakam Delta in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.  Case studies with research and capacity-building components will be organized around four themes: Development, Dispossession and Violence; Climate Shocks and Slow-Onset Environmental Change; Migration and Labor; and Risk and Resilience. 
Each of the projects will be integrated with and work through Southeast Asian universities and NGOs with which EWC has longstanding partnerships, and involve Southeast Asian graduate students, research institutes and policymakers.  Each will engage with and give voice to the perspectives of vulnerable communities through surveys and in-depth interviews, ethnographic research, and community-led participatory action research.  Through CEF’s networks, several of the projects will link Chinese and Southeast Asian scholars and practitioners to examine the impacts of China’s direct investment on delta environments in the region, and plastic pollution in rivers and deltas. 
The key goals are to 1) promote policy-relevant research discussions and generate evidence-based recommendations that support communities at risk; 2) create opportunities for dialogue and joint research with Chinese and Southeast Asian experts focused on greening China’s investments in the region and mitigating the threat of plastic pollution; and 3) apply research findings to inform new interdisciplinary and multilingual educational materials in Southeast Asian languages and extensive public outreach through regional networks. 
In addition to strengthening both in-country and cross-regional capacity in Southeast Asia, the project will enhance institutional capacity on SEA at EWC and the Wilson Center.  The work will be led by four recently appointed Early Career Southeast Asia Fellows at EWC, thereby helping to secure the EWC’s work in and on the region for the future.  It will also aid CEF’s efforts to develop research and education partnerships involving China and SEA, and bring the knowledge generated to policy audiences in the United States.