Knowledge Hierarchies in Policy-Level Translations of SDG14: Insights from Human–Salinity Relations in South India and Vietnam

Abstract

The study underlying this chapter investigates how diverse actors in the Cauvery Delta, India, and the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, understand and live with water salinity. In focusing empirically on river deltas, this chapter addresses some of the SDG14 targets, as SDG14.2 (‘Protect and restore ecosystems’) and 14.5 (‘Conserve coastal and marine areas’) refer to the sustainable management of coastal areas as crucial targets for SDG14. Based on interviews with land users in the two deltas, in tandem with analyses of salinity maps and other policy-level knowledge artefacts, this chapter shows how, in some cases, only particular forms of knowledge are represented at the policy level, while many of the diverse viewpoints of land users are rendered invisible. In this way, delta management only meets the concerns of a select few, often professional elites, and limits land users from taking ownership of their own realities. This chapter concludes with the recommendation for water professionals, scholars, and practitioners alike, to be more open-minded, modest, and attentive to difference, by engaging more seriously with interdisciplinarity and cultivating sensibilities for listening to ‘smaller’ water stories.

Citation

Pompoes, R. (2024), "Knowledge Hierarchies in Policy-Level Translations of SDG14: Insights from Human–Salinity Relations in South India and Vietnam", Davies, S.J. and van der Heijden, P.R. (Ed.) Higher Education and SDG14: Life Below Water (Higher Education and the Sustainable Development Goals), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 171-189. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83549-250-520241010