Diverse more-than-human approaches to climate change adaptation in Thai Binh, Vietnam

Abstract

Climate change adaptation is a key shared endeavour of our time. In Thai Binh Province of Vietnam, rice farmers have been adapting to environmental change for generations and have developed sophisticated strategies of paying attention to non-human entities. Such strategies stand in stark contrast to modernist, developmentalist climate change adaptation interventions prioritising mastery and control over the environment. In this article, we think about farmers and other species ‘surviving well’ in the context of climate change adaptation in Thai Binh. We examine the strategies for adaptation already present and the implications of such strategies for climate change adaptation approaches in Vietnam and further afield. We argue that local practices of listening to non-human entities and imagining them as kin can challenge modernist developmentalist approaches to adaptation, providing innovative locally appropriate adaptations. Beyond this, such practices can lead the way in developing non-exploitative and mutually beneficial relationships in ‘more-than-human’ ecological communities for long-term survival.