NaturaLabs

About the team

We are NaturaLabs, a group of students from University of Melbourne. Representing four ambitious young environmentalist, we aspire to experiment with nature-based solutions and contribute to real world problems. Our strength lies in our interdisciplinary expertise, bridging the fields of environmental geography, climate science, geospatial analysis, and environmental engineering to create holistic, sustainable impact.

Our vision

The vision for the Mississippi River Delta transitions for 2120 goals are away from rigid grey infrastructure toward integrated Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) that simultaneously address flood risk, ecological restoration, growing industry, and social equity. Flood and water management strategy by adapting traditional nature-based solution from Japan by modified the massive diversion with multiple small gated structure that act as discontinuous levees, allowing floodwaters to genly seep into and fetilize cypress swamps and floodplains. This strategu is further supported by restoring lateral floodplain connectivity and implementing rainwater harvesting to diversify the region’s clean water supply. To address the ecological impact of oil and gas infrastructure, the vision outlines short-term actions like canal backfilling to stop "channel theft" and the installation of living shorelines (oyster reef breakwaters) to mitigate scour risks. Long-term solutions involve pulsed sediment diversions to rebuild solid land and dredging to restore ancient high-ground ridges planted with Live Oak forests. Crucially, this ecological transition is tied directly to community empowerment. The vision promotes climate-resilient agroecology and aquaculture cooperatives to secure local food systems, stabilize incomes, and provide alternative livelihoods for workers transitioning out of the fossil fuel sector. It also emphasizes community-led wetland restoration to generate green jobs, specifically prioritizing historically marginalized parishes. By establishing community stewardship councils to co-design flood protection measures, the plan ensures that equitable resilience, local capacity building, and adaptive governance are central to the region's physical safety.

Our inventory & analysis

The inventory and analysis of the five-parish study area reveals a landscape overwhelmingly dominated by open water and vast wetland ecosystems. Spatial mapping demonstrates that human settlement ranging from low to high-intensity development is rigidly concentrated along the natural high ground of the Mississippi River corridor. This profound scarcity of dry land dictates that conventional, rigid grey infrastructure is an unsustainable approach for the delta's future. Instead, the analysis heavily emphasizes the absolute necessity of Nature-Based Solutions (NbS). The data illustrates that vast woody and emergent herbaceous wetlands already form the region's primary geographical matrix and natural buffer. Therefore, future spatial planning must pivot to actively working with this ecology. By prioritizing NbS such as restoring these massive natural wetland buffers to absorb storm surges and manage inundation we can transform the surrounding aquatic environment from a continuous flood threat into a resilient, living defense system that actively protects the highly concentrated urban corridors.