RiVival
Team information
Category:
Laura Slot
PHD
l'Institut Agro Montpellier
Isabelle Decher
Master
University of Hohenheim
Luis Garcia
Master
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Rihab Mazouzi
Bachelor
National school of agriculture Meknes
Yeganeh Karami
Master
Isfahan University of Technology
Marlon Zarate
Master
Uppsala University
Ruochen Wu
Master
University of Padua
Yi Fu Smits
Master
Wageningen University & Research
Coretta Tchouandem Nzali
Master
University of Padova
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About the team
Our collective expertise spans rural development, environmental governance, risk management, sustainable agriculture, and hydrology, emphasising machine learning for water and land resilience. We focus on a compact hybrid solution whose long-term impact spills beyond its footprint to revive the social and ecological system of the river basin. Our core drive is to have a sustainable impact on not only the basin but also the people who depend on it.
Our vision
By the year 2120, the Mississippi River Delta will have undergone a ‘RiVival’, transforming from an industrial landscape prone to subsidence into a thriving, self-sustaining regenerative ecosystem. Moving beyond the rigid engineering of the past, our strategy utilises water as a creative force, embracing seasonal floods and restored salinity gradients to naturally shape the landscape. By removing restrictive infrastructure and utilising bio-engineered sediment capture, such as willow and fascines, we enable the river to rebuild the land layer by layer and actively reverse subsidence, with oyster reefs to protect the marsh edges from storms. The restored wetlands will act as vast ‘sponges’ to absorb storm surges and store freshwater and recharge freshwater aquifers, while native vegetation such as cypress-tupelo swamps serve as a ‘green armour’ to protect the coast. Vital ‘blue-green’ corridors will reconnect coastal and inland habitat, allowing wildlife to migrate freely and unifying the delta into one resilient living system. Life in the delta will be defined by adaptation rather than resistance. Communities flourish in elevated and floating homes, which are connected by a network of Eco-Mobility Hubs and shaded ‘Baubotanik’ living bridges. This ensures safety without severing the cultural connection to the water and the organisms that live on and in it. The economy has transitioned to a ‘nature-positive’ model powered by offshore wind and floating solar power and carbon credits, driven by an empowered workforce dedicated to ecological restoration. Food security is being reclaimed through agroforestry and regenerative aquaculture that honours the traditional Cajun and Creole culinary traditions. Fundamentally, this future is built on social justice: participatory governance empowers indigenous communities at the forefront of stewardship, enabling them to preserve their ancestral lands and heritage against the rising tides.
Our inventory & analysis
Our analysis reveals a delta in crisis, suffocated by human intervention. The extensive network of dams and levees has disrupted the natural deposition of sediment, causing fertile soils to compact and sink, and preventing wetlands from keeping pace with rising sea levels. This collapse is further accelerated by industrial infrastructure, particularly man-made channels that create direct conduits for saltwater intrusion. Saltwater kills the roots of the freshwater vegetation that hold the soil together, rapidly converting marshland into open water. This creates a stark socio-economic injustice. Land loss drives ‘climate gentrification’, whereby wealthy populations can adapt, while lower-income and indigenous groups face displacement, food insecurity and the loss of working lands. Our spatial analysis identifies the Houma-Terrebonne corridor as the region’s ‘vulnerable heart’ - a hotspot containing high densities of critical infrastructure and at-risk indigenous populations. Despite these threats, our inventory highlights three key strengths: available sediment resources, fertile soils and a strong cultural identity. These serve as the foundation for our proposed nature-based interventions.