Dialogue: Policy on climate change adaptation in the Mekong Delta

On the last October 2020, the Economy & Environment Partnership for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) and Environment for Development in Vietnam (EfD-Vietnam) together held a live "forum" for scientific researchers, managers and policy makers in the Mekong Delta region to meet, exchange and present research achievements with the common goal of understanding the problems and impacts of the state of climate change, thereby forming methods and policy tools to be adaptable to the negative effects brought about by climate change.

The content of the meeting includes two main parts:

Part 1: Climate change in the Mekong Delta and policy issues.

Part 2: Results of scientific research on socio-economic aspects of the issue of Climate Change in the Mekong Delta.

Attending the seminar were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Thang - Director of Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Anh Tuan - Deputy Director, Research Institute on Climate Change, Can Tho University, Mr. Nguyen Van Liet - Vice Chairman of Vinh Long Provincial People's Committee, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Trong Hoai - Vice President of UEH, Dr. Pham Khanh Nam - Director of EEPSEA and EfD-Vietnam, UEH and more than 120 delegates at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Land Management Department, Department of Environmental Protection; Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Irrigation Sub-Department, Plant Protection Sub-Department, Agricultural Division of 13 Mekong Delta Provinces and researchers from universities and scientific research institutes.

Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Trong Hoai shared: “There have been many seminars and conferences on the topic of climate change. However, I think that real life is always changing rapidly, the mutual relationships between climate - natural ecosystems - socio-economic ecosystems are extremely complex, multi-dimensional. Therefore, the need to understand the causes, effects and policies of climate change is always urgent. The knowledge of climate - people - economy relationship should always be updated, interacted and exchanged to serve the process of building and implementing effective policies”. At the same time, he gave the message at the seminar “(1) Climate change, especially sea level rise, salt drought, and rising temperatures are happening rapidly in the Mekong Delta. This is an indispensable factor in all socio-economic policy formulation and implementation in the delta. (2) Climate change has a huge impact on the agricultural sector and infrastructure in the Mekong Delta. The damage to the welfare of society is enormous without effective adaptation policy. (3) In addition to structural measures for climate change adaptation such as building sea dykes, saline dams, economic solutions and community solutions are extremely important in changing behavior of production and consumption of the people, thereby better adapting to climate change”.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Trong Hoai - Vice President of UEH delivers the opening speech

At the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Van Liet - Vice Chairman of Vinh Long Provincial People's Committee said: “The phenomenon of extreme weather has affected people's livelihoods. Saline intrusion greatly affects the cultivated area, fruit trees and aquaculture, etc. That fact requires a new vision, strategic orientation for radical sustainable development. Last year, the damage was not great thanks to the preparation, but the saline intrusion also came to My Thuan bridge. Forecasts of climate change are increasingly severe. Therefore, scientists, many branches, including community participation are needed to come up with the radical solution to help Vinh Long in particular and the Mekong Delta in general”.

Mr. Nguyen Van Liet - Vice Chairman of the Vinh Long province

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Thang - Director of the Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) presents the presentation "Climate change and climate change scenarios in the Mekong Delta"

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Anh Tuan - Deputy Director, Research Institute of Climate Change, Can Tho University presents his speech: "Policy tools to adapt to climate change in the Mekong Delta"

Dr. Van Huu Hue - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vinh Long Province presents the presentation "Impacts of climate change on the production and life of the people in Vinh Long"

MSc. Huynh Thi Ha Thuy - Director, Sub-department of Environmental Protection, Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Vinh Long province presents the presentation "Climate change in Vinh Long: Current situation and solutions"

Participants also discussed about regional planning, crop planning to adapt to climate change, regional linkage in dealing with climate change, the issue of rivers. to become a water storage area, what solutions should be considered first, etc.

Dr. Van Huu Hue raises a number of issues to discuss with scientists at the Seminar

Mr. Nguyen Van Liet - Vice Chairman of Vinh Long Provincial People's Committee raises issues to discuss

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Thang in a discussion

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Dung - Faculty of Environmetnal and Agricultural Economics, University of Economics HCMC

Delegates take group photos

Some other images

In the afternoon session, delegates discuss in-depth issues related to "Results from scientific research on socio-economic aspects of the issue of climate change in the Mekong Delta".

Parallel to the policy dialogue, on the afternoon of October 30th, 2020, the EEPSEA and EfD-Vietnam held the "Training on the application of remote sensing images to develop land use status maps in the Mekong Delta". The training session attracted 23 officers who are working at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in 13 provinces of the Mekong Delta.

Training on the application of remote sensing images to develop land use status maps in the Mekong Delta