Innovation and farmers
adapting to climate change in
the Vietnamese Mekong Delta
Presenter: Vo Thi Minh Hoang
The Hague Roundtable on Climate & Security
8th meeting – Embassy of Vietnam in The Hague
The Netherlands
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Some main challenges that the
Mekong Delta has faced
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Land subsidence Fresh water supply
Upstream dams
constructionUnanticipated saline intrusion, floods or drought
occurrence
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High dyke and low dyke in the Vietnamese
Mekong Delta
Duong et al. 2016
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• Key elements to strengthen consent among stakeholders when they are
multi-functional and thus attractive to a variety of actors
• Are radical technological innovations in strategic delta planning as they may be
required to enable change for sustainable development in urbanizing deltas
• Solutions that inform a strategic change of development
• Proposed innovation is the introduction of something new that is altered by
something already established
• A new cultivation technique or a new aqua-agricultural model,which in a particular region has not been practiced yet or only a very long time ago
and now receives renewed attention.
“Innovations”:
What, How and
Why?
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Floating
rice
Shrimp-
Mangrove
Room for the
River
Alternatives of water management strategies
& livelihoodsLotus-based
farming
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Room for the River (multifunctional livelihoods) in An Phu – An Giang
Floating rice in Tri Ton, An Giang
Cassava, one of favourite upland-crops combined with floating rice
on the same landShrimp-mangrove in Duyen Hai, Tra Vinh
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Room for the River
(multifunctional
livelihoods)
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DisadvantagesAdvantages
Store water for dry season and create
beautiful landscape
Protect their residential areas
RftR’s flexible design, of which buffer
zones can help for extra cultivation in dry
seasons
Minimize damage caused by floods
Protect local spiritual values
Minimize risks of erosion and dike
breakage
Need a large land areas meanwhile the
farmers are not willing to share their lands
Need of a good plan and proper technical
design
The consent between all stakeholders as
well as the compromise from all related
sectors
Need financial support
Migration (lack of young labors)
Need a great support and assistance from
experienced professionals
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Floating rice-based
farming system
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DisadvantagesAdvantages
Easy to cultivate, do not need many
labors
Create habitats for fishes and other
aqua species
Living with and adapting to floods -
> restore flood water
Higher market price than traditional
rice
Keep the ecology balanced
Has a long history of tradition in
Vietnam
Low profit -> low income
Cultivation is difficult
Low yield that does not meet
requirement of food security
Long time of cultivation
Depends very much on flood
Requires techniques and experiences
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Lotus-based
farming
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DisadvantagesAdvantages
Reduce soil degradation, create
fluvial in soils
Low risk of failure
Better profits than any other types
of cultivation due to its multi-
functions
Higher market price than rice
Creating regional value chain
Create jobs, cultural and recreational
values
Heavy job -> hard to find human
labour (compulsory)
No support from government
Biggest difficulty: unstable market
price (high this year and very low
next year)
Not yet regional consumption
Recent serious disease
Unpredictable flood (quickly come
or quickly go)
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Shrimp-Mangrove
Integration
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DisadvantagesAdvantages
Simple cultivation (no pesticides, no
chemicals or fertilizers) -> organic products
Shrimp has big size -> good profit
Low density of shrimps per pond-> the
water can remain clean and not polluted
Low investment (no food needed)
“Green manure" for the food chain in the
pond ecosystem
Minimize pollution (as shrimps grow in
nature)
Water quality and nutrient flow could be
decreased, due to uncontrolled fallen trunks
and leaves of mangrove
There are no other income while waiting for
shrimp harvesting
The amount of fallen leaves varies according
to the specific conditions and can cause
environmental pollution
Need a big area for shrimp-mangrove ponds
Good design of shrimp-mangrove pond is
needed
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Take-home message
• Any innovation is considered as an improvement in thisadapting process, that needs more collaborating betweensectors, line departments and all involved stakeholders
• There is no such an absolute “sustainable” model oflivelihoods in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, we alwaysneed to ““Adaptation, proactive adaptation and flexibleadaptation” (Prof. Dao Xuan Hoc)
• “Turning the challenges and threats in the Mekong delta intoopportunities, that we should consider salinity, drought and floodsare our resources” (Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc)
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