Improving Resilience to Climate Change in Mekong Delta

At the Mekong Delta Forum 2015, organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Southwest Steering Committee, the World Bank, the Australian Embassy and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai noted the importance of the delta in the development of the whole southern region of Vietnam and of the country as a whole. Recognising these challenges, the Government has been instructing and implementing the integration of climate change adaptation activities in socioeconomic plans. “The Government of Vietnam always has high political will and prioritised investments for the integrated and sustainable development of this region, towards a better future for this rich but vulnerable land,” said Hai.

The forum followed an innovative interactive format, using break-out groups with provincial participants from departments of natural resources and environment, departments of agriculture and rural development and departments of planning and investment to discuss and debate the issues, challenges, and proposed solutions for three key sub-regions in the Delta.

 

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Minh Quang said there has never been a time when the Mekong Delta faces so many challenges, including the negative impacts of climate change and sea level rise, as well as pressure from unsustainable socioeconomic development.

 

“I remind that the future is uncertain. We cannot have a “hard” vision for this region while both internal and external factors are affecting the region’s development. We need a roadmap with different scenarios for the region’s development, including projected impacts from climate change and upstream development plan, which will help us choose the most resilient development pathway for the Mekong Delta region,” he said.

 

At the forum, delegates also discussed the challenges facing communities and associated livelihoods of agriculture and aquaculture that are the mainstay of the region’s economy. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat highlighted the degradation of coastal lands and agricultural yields from saline intrusion, and flooding, and pointed to the need for tapping into the economic potential of agriculture and aquaculture.

 

“For sustainable development of agriculture, the Mekong Delta region needs to address these challenges through agriculture restructuring together with the development of new rural areas in a climate-smart and multi-sectoral approach. The region’s agriculture should move toward producing highly competitive and sustainable products with higher quality and value, based on the promotion of the region’s strength of rice, shrimp, catfish and fruits,” he added.

 

Ms Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank Country Director to Vietnam, said “How we can move from a shared framework of general recommendations that to more specific concrete actions requires three critical elements. The first is to strengthen and improve the institutional mechanisms that enable interprovincial and intersectoral coordination needed for the Mekong Delta. The second is to identify low-regret investments, and relevant climate-smart policies, that are in line with the Mekong Delta Plan recommendations. The third is to proactively mobilise resources to establish a financing mechanism for the Mekong Delta, which enables and promotes strategic investment in the face of development and climate change.”

 

The Mekong Delta Forum aims to deepen understanding of the integrated framework for building the Delta’s resilience, demonstrate through case studies the typical trade-offs involved and how to make integrated and long-term decisions through multisectoral collaboration. More than 200 delegates from the central government, provincial authorities, academic institutions, research agencies, embassies and international organisations attended the forum.