Meetings with experts after ICAM workshop

Date: 25.11.2011
Venue: Orchid room, Kim Do hotel, HCMC

In the morning, our team had meeting with Prof. Tim, Stefan, Thorsten, Farid (GIZ Vietnam) and Patrick (GIZ Philippines) to discuss more on ICAM.

Summary of discussed issues:

- Social learning is essential for sustainability. It is a process and we should consider not only formal education.

-  It is important that Soc Trang should link to national program and not isolated, such as considering cooperation with PEMSEA projects.

- There will be a multi-donor project on climate change in Vietnam, co-funding from France, JICA, WB, Korea, AusAid, some European bilateral...

- Challenge for Vietnam is multi-stakeholder dialogue. We need to have MARD and MONRE cooperate. It is only fit if one respect the other. However, in Soc Trang, DONRE and DARD do work at provincial level.

- For CZM project in Soc Trang, we root ourselves in the mud, using bottom-up approach, small-scale activities. We start at the grassroot level, working with villagers... Our project will not make ICAM for the province. Instead, we make tools, ideas to help institutionalize ICAM in Soc Trang.

- In Bac Lieu, wind turbines also function as wavebreakers. For wind energy, Soc Trang need feasibility study to avoid some missed planning.

- There is some logic behind traditional knowledge (“fortune teller”) such as using moon cycle... For adaptive capacity, we should tap these local knowledge.

- We can apply capacity work, a GIZ project management method, in terms of project planning. It is backcasting approach, starting with a vision and then moving backward to find appropriate solutions to reach that vision. It would make easier for prioritizing things and allocating budgets...

- Planning should have high priority. Multi-disciplinary thinking/ system planning/ system vision should be integrated in spatial planning.

- Technical advisory board is very useful but other new institution/agency is not necessary for ICAM.

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In the afternoon, we had meeting with Dr. Dinh Cong San (Southern Water Resource Institute) to discuss about building a decision-support system for Mekong Delta (from Cambodian border to Vung Tau).

Because of dynamic nature of Mekong coastline, it would be helpful to have a decision-support system for decision-makers in the region. The questions posed were “can something be done as a joint project? Who must be involved? Who should take lead?”

We need to close the gap between scientific project and application. We should think of specific solution, not single solution for whole province but adaptive measures for certain cases.

It is very important for the system to be an open one, that can be inputted and updated. We would share consultation  with some donors and we need finance commitment from Vietnamese side.

It was suggested that Dr. San’s SWRI should be leading institution and more elaborated concept note should be refined by Thorsten and Dr. San, then it should be given to Farid to be moved forward to MARD.

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