Mekong Futures - 3rd workshop, 11-12.11.11

Mekong Delta Futures Local Study - 3rd workshop
Date: 11-12 November 2011
Venue: Learning Resources Centre (4th floor), Can Tho University Campus 2.

This workshop was the 3rd in the series of 5 workshops and as part of the broader project Mekong Region Futures. The Mekong Region Futures Project is a collaborative research between Mekong country institutes, sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and CSIRO. The project investigates possible future projections of energy, food and water relationships in the Mekong Region. In the Mekong Delta, the project focuses on the relationship of water, land uses, food security under the context of future climate change.

In the 1st and the 2nd workshops of the Mekong Delta Futures Local Study, policy makers and influencers in the Mekong Delta were invited to build qualitative scenarios for the future delta, considering important uncertainties. The 3rd workshop aims to verify the validity of local study findings and to understand their policy implications through discussions among participants.

There were 4 main presentations: (1) Hydrology of the Mekong Delta I: Sea level rise, effectiveness of dykes and consequences of land use change & (2) Hydrology of the Mekong Delta II: Adding dams and droughts (Mr. To Quang Toan); (3) Rice crops responses to changes in salinity levels (Dr. Vu Anh Phap); (4) Research on households in Mekong delta, their livelihoods and adaptive strategies (Dr. John Ward and Mr. Hua Hong Hieu). Aim of the workshop is not to make us believe in the results of modeling projection but to inspire us to think, to brainstorm together and to discuss on different scenarios…

Participants were divided into 4 groups (around 10 people per group) to discuss after each presentation. I was put into group 4 with other representatives from Can Tho, Bac Lieu, Dong Thap, Ben Tre, Tien Giang... Mr. Trieu Cong Danh, the vice director of Soc Trang DONRE was also in our group.

Summary of main results from the discussions

•     First of all we need to understand current situation and think how to work harmoniously with nature, adaptive to nature, take advantages of nature as the cheapest solution.

•    We have to be very careful when considering structural/infrastructure measures (hard solutions). Sluice gate/dyke can help in mitigating salinization and can function as floodgate but they also can cause environmental pollution and can reduce aquacultural production (lessons learnt from Ba Lai sluice gate). We need to build background database for monitoring the progress and evaluating the impacts of those hard infrastructure (sluice gates) on environment.

•     We need integrated solutions that taking into account all factors involved such as rice, aquaculture, infrastructure, people… then setting priorities while considering cost – benefits analysis.

•    Hydropower reservoirs upstream, in ideal situation or at optimal operation can work as floodgate (storage for water) in flooding time and can discharge water in drying time. However, all participants agreed that it is very difficult to have this optimal operation for all reservoirs because of reality and political issues. We need to take the worse scenario into account.

•   China is not a member in Mekong River Commission (MRC) but it has a big influence on downstream countries as nearly half of the Mekong flowing through China. Thus, we need to promote more communication/negotiation to reduce damages caused from shortage of water by Chinese dams upstream.    

•     As the study focus mostly on impacts to rice cultivation, it was reminded that upstream hydropower dam construction will mostly affect aquacultural production rather than rice cultivation, especially on natural fish resources. Thus, we need more research on hydropower dam on aquacultural production.

•     Long-term solution would be training/education for a new farmer generation, vocational training, socialization of education and training. We should think about solution for labour force shifting from rural to urban areas.

•     We should plant more mangrove forest in the coastal areas which can work as protective barrier to erosion and can increase the local natural resilience to climate change.   

Discussion in our group (group 4)

 

Learning Resources Centre (4th floor), Can Tho University Campus