Analysis of Constraints in Agricultural Production for Climate Change Adaptation in Thanh Phu District, Mekong Delta Vietnam

Introduction by Mart A. Stewart and Peter A. CoclanisI Environmental Change in the Mekong Delta - Actions and Agencies 1. Think Global, Act Global, in the Mekong Delta? Environmental Change, Civil Society and NGOs from the Inside Looking Out. 2. Fixing the Delta: History and the Politics of Hydraulic InfrastructureDevelopment and Conservation in the Mekong Delta 3. A History of Hydraulic Environmental Management in the Red River Delta before the Colonial Intervention. 4.'A Kind of Mylai ..Against the Indochinese Countryside': American Scientists, Herbicides, and South Vietnamese Mangrove Forests. 5. The Politics and Culture of 'Climate Change': U.S. Actors and Global Implications. II Social and Economic Dynamics 6. Precarious Paddies: The Uncertain, Unstable, and Insecure Lives of Rice Farmers in the Mekong Delta. 7. Analysis of Labor Migration Flows in the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam. 8. Dynamic resilience of peri-urban agriculture in the Mekong Delta under pressures of socio-economic transformation and climate change. 9. Economic and efficiency analysis of selected farming patterns: the case of irrigated systems in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. 10. Evaluation of Living with Flood Policy: The Case of the Resettlement Program in the Mekong Delta. III Consequences of Environmental Change 11. Climate Change in the Mekong River Delta and Key Concerns about Future Climate Threats. 12. Climate Change Adaptation and Agrichemicals in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. 13. Roles of Men and Women in Disaster Risk Management: A Case Study of a Flood-Prone Village along the Mekong River of Cambodia. IV Human Responses to Environmental Change 14. Community-based fish culture - a viable coping strategy for farmers in the Mekong Delta? 15. From rice to shrimp: Ecological changes and human adaptation in the Mekong Delta. 16. Relationship quality in Pangasius value chains: The case of buyer - supplier management in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. 17. The relationship between natural conditions and the formation and development of clam grounds (Metrix lyrata) in the Mekong Delta. 18. Compost potential from solid waste toward sustainable agriculture and the mitigation of global warming in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. 19. Biogas Production of Pig Manure with Water Hyacinth Juice from Batch Anaerobic Digestion. 20. Community scale wind powered desalination for selected coastal Mekong provinces in Vietnam. 21. Promotion of organic cocoa in mixed farming system in the Mekong Delta region: a preliminary analysis. 22. The Transition from Conventional to Organic Rice Production in Northeastern Thailand: Prospect and Challenges. 23. Mekong Delta Rice and Aquaculture Production and Climate Variability: Coping and Adaptation Strategies.

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1. IntroductionClimate change effects will alter biodiversity, food production and finally rural households' in the next decades (Tol, 2002; Velarde et al., 2005 and IPCC, 2007). In Vietnam, climate change has been observed to foster temperature increases and sea level rise, which have caused permanent inundation, increased flooding, as well as salt water intrusion (Dasgupta et al., 2007; Wassmann et el., 2004). Scientific information and climatic mapping show that 10 of Vietnam's susceptible provinces to climate change are among the top 25 percent most vulnerable areas in Southeast Asia, and that Ben Tre is one of these (Yusuf and Francisco, 2010).The Ben Tre region has suffered immensely from climatic change as evidenced by recent salt water intrusion and increased frequency of typhoon activities. Economic damages caused by salt water intrusion from 1995 to 2008 amounted to US $32,423,080,632 including 15,782 ha of dead or less productive paddy, 13,700 ha of shed unripe coconuts, 360 ha of less productive aquaculture, and 5,289 tons of dead shrimp. The intrusion also placed 132,823 households into a situation of continued lack of fresh water (Ben Tre DPI, 2010). Nine years later, the typhoon named Durian, with wind velocity of over 133 km per hour, had severely devastated the province, which resulted in 17 deaths, 162 injured people, and 71,340 collapsed or unroofed houses (Ben Tre CEHMF, 2010).A number of studies have examined the effects of cli mate change on Vietnam's economy and found varying results (Adger, 1999; Dinh, 2012), but have attributed many of the climatic occurrences to climate change events. The variation in results occurs because of spatial fluctuations of climate change effects. To observe specific effects of climate change on community food consumption vulnerability, we examine a particular case in Vietnam, Mekong Delta, Ben Tre Province, which has been seriously impacted by recent climatic change events. For these reasons, the study focuses on food consumption assessment and poverty in the Ben Tre Province.2. Objectives of the StudyIn this paper, we assess the impacts of climate change on households' livelihoods in Ben Tre Province to determine how these changes affect the consumption of inhabitants in these areas. Specifically we: (1) determine the extent of of households in the selected coastal communities; (2) determine the factors that affect food consumption per capita in the coastal communities in Ben Tre Province; and (3) evaluate the effects of coastal climatic events on the consumption and poverty in the area.We proceed by defining the term then we examine the relationship between climate change and vulnerability; we evaluate the approaches in representing vulnerability; and propose a conceptual framework for evaluation of vulnerability. We then proceed with a methodical approach; discuss the model development; present the results and finally the discussion and conclusion.3. Vulnerability3.1 Definitions of VulnerabilityThe term vulnerability has no universally accepted definition (Fussel, 2007). Stu dies on natural threats define as the degree to which an unprotected unit is prone to being harmed by exposure to a perturbation or stress, in conjunction with its ability (or lack thereof) to cope, recover or fundamentally adapt (become a new system or go extinct) (Kasperson et al., 2001; Fussel, 2007). In contrast, the poverty and development literature, which focuses on social, economic and political conditions, defines as a cumulative measure of human welfare that integrates environmental, social, economic, and political exposure to a range of harmful distresses (Bohle et al., 1994). According to Yamin et al. (2005), the communities affected by disasters define as conditions that are determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors or processes, and that increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of a hazard. …

Coastal areas of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam are increasingly experiencing salinity intrusion in freshwater systems, in part due to climate change induced sea-level rise, compromising agricultural production and domestic water supply. In order to determine which development trajectories could result in resilient agro-ecosystems, a study area in Thanh Phu district, Ben Tre province was selected where the influence of salinity intrusion on agro-ecosystem can be studied along spatial and temporal salinity gradients. The district is divided in three sub-regions: sub-region 3, closest to the coastline, is principally dedicated to brackish-water shrimp farming; more inland, sub-region 2 has a mix of rice-shrimp farming; and further inland, sub-region 1, which is protected from salinity intrusion by a system of dykes, is dedicated principally to rice farming. Household and expert interviews, focus group discussions and a review of policy documents were used to capture historical salinity problems as well as shifts in farming systems. Agricultural activities have changed in the last decades, mainly driven by national-level policies. At present, the development of engineered infrastructures is favoured whereas complementary or alternative solutions to increase the resilience of social-ecological systems with respect to salinity intrusion exist. These include regeneration of coastal ecosystems, agronomic measures, upstream flow control and shifts in agro-ecosystems. The latter would increasingly enable farmers to work under the influence of both saline and freshwater systems allowing income diversification. National authorities have an opportunity to change the business as usual mode of tackling water-related problems including extreme events in the Mekong Delta through infrastructure development by looking at these alternative solutions.

Land subsidence and rising sea levels could result in 40% of the Mekong Delta being covered by the South China Sea within the next few decades. The impact of groundwater withdrawal, in the SE Asia mega deltas of Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, Jakarta Delta, Chao Phraya Delta and Mekong Delta, is a major reason these deltas are sinking. There are lessons to be learned from both failures and successful remediation efforts in other mega deltas as Vietnam policy makers seek to address Mekong Delta subsidence. Without a significant Vietnam government remediation and mitigation efforts, land subsidence in the Mekong Delta will continue. Land subsidence has occurred in the Mekong Delta as a result of the retention of sediments behind the China and Laos dams on the main stem of the Mekong River, reduced flooding peaks, climate change, sea level rise, storm surges and flooding. In addition, subsidence has been exascerbated by compaction, groundwater extraction for shrimp ponds, rice paddies and the household and drinking water needs of approximately 20 million people living on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and Cambodia. The Mekong Delta shorelines are eroding and significant land areas, including wetlands, are becoming open water. The wetlands and land mass are also subsiding as a result of the reduction in sediment deposition. Large dams on the mainstem of the Mekong River in China and Laos have reduced peak flows and reduced sediment loads in lower Mekong River. Population and industrial growth have increased groundwater extraction and salt water intrusion as the delta subsides leading to consolidation and reduction in the current plumes flowing into the South China Sea. The primary objective of this paper is to assess the impact of groundwater withdrawals for rice paddies, shrimp ponds, aquaculture, industry and drinking water on Mekong Delta land subsidence. The secondary objective is to identify mitigation efforts used in other Southeast Asia deltas and make remediation recommendations for the sinking Mekong Delta. Promising mitigation approaches are injecting river water deep into the underlying alluvial sediments, return of the sediments trapped in China and Laos reservoirs to the Mekong River mainstem, increase in the Mekong River flooding peaks, and construction of sea and floodwalls, dykes, polders and levees. The addition of Mekong River sediments to build up existing floodplains, the reduction of coastal shoreline erosion, the planting of mangroves and protection of urban and agricultural areas from being covered by the South China Sea are strategies that could help remediate land subsidence in the Mekong Delta.

Ben Tre, a Mekong Delta Province has dense canal networks with about 6,000km in total extension. There are more than 60 canals having over 50m of width. The river system plays the important role of Ben Tre, providing water for agriculture, drainage, navigation, fisheries and restoration in local area. Data for 44 sites from the main rivers and canals of Ben Tre were collected in April and October from 2015 to 2016 to analyze for pH, total suspended solid (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), amoni (NH4+), phosphate (PO43-), and coliform. Then data were used for calculation and mapping. The ArcGIS 9.3 software, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation, and hydrologic variables in April and October from 2015 to 2016 were applied to build the maps of water quality for the Ben Tre. This result indicated that the water quality of many sites from the main rivers and canals of Ben Tre in April and October from 2015 to 2016 were polluted with TSS values at 75 − 304 mg/L, BOD5 from 7.0 − 25.0 mg/L; and coliform from 1.1 × 103 to 2.3 × 105 MPN/100 mL. Additionally, the results classified water quality of Ben Tre at 5 classes, as described by The Vietnam Environmental Protection Agency, good quality for water supply (1); use for water supply required appropriate treatment (2); usage for water use for irrigation (3); water use for navigation (4); and, heavy pollution (5). Last but not least, the wastewater control solutions for Ben Tre are also suggested. There were some the prior projects for environmental pollution control these have been implemented to improve the water quality for main river and canals in Ben Tre Province.

Changes in mangrove vegetation, aquaculture and paddy cultivation in the Mekong Delta: A study from Ben Tre Province, southern Vietnam

In the coastal area of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, much of the mangrove forest has been cut to make space for expansion of industry and aquaculture. Export‐oriented shrimp farming is a particularly fast‐growing business. Nonetheless, the importance of tropical mangrove forest ecosystems for coastal protection and marine biodiversity is widely recognized. The Vietnamese government, supported by non‐governmental organizations and donors, has sought to restore mangrove forest. To this end, the government has promoted mixed or integrated mangrove‐shrimp systems in which farmers maintain at least 40 per cent of their area under mangrove cover. Since 2012, mangrove reforestation, care and protection has benefited from local authority stimulus as well. Multiple studies have examined the condition of the mangrove forest in Ben Tre and other coastal provinces of the Mekong Delta. However, no research has investigated the role of social dynamics in farmers’ willingness to shift to, or maintain, integrated mangrove‐shrimp systems. Specifically, the influence of information, group dynamics and social learning on farmer decision‐making is poorly understood and, indeed, hardly investigated in Vietnam. This article reports on a study of social processes in three communes in Binh Dai District, Ben Tre Province, Vietnam. We conducted 42 semi‐structured interviews (with 34 farmers and eight local officials) and used secondary data. Our preliminary findings indicate that social dynamics in these communes were issue‐driven and played an important role in farmers’ decisions to adopt, or convert to, the integrated mangrove‐shrimp farming system. Television, radio, the internet, books, neighbours and training courses all had some influence in farmer decision‐making processes. However, our findings suggest that the accessibility, usefulness, relevance and approach of these communication methods must be improved if they are to adequately inform and support local farmers.

A large part of the world’s population lives in coastal areas, and even though river deltas only contribute to 5% of the global land mass, over 500 million people live in these areas, where major rivers reach the ocean. Deltas have numerous advantages for societal development, such as a flat topography, available fresh and salt water resources, good transportation via waterways and the nearby coast, fertile soils for agriculture, and usually also a rich biodiversity and recreational value through, for example, wetland ecosystems, coastal forests, and beaches. However, at the same time, river deltas of the world belong to the most endangered ecosystems with respect to societal, environmental and climate change – the latter especially manifested through sea level rise (SLR). In this chapter we present the most common environmental impacts of society’s economic development expressed via agricultural intensification, increasing urban sprawl, industrial activity, and infrastructure expansion in deltas, as well as the climate change and SLR related challenges that threaten delta development in many countries. We discuss means of mitigation and adaptation towards these negative impacts, which can be of educational, ecological, technological and political nature, and depict how delta populations with differing resilience address the challenges induced by environmental and climate change. We use the Mekong Delta in Vietnam as a case study by addressing the threats and possible adaptation options of this region.

Community-based adaptation to climate change in villages of Western Province, Solomon Islands

Vietnam is one of many countries heavily impacted by climate change in recent decades. The Mekong Delta region has been a prominent example of the severity of climate change on agriculture and ecosystems. Many studies have been conducted to assess the impacts of climate change on different sectors in Vietnam, however, there are gaps in understanding climate effects from a gender perspective and the important role gender plays in climate response and adaptation. This paper aims to use a gender-specific perspective to examine effects of climate change on women’s and girls’ livelihoods, water and food security, labor and income, migration and education in Hoa An commune, Hau Giang province in Mekong Delta. Particularly, this paper addresses challenges that women and girls face amidst impacts of climate change. It also discusses opportunities to empower women and young girls in which education and training on raising awareness of climate change and taking appropriate adaptation measures, play a significant role. The paper is structured through the discussion of the theoretical background that employs a gender lens to frame climate change within the context of Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The methodology section describes the study site in Hoa An commune of Hau Giang province in the delta. Mixed qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted during the data collection process. The results report on (1) gender roles and gender power at family and at work (2) vulnerability perceived by women and girls, (3) impacts caused by climate change (4) livelihood support from central and local governments, adaptation, and role of education.

Cuc, N.T.K.; Suzuki, T.; Ruyter van Steveninck, E.D. de, and Hai, H., 2015. Modelling the impacts of mangrove vegetation structure on wave dissipation in Ben Tre Province, Vietnam, under different climate change scenarios. Mangroves are widely distributed along the coastline of Vietnam, where they provide protection against sea waves caused by extreme weather. Impacts of climate change, together with population growth and economic development, are expected to exert pressure on these vulnerable systems. In this study the numerical wave-propagation model SWAN-VEG (Simulating Waves Nearshore–Vegetation) was used to simulate the possible impacts of climate change on the wave-dissipation capacity of different types of mangrove vegetation. Vegetation characteristics were assessed in planted plots (Rhizophora apiculata and a mix of R. mucronata, Sonneratia caseolaris, Avicennia alba, and Nypa fructicans) and in natural regenerated areas (A. alba and S. caseolaris) in Thanh Phu Natural Reserve, Mekong Delta, Vietnam; these assessments were used as model input. Different sea levels and mangrove vegetation characteristics were used to simulate the potential impacts of climate change. Planted plots with a cover of 70% reduced the height of incoming waves by 60%, compared with 40% for natural regenerated forest. Reducing the vegetation cover in planted plots from 70% to 50%, 35%, and 0% resulted in wave-height reductions of 51%, 42%, and −4%, respectively. A sea level rise (SLR) up to 0.96 m did not change the wave-dissipation potential of R. apiculata planted in the plots. However, an assumed decline in the width of vegetation from 1.5 km to 0.5 km, e.g. as a consequence of coastal erosion, reduced the height of incoming waves 21% (no SLR) and 29% (0.96 m SLR), as compared to 60% and 59%, respectively, without erosion.

In Ben Tre province, shallow groundwater found at a depth of 8 to 60 m is exploited for domestic use and for irrigation of crops in rural areas. The water wells have different depths and are usually moderately to high contaminated with iron alum, moreover the saline- brackish water is at different depths and locations. In recent years, due to the effects of climate change and drought, the problem of drinking water and irrigation for planting is an urgent need. The study determined the distribution characteristics of aquifers, the environment for forming sediments and analyzed some chemical indicators of water for crop irrigation. This study shows that shallow groundwater is clarified and consisting of the Holocene (qh) and upper Pleistocene (qp3) aquifers from 8 to 60 m in depth. The Holocene aquifer consists of fresh water commonly found at of 8.5-17.5 m in depth, and saline- brackish water appearing by layers and lenticular are commonly found at about 25- 35 m in depth. Fresh water is usually found in the fluvial flat, channel and estuary facies, and saline - brackish water is in the tidal flat, delta front and pro-delta facies belong to the subaqueous delta plain. It suggests that sedimentary facies in boreholes and geological cross-sections play an important role in determining distribution characteristics and water quality, clarifying the distribution of fresh and saline water in Holocene sediments in the study area. This result can be referenced for research in the Mekong River Delta and other regions. Shallow aquifers have not great thickness, uneven water quality, cannot provide concentrated water. However, the water source has an important meaning in providing water for agricultural irrigation in the drought season, especially in the fruit tree area in Ben Tre Province.

Study and evaluation on sustainable industrial development in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

This experiment purpose is finding that using biochar of reed plants (Phragmites autralis); it is a plant species grows a seasonal cycle, it also is a very high biomass in Mekong Delta (MD) of Vietnam. To evaluate fresh, dry biomass and made of reed plants biochar to use them provide bio-organic fertilizer for rice plant (ST 25) in experiment. To achieve this aims some experiments have done by methods in laboratory of The Forestry Institute of Southern Vietnam are contents follow as:(1) investigating biomass of fresh, dry reed plants and made of biochar by use the local method; (2) analyses the chemical indicators in 3 different locations tis area on trunks, leaves, flowers in study area; (3) identify chemical indicators of peat land on 3 different locations of MD; (4) adsorption with pig urine and chemical fertilizer (nitrogen, phosphorus and potash) to see the retention off chemical components dispersed into the environment in the adsorbed biochar; (5) use the formulas of reed plant biochar mixed peat and mineral inorganic fertilizer. The results showed: The reeds in 3 locations of MD can provide big amount of biomass to make of reed biochar fertilizer; reed biochar can adopted as ammonium, nitrate, nitrogen, phosphorus and kalium the pig urine and it also adopted inorganic fertilizer as nitrogen, phosphorus and Kalium. Thus it is possible to use for application treatment environment in the region polluted and planting local rice ST 25 in the experiment area in MD. Biomass and biochar of reed in MD are big amount for the material of environment treatment and agriculture fertilizer; in chemical indicators of trunks, leaves and flowers in locations have some indictors are difference and some are not differences; the chemical indicators of some location are not differences; the mixed biochar, peat and inorganic in formulas in 5 days and 10 days were not differences; biochar can adsorb some chemical components of pig urine and nitrogen, phosphorus and kalium fertilizer; biochar can mixed peat and inorganic mineral fertilizer to planting rice ST 25 in Mekong Delta.

The article discusses the features of the socio-environmental situation in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The first part analyzes the causes of its degradation under the influence of factors related to the economic development of the river both in Vietnam and abroad and multiplied by the consequences of climate change. The destruction of the Mekong Delta ecosystem calls into question the sustainability of the regions future economic development and threatens the countrys food security. The second part of the article analyzes the policy promoted by the state to minimize the environmental consequences of ongoing development projects and adaptation to climate change. The author comes to the conclusion that despite the existing difficulties in implementing the planned measures, the state is ready to create conditions for the transition to sustainable development in the Mekong Delta.