Working for a climate-resilient future of the Mekong Delta
Project description
Title: Mekong Delta Climate Resilience Programme (Dự án Thích ứng với Biến đổi khí hậu vùng Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Cofinanced by: Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO)
Country: Viet Nam
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)
Overall term: 2019 to 2025
Context
The Mekong Delta, the livelihood of 17 million people, is one of the regions hardest hit by the effects of climate change. These impacts include increasing sea level rise, but also rising temperatures and increasing extreme weather events. Land sinking on the one hand and sea-level rise on the other are leading to increasing salinisation of freshwater and flooding, particularly in the coastal region and along the Mekong River. The main consequences of this situation are an increasing loss of land and water resources. Inadequate land and water management, the construction of dikes for flood protection and the increase of hydroelectric dams – particularly in the upper Mekong as well as the investment policy for economic development of the Mekong Delta are increasing stress on the complex ecosystem. Urban infrastructure is increasingly beyond its limits due to increasing frequency and intensity of floods combined with an insufficient absorption capacity of drainage systems, an unsystematic drainage planning, increasing urban surface sealing and uncoordinated river basin management.
Objective
The climate-resilient management of the Mekong Delta is improved via established regional coordination mechanisms and the use of innovative technical solutions in rural and urban areas.
Approach
The programme supports the Vietnamese partners in establishing the institutional framework for regional coordination and investment planning for climate-resilient and gender-sensitive management of water resources in urban and rural areas, to apply innovative technologies and interventions to combat coastal and riverbank erosion and to promote climate-smart and water-sensitive urban infrastructure.
The project involves all relevant state actors at national and provincial level, the private sector and civil society. A close coordination with other bilateral and multilateral actors in the region is endorsed e.g. through the Mekong Delta Working Group.
Last update: Februar 2022