Climate change adaptation in Mekong Delta with desirable environmental impacts

Climate change is occurring in Mekong Delta, affecting all aspects of people’s life and production.

Climate change adaptation aims to counter the adverse impacts of climate change but technical, social and economic perspectives on climate change adaptation sometimes downplay the environmental perspective.

Compromised interest on the environmental impacts of adaptation emerge from an excessive sectoral approach to climate change adaptation, with dominance of non-environmental perspectives, greater interest in mitigation and direct climate change impacts rather than in adaptation impacts, a tendency to consider adaptation as inherently good, and subjective/preconceived notions on which measures are good or bad, without a comprehensive assessment.

The Mekong Delta comprises a vast triangular plain that covers an area of 62,520 km², which is divided into two parts - an inner delta plain that is dominated by fluvial processes, and an outer delta plain that is dominated by marine processes.

The Mekong Delta is among the three mega-deltas in the world that are most likely to be severely affected by climate change as per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) who estimated that average annual temperatures are expected to increase by 3-5oC by mid-century with average wet season precipitation increasing by 3-14 percent. Climate change is occurring in Mekong Delta, affecting all aspects of people's life and production. Rising temperatures, hot weather, unseasonable rain and high frequency of extreme weather conditions are manifestations of climate change.

As noted in the Project Information Document by on GEF Mekong Delta Integrated Climate Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods Project by Global Environment Facility, building a climate resilient and sustainable Mekong Delta will require attention to regional/ global environment benefits, including: (i) climate change mitigation through promoting conservation and enhancement of carbon stocks in forest, and other land use, and support climate-smart agriculture; (ii) sustainable land management through maintaining and/or improving flow of agro-ecosystem services to sustain food production and livelihoods, and reducing pressures on natural resources; and (iii) sustainable forest management through maintaining forest resources and enhancing forest management.

While addressing climate change concerns in Mekong Delta, there is a need to address adaptation proactively through a process of doing comprehensive environmental impact assessment which requires addressing the policy frameworks needed as well as robust and reliable evaluation of alternatives.