Is Ecosystem-based Management Necessary for Adaptation to Sea Level Rise in Shrimp Growing Areas of the Mekong Delta?

Is Ecosystem-based Management Necessary for Adaptation to Sea Level Rise in Shrimp Growing Areas of the Mekong Delta?
Author: Ralph W. Riccio
Publisher:
Total Pages: 43
Release: 2012
Genre: Ecosystem management
ISBN:

Download Is Ecosystem-based Management Necessary for Adaptation to Sea Level Rise in Shrimp Growing Areas of the Mekong Delta? Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Throughout history, society has relied on natural capital provided by the surrounding environment. The most successful societies have been those that have been able to adapt their practices in order to take advantage when changes occur in their environment. In the face of climate change, however, societies around the world are threatened by accelerated environmental change. Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) has been suggested as a way to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities to impacts of climate change, but may be difficult to implement because information on the connectivity between various parts of a system is frequently lacking. This is especially the case in developing countries. The Mekong Delta of Viet Nam is inhabited by 17.6 million people and is an economically valuable region, producing nearly $2.5 billion USD in shrimp per year for export. With an elevation at or below one meter, the area is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts including specifically, sea level rise (SLR). The national government of Viet Nam is exploring both hard and soft solutions to protect this highly productive delta. Through this study I explore three case studies to determine the extent to which EBM is necessary to maintain adaptability in shrimp growing areas. From these case studies I conclude that, while there are a variety of initiatives under way that do not acknowledge all components of EBM, those that are most promising are adaptive in nature and can address future uncertainty by maintaining flexibility. However, while these solutions are likely to maintain a greater number of ecosystem services, they sacrifice short-term economic productivity. I discuss lessons learned, limitations of an EBM approach, and provide recommendations for large-scale adaptation to SLR through an integrated mangrove shrimp green belt in the Mekong Delta.

Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta

Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta
Author: Mart A. Stewart
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2013-07-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9789400736115

Download Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The Mekong Delta of Vietnam is one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world. The Mekong River fans out over an area of about 40,000 sq kilometers and over the course of many millennia has produced a region of fertile alluvial soils and constant flows of energy. Today about a fourth of the Delta is under rice cultivation, making this area one of the premier rice granaries in the world. The Delta has always proven a difficult environment to manipulate, however, and because of population pressures, increasing acidification of soils, and changes in the Mekong’s flow, environmental problems have intensified. The changing way in which the region has been linked to larger flows of commodities and capital over time has also had an impact on the region: For example, its re-emergence in recent decades as a major rice-exporting area has linked it inextricably to global markets and their vicissitudes. And most recently, the potential for sea level increases because of global warming has added a new threat. Because most of the region is on average only a few meters above sea level and because any increase of sea level will change the complex relationship between tides and down-river water flow, the Mekong Delta is one of the areas in the world most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. How governmental policy and resident populations have in the past and will in coming decades adapt to climate change as well as several other emerging or ongoing environmental and economic problems is the focus of this collection.

The Mekong Delta System

The Mekong Delta System
Author: Fabrice G. Renaud
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-07-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9789401784566

Download The Mekong Delta System Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book about the Mekong Delta presents a unique collection of state-of-the-art contributions by international experts from different scientific disciplines about the characteristics and pressing water-related challenges of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The Mekong Delta belongs to one of the areas, which are to expect the largest challenges concerning environmental change and climate change induced sea level rise . The Delta acts as the “rice bowl” of Southeast Asia and is home to over 17 Million people, who need to cope with ecologic as well as socio-economic changes linked to the rapid economic development of the country. Annual floods, severe droughts, salt water intrusion, degrading water quality, tropical cyclones, hydrologic changes due to hydropower projects in the upstream of the Mekong, coastal erosion, and the loss of biodiversity are some of the problems in the region. Heterogeneous resource management responsibilities, and the fact that the Mekong – and thus also the Delta – is influenced by six countries aggravate the situation. Integrated water resources management and fostered cooperation and information exchange are pressing needs for the sustainable development of the Delta.

Small Fry in a Big Ocean: Change, Resilience and Crisis in the Shrimp Industry of the Mekong Delta of Vi & Ệt Nam

Small Fry in a Big Ocean: Change, Resilience and Crisis in the Shrimp Industry of the Mekong Delta of Vi & Ệt Nam
Author: Brian Marks
Publisher:
Total Pages: 540
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

Download Small Fry in a Big Ocean: Change, Resilience and Crisis in the Shrimp Industry of the Mekong Delta of Vi & Ệt Nam Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The development of shrimp aquaculture in the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam is implicated in several patterns of local and regional change. These change trajectories are the emergent properties of complex processes embedded in particular social and spatial contexts. While places have become more interconnected through the global shrimp trade, those interconnections have been highly uneven, distributing risks and rewards disproportionately and producing new forms of conflict and cooperation among participants in the production network. Land use and farming systems in the coastal delta have changed profoundly in recent years. While some areas have become effectively l̀ocked in' to shrimp farming due to environmental changes initiated by salt-water aquaculture, others have remained more flexible, able to rotate rice and shrimp seasonally. Hydrologic conditions, water infrastructures, and farmer experience all contribute to the path-dependence of these change trajectories, but commodity prices exhibit the strongest influence on their direction. Price stabilization may contribute to making prices a sustaining, s̀low' variable in system change, not a disruptive f̀ast' one, heightening overall resilience. The production network of Mekong Delta shrimp is articulated through a variety of socially embedded relationships. Most producers are linked with international markets through informal ties with input suppliers based on trust and shrimp buyers, a relationship marked by opportunism. Processors operate through long-term informal relations with importers based on quality and consistency. This variegated network of relationships means farmers bear the brunt of price shocks, but processors lack quality assurance and traceability. Efforts to link chain participants into closer affiliation must pay attention to these relationships' effects on commodity chain governance. The globalization of the shrimp industry brought about conflicts between producers in the Mekong and Mississippi Deltas. Feminist geographers have posited several responses to globalization, from c̀ounter-topographies' to d̀iverse economies/resubjectivization.' Living in Viet Nam and working with shrimp producers, I attempted to use these approaches to articulate an internationalist and trans-regional politics. Interactions with people there primarily resubjectivized me and reinforced national-scaled spatial imaginaries, however. Nevertheless, being Ùncle America' offered an insightful perspective into how some Vietnamese understood themselves and Viet Nam's tortured relationship with the U.S.

Farmers' Perspectives on Risks and Social Capital in the Mekong Delta

Farmers' Perspectives on Risks and Social Capital in the Mekong Delta
Author: Thị Phương Lan Ngô
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2022
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1527581519

Download Farmers' Perspectives on Risks and Social Capital in the Mekong Delta Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book analyses the risky behavior of farmers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, in their shift from rice to shrimp farming, as well as the role of social capital in these farmers' economic activities. Emphasizing the rationality of the market does not fully explain the nature of farmers' economic behavior. Therefore, this book explores farmers' risk mitigation and dispersion, so as to provide a systematic outlook on the issue. It finds that ""food security"" and ""subsistence margin"" influence farmers' behavior to some extent. In the context of current social relations, farmers do not complete.

Climate change, water and agriculture in the Greater Mekong Subregion

Climate change, water and agriculture in the Greater Mekong Subregion
Author:
Publisher: IWMI
Total Pages: 64
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN: 9290907282

Download Climate change, water and agriculture in the Greater Mekong Subregion Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The impacts of climate change on agriculture and food production in Southeast Asia will be largely mediated through water, but climate is only one driver of change. Water resources in the region will be shaped by a complex mixture of social, economic and environmental factors. This report reviews the current status and trends in water management in the Greater Mekong Subregion; assesses likely impacts of climate change on water resources to 2050; examines water management strategies in the context of climate and other changes; and identifies priority actions for governments and communities to improve resilience of the water sector and safeguard food production.

Water and Power

Water and Power
Author: Mart A. Stewart
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2018-12-12
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319904000

Download Water and Power Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book brings together a talented international group of scholars, policy practitioners, and NGO professionals that explores a range of issues relating to environmental, developmental, and governing challenges on the Mekong, one of the world’s greatest rivers and, alas, one of the most endangered. The book is divided into three sections devoted in turn to historical perspectives on the Lower Mekong Basin. Issues relate to livelihood strategies, environmental threats, and adaptation strategies; and various aspects of river governance, with individual authors treating questions of governance at different levels of refraction and in different registers. The result is a fresh and innovative collection of essays, which, taken together, provide much-needed new perspectives on some of the most important and seemingly intractable environmental and development issues in contemporary Asia.

Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta

Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta
Author: Mart A. Stewart
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2011-05-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9789400709331

Download Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The Mekong Delta of Vietnam is one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world. The Mekong River fans out over an area of about 40,000 sq kilometers and over the course of many millennia has produced a region of fertile alluvial soils and constant flows of energy. Today about a fourth of the Delta is under rice cultivation, making this area one of the premier rice granaries in the world. The Delta has always proven a difficult environment to manipulate, however, and because of population pressures, increasing acidification of soils, and changes in the Mekong’s flow, environmental problems have intensified. The changing way in which the region has been linked to larger flows of commodities and capital over time has also had an impact on the region: For example, its re-emergence in recent decades as a major rice-exporting area has linked it inextricably to global markets and their vicissitudes. And most recently, the potential for sea level increases because of global warming has added a new threat. Because most of the region is on average only a few meters above sea level and because any increase of sea level will change the complex relationship between tides and down-river water flow, the Mekong Delta is one of the areas in the world most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. How governmental policy and resident populations have in the past and will in coming decades adapt to climate change as well as several other emerging or ongoing environmental and economic problems is the focus of this collection.

Water Resources and Food Security in the Vietnam Mekong Delta

Water Resources and Food Security in the Vietnam Mekong Delta
Author: Tuyet L. Cosslett
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2013-11-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319021982

Download Water Resources and Food Security in the Vietnam Mekong Delta Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The Mekong River has been a main source of conquest, conflict, and cooperation in the Southeast Asian region. Much has been written on the vital and critical importance of the Mekong River fresh water to the sustainable economic development of the Mekong Delta. This book selects the Mekong Delta as a case study of regional cooperation for water and food security for not only for Vietnam but also for the world in a new century of global economy. It focuses not only on the Mekong Delta as an integral part of the River but also on Can Tho City and its 12 provinces that produce over 50 percent of the country’s rice output and 60 percent of total fishery output. The book takes a micro approach to examine how each province is adapting to the twin threats of mainstream dams construction and climate change, reducing fresh water flows and increasing saline infusions on its present and future economy. Finally, it reviews the roles of international institutional arrangements, namely the Mekong Committee and the Mekong River Commission, in promoting regional cooperation among the riparian states for political and economic development of the Mekong Delta.