From 11-13 November 2015, representatives from the Center for Marine Life Conservation and Community Development (MCD), Mrs. Than Thi Hien, MA, Deputy Director and from the Research Center of Asian Management and Development Institute (AMDI), Mr. Ngo Cong Chinh, MPA, Director attended the 24^th NSW Coastal Conference in Forster, New South Wale, Australia. The topic of this year Conference is “Great Expectations – pathways for learning and delivery”. This conference is an annual event organized by the NSW Coastal Conference which attracts more than 200 researchers, policy makers, and practitioners from New South Wales, Australia and other regions from Australia and in the world to come and share about the most updated technologies, policies and practice in sustainable coastal management. Like Australia, Vietnam has a long coastal line which plays an important role in economic and tourism development.

The 24th NSW Coastal Conference in Forster, New South Wale, Australia

In the Conference, Mrs. Than Thi Hien has presented a case study on assessment of adaptive livelihood practices in supporting coastal resources management in Cat Ba archipelago, World Biosphere Reserve, Hai Phong, Vietnam. The case study addresses the vulnerability of climate change, adaptive capacity and community practices in the sustainable livelihood production (including integrated shrimp-crab mangrove aquaculture and safety vegetable by using biotic fertilizers in two communes of Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve). It employs the key methods of vulnerability assessment framework (IPCC), sustainable livelihood framework (DFID), SWOT analysis and participatory tools for data collection in the field. The findings of study show the livelihood adaptation to climate change impacts: intensive storms, salinity and extreme events such as increased temperature, heavy rains and prolonged frost.  It also indicates community’s benefits and effectiveness in terms of environmental, economic, social and institutional aspects in supporting to the coastal resources management in Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve. The case study is partly funded by Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) and livelihood practices are implemented within the project entitled “Partnership for Equitable resilience to the impacts of climate change of the Coastal communities in deltas of Vietnam – PRC” funded by the Australian Government (DFAT).

Mrs. Than Thi Hien, MA, Deputy Director of MCD, has presented at a conference.

On behalf of AMDI Mr. Ngo Cong Chinh presented his poster on “Sustainable Livelihood Adaptation Options to Climate Change Impacts in the Coastal Communities in the Mekong Delta” which is funded by the USAID Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change (Mekong ARCC) project. The research studies a shrimp-rice system which is the largest farmed area on many coastal communities in the Mekong delta. Due to changing climate that results in a shift of the rainy season and higher temperatures in the dry season, farmers had more difficulty in farming both shrimp and rice. The USAID Mekong ARCC project successfully piloted some adaptation models to support the farmers in adapting their livelihood models e.g. introduction of salt tolerant rice; introduction of sedge to create shade in the pond environment for reducing heat stress for shrimp; introduction of shrimp-rice rotation with shrimp nursery. These pilot models have proved its successes and were well received by the farmers and local authorities. This case study presents the project design, approaches, and experiences with hope to gain more interests from the audience to expand and replicate to other communities with similar context in Vietnam and in the region.

Mr. Ngo Cong Chinh, MPA, Director of Research Center of Asian Management and Development Institute (AMDI), attended the 24th NSW Coastal Conference

We would like to thank the Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) for providing fund for researchers of Vietnamese NGOs including MCD and AMDI to build their research capacity on climate change, which also provided travel grant for these representatives to attend the Conference. The representatives have learned from other scientific research network and shared Vietnamese experiences in sustainable coastal management especially in the context of climate change.

For more details, please contact tthien@mcdvn.azurewebsites.net and chinhnc@amdi.vn