The Vietnamese Association for the Conservation of Nature (VACNE) and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) launched a new initiative on Jan 22-23 aiming to help farmers in the Mekong and Red River deltas fight consequences from global warming .
The Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) will provide the project with financial support and guidance that will create sustained relations over time.
Maria Selin (Photo: the Swedish Embassy)
Maria Selin, the Swedish Embassy’s Head of Development Cooperation, attended the workshop and was happy to see a new partnership in place.
“We are pleased that two strong partners have decided to jointly address the challenges and really engage with farmers and local communities in order to strengthen resilience to climate change,” Selin said.
Fight farmer’s plight
The programme will make efforts to improve knowledge and documentation of the impacts of climate change on the farming communities in the Mekong and Red River deltas.
The project aims at strengthen farming communities’ resilience by synthesising international research with field information on this topic, and eventually raise awareness among farmers, and building capacities of water management practitioners at government agencies on how to address climate change.
During 2013, the project will pilot in three provinces; Vinh Long in the Mekong Delta, and Ha Nam and Thai Binh in the Red River Delta. Farmers in these provinces will gather information on hydro-climatic hazards and local responses, which will be used to raise awareness on the potential implications of climate change, as well as the response methods that the community already possesses to address those risks.
The programme will focus on empowering farmers by helping them articulate their concerns and need for support from the international community and national government working on climate adaptation policy in order to enhance resilience at the local level.
