Rice paddies in the 2018-2019 crop in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministryof Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), together with relevant ministriesand agencies, is accelerating the building of a master plan for the Mekong Delta’ssustainable development in adaption to climate change to 2030 with a vision to2050.
The master plan will serve asthe foundation for designing and implementing long-term specific tasks in linewith the Government’s Resolution 120 on sustainable development of the Delta inthe context of climate change.
At the same time, the MoNRE andpartners are also working on an inter-sectoral database and an integrateddatabase for the Mekong Delta.
The work is conducted as part ofpreparation for the second conference of the Government on the Mekong Delta’ssustainable development slated for May 12 to 17.
The Mekong Delta accounts for 12percent of the national natural acreage and 19 percent of the nationalpopulation. It is the country’s biggest agricultural hub, contributing 50percent of the national rice output, 65 percent of aqua-cultural output, and 70percent of fruit output.
However, due to its location in lowand unstable land, the region is highly vulnerable to impacts of climate change. Sealevel rise and depression are posing serious threats to the region’ssustainable development, requiring a new vision, strategic orientation andsynchronous and comprehensive solutions.
For those reasons, in late 2017 the Government issuedResolution 120 with a vision to 2100 of sustainable, safe and prosperousdevelopment of the Mekong Delta on the foundation of high-quality agriculture incombination with services, ecological tourism, and industry, especiallyprocessing industry, which will help to increase the value and competitivenessof local agricultural products.
The infrastructuresystem of the delta will be carefully planned and developed in a synchronous,smart and climate-change adaptive manner.
The resolution set thegoal that by 2050, the Mekong Delta will become a region of upper-level developmentwith income per capita higher than the national average while the proportion ofecological agriculture and high-quality applied agriculture will reach 80 percentof agriculture.
After more than one year implementingthe resolution, around 18 trillion VND (780 million USD) has been allocated toprogrammes, projects and tasks. The sum included 4.75 trillion VND sourced bythe central budget for the national target programme on responding to climatechange and promoting green growth, and 1.5 trillion VND from the central budget’sreserve for areas threatened by serious erosion.
A report of the MoNRE’sDepartment for Climate Change showed ministries and agencies had issued anumber of breakthrough mechanisms and policies in implementing Resolution 120,such as those for land concentration serving large-scale production, managementof water and mineral resources, incentives for investment in agriculture andrural development, and development of support industries for agriculture andfarm produce processing.
At the local level, localitiesin the Mekong Delta have built brackish-water shrimp farming models, and developedsalinity-resistant rice varieties and drought-resistant fruit tree varieties. Manymodels of sustainable agricultural production have been formed, and the use ofmodern machinery in processing has been promoted.
A number of regional-level projects have been developedand implemented, such as the Mekong Delta Integrated Climate Resilience andSustainable Livelihoods Project involvingall nine provinces in the region, the Cai Lon-Cai Be irrigation project, and theTra Su-Tri Ton reservoir for flood storage and fresh water supply in the LongXuyen Quadrangle.
Inparticular, Vietnam has conducted cooperative projects in the Mekong Delta withseveral development partners, including the Netherlands.
WhileResolution 120 marked a breakthrough in the way of thinking, some agencies and MekongDelta localities have been slow in catching up with the new approach based oninternal resources, thus failing to engage organisations, businesses and thepeople in efforts for local sustainable development.
The building of institutions andpolicies serving the implementation of tasks set by Resolution 120 is alsoslow, while the planning work under the resolution has encountered legalproblems under the new Planning Law.
Therefore, it is urgent to holda conference on the Mekong Delta’s sustainable development to address thearising issues.-VNA
