ADAPTATION TO SALINITY IMPACTS IN THE VIETNAMESE MEKONG DELTA’S COASTAL AREAS
The paper aims to understand the recent trends of saline intrusion in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta’s coastal areas, and how this process negatively affects local rice farmers. Ways that rice farmers have learned elsewhere to adapt to the detrimental effects of salinity are also the main theme under study. This paper integrated both qualitative and quantitative field data that collected from 390 surveyed samples and four focus group discussions and sixteen interviews with key informants in the research areas. The quantitative analysis explores the correlation between salinity level and rice yield. Meanwhile, the qualitative analysis suggests that rice farmers have enhanced their awareness of salinity impacts on their crops, but only a few has prepared adequately to adapt to change. In absence of information and policy guidance, their decisions do not pertinently correspond to long-term adaptation responses, but tend to tackle emerging contingencies. The study indicates the implications of structural systems for local rice production, which, to some extent, is more likely to aggravate salinity conditions and cause water pollution in protected areas. The study contributes to reframing water management policies relevant to saline intrusion and water quality in the coastal zones of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. It draws the particular attention to strengthening further collaboration between local governments and rice farmers in dealing with increasing impacts of salinity in the future.
Adaptation, Irrigation Water, Salinity Impacts, Salinity Intrusion, Vietnamese Mekong Delta.