From rice to lotus

Adapting to climate change in the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam

By the IUCN Global Protected Areas Programme and the IUCN Environmental Law Centre
28 November 2017

Viet Nam, a real biodiversity hot spot, has ten per cent of the world's bird, mammal and fish species, and forty per cent of its plant species are endemic. Viet Nam is also listed as one of the countries most adversely affected by climate change.

National climate projections predict an increased exposure to tropical storms, floods salinity intrusion, landslides, erosion, forest fires, desertification, pest and diseases, all of which are assumed to entail severe social and environmental consequences¹. The Vietnamese government has decided that conservation, sustainable use of ecosystems, and climate change are priority policy issues in many national strategies, policy documents and legal systems.

In 2008, Vietnam adopted its first Biodiversity Law. Since then, Viet Nam's protected area system has expanded significantly, from almost nothing in the mid 1980's to seven per cent of Viet Nam's total land area (2.3 million hectares).

However, 65 per cent of Viet Nam's important biodiversity is outside protected areas.

In sharp contrast to these great attainments regarding Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 to protect at least 17 per cent of land and inland water areas, Aichi Target 7, which addresses biodiversity conservation outside protected areas in agriculture, aquaculture and forestry has been largely neglected.

Aichi Biodiversity Target 7: By 2020, areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably, ensuring conservation of biodiversity

Convention on Biological Diversity,

Vietnam is currently reforming its planning legislation. It is therefore crucial and urgent to include land-use planning, water resources planning and socio-economic planning.

The Mekong Delta

Together, two natural flood plains of the Mekong Delta, the Plain of Reeds (POR) to the east of the Tien River branch, and the Long Xuyen Quadrangle (LXQ) to the west of the Hau Giang River branch of the Mekong River, cover about 1.3 million hectares.

Mekong Delta map

Since the country's reunification in 1975 and particularly over the last 15 years, these two flood plains have undergone considerable human modification to convert floodplains into land for agricultural production, in particular for the expansion and intensification of rice growing with a 'third crop' to meet food security needs.

As a consequence, between 2000 and 2011, the total flood storage volume in the upper Delta has almost been halved. In Dong Thap, the total flood area was reduced by about 45,000 hectares by high dikes built to allow for a third rice crop . In the Long Xuyen Quadrangle, 42 per cent of the floodplain was lost.

This floodplain loss has led to an increased downstream flood risk, which is compounded by sea level rise and subsidence. For example, the downstream city of Can Tho incurred an additional US$ 3 to 11 million in flood damages.

Floodplain loss destroyed the floodplain's ecosystem functions, in turn decreasing biodiversity and climate resilience.

The loss of half the floodplain to poldering in the upper delta also represents a loss of 1500 square km of habitat and breeding areas for aquatic organisms and fresh-water fisheries. This in turn increased pressure on the fish which became constrained to smaller areas within canals where they were easily fished or trapped. Between 2000 and 2011, the economic loss in fishery has been estimated to be US$1,000 per hectare. In addition, Viet Nam is no longer facing food shortages, and the rice policies have become outdated.

The project

In late 2014, IUCN began working with other development partners to generate political consensus to change the rice policy by helping to facilitate a high-level dialogue called the Mekong Delta Forum (MDF) between the Ministries, the South West Steering Committee, the 13 provincial governments of the Mekong Delta, among others.

IUCN Speech to the Prime Minister, Mekong Delta Forum
September 2017

The forums have succeeded in producing consensus from the highest levels that the rice intensification policy needed to change by addressing climate issues at a sub-regional scale.

As a result of advocacy by development partners (led by GIZ) including IUCN project staff, a prime minister decision to pilot coordination for regional socio-economic development planning in the Mekong Delta to 2020 was drafted and issued in April 2016.

For the first time, provinces were able to plan across the two floodplains in a coordinated way so that the ecosystem functions of the floodplains could be addressed.

The new strategy involves a ten-year transition away from the third rice crop into flood-based agricultural livelihoods, through viable flood-retention land uses that would be supported by farmers. The floodplains' natural flood absorption restoration will also reduce flood risks as well as moderate downstream salinity intrusion.

The vision also commits to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development by planning to nominate the PoR floodplain as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the future. Fully implemented, the initiative represents a large scale ecosystem restoration and connectivity outcome for almost 700,000 ha of intensively used agricultural land that addresses both Aichi Targets 7 and 11.

The Flood Retention Strategy for the Mekong Delta includes diversified flood-based livelihood models like lotus farming, floating rice systems, and rice-aquaculture, which provide higher profits than the third rice crop system, and are therefore financially attractive to farmers.

By utilising flood waters to undertake profitable livelihoods, farms are able to absorb and store floodwaters as would a natural flood plain. One meter low dykes which are over-topped can be used to temporarily hold back early onset floods, and to control flood recession to ensure that the flood season crop can mature.

Demonstration site in Thap Muoi District, Dong Thap province

Project research at the demonstration site in Thap Muoi District, Dong Thap province, demonstrated that intensive lotus can store 1,500 m³ of flood water per 1,000 m², which is more than double that of intensive rice cropping.

“When I apply the lotus model, my fields have more fish, crab and water birds than the rice fields, as we use less chemicals. I think the lotus models can adapt with climate change impacts because it can deal with floods and droughts as well. Planting lotus produces higher incomes while it is better for the environment!”

Mr Nguyen Ngoc Hon, an experienced lotus farmer from MyHoa commune, Thap Muoi District

A feasibility study indicated that lotus farming is the preferred option and is suitable for the area.The project has been supporting the local government in preparing a land-use change plan and providing support to farmers to convert 150 hectares of rice growing land to diversified lotus farming systems while monitoring the biodiversity outcomes.

Nature-based solutions, such as flood-based agriculture, can address multiple objectives of biodiversity conservation and climate resilience building, while gaining widespread community support through more profitable land uses. Integrated planning approaches involving inter-sectoral and inter-provincial coordination are key to achieving conservation and climate resilient outcomes.

This project is also being implemented in Colombia, Tanzania and Zambia.

Visit the IUCN project page: Integrated Planning to Implement the CBD Strategic Plan and Increase Ecosystem Resilience to Climate Change.

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Supported by :

This project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.

Notes: ¹ ISPONRE and UNDP 2009, IMEHM and UNDP 2015
Maps: Google Earth
Photos: Copyright IUCN