Livelihood sustainability of rural households in adapting to environmental changes: An empirical analysis of ecological shrimp aquaculture model in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Eco-agritourism as an Ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) against climate change impacts for the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: a viewpoint

“…In this paper, we present notable barriers and opportunities to incorporate ecotourism into the existing ecological shrimp farming models in the VMD using a case study at Binh Dai (BD), Ben Tre province, locating on the east coast of the VMD. Sharing the same geographical area of focus, this paper expands the findings and discussions of Ngo and Loc (2021) [1] that reported on the livelihood sustainability of BD farmers practising the ecological shrimp aquaculture model to cope with the intensifying intrusion of saline water. More specifically, we will synthesize our preliminary observations via the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) combined with the questionnaire-based surveys (already reported in [1]) to make a case for the integration of sustainable ecotourism into the existing ecological shrimp aquaculture as a potential NBS system for coastal provinces of the VMD confronting with the everintensifying impacts from climate change.…”

“…The Mekong River that runs across Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam is among the world's largest and most dynamic rivers. The riverine and coastal ecosystems of the mighty Mekong is constantly changing due to both natural and anthropogenic factors [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. While the former relates to major environmental abruptions leading to the intensification of multiple adverse natural phenomena such as sea-level rise, salinity intrusion or tropical storms; the latter mostly concern many agricultural activities, such as deforestation, expansion of agriculture and aquaculture along the deltas of the river [2][3][4][5][6].…”

“…In line with the greater Mekong Basin, the VMD sustainable development is being challenged by many natural disasters, especially the recent intensification of sea-level rise and salinity intrusion [2-5, 10, Since the 1980s, the VMD rice-focused agriculture has been substantially supported by the government by investing in irrigation infrastructures. Moreover, socio-economic development plans that place rice production in a pivotal position have also been institutionalized consistently at local, provincial and national levels [1,4,7]. Nevertheless, Tran et al 2018 [17], amongst others, have started to notify multiple pitfalls of the rice-focused monoculture model under the increasingly uncertain environmental conditions due to climate change, especially against the intrusion of saline water [1-5, 10,11,16].…”

“…Nevertheless, Tran et al 2018 [17], amongst others, have started to notify multiple pitfalls of the rice-focused monoculture model under the increasingly uncertain environmental conditions due to climate change, especially against the intrusion of saline water [1-5, 10,11,16]. In the near to mid future, rice will still be the strategic export; the VMD has started to explore opportunities to diversify its agriculture production with new adaptive livelihood models, such as prawn rice rotation crops [17][18][19][20], mangrove-shrimp [1,22,23]. The major difference between these new models and the heritage models of the VMD is the application of softer approaches to the changing environments while mitigating the human impact footprints on the landscapes [17 -23].…”

Participatory Communication for Empowering Urban Farming Families

“…They will look for the source of life. [6] So, what is meant by community economic empowerment is helping the community to be economically independent. There is a cycle that goes through in the context of this empowerment process.…”