Mekong Delta: Living with Water, But for How Long?

Marchand, M.; Pham, Dieu Q.; Le, Trang

doi:10.2148/benv.40.2.230

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Typically, annual floodwaters would flush these agrochemical toxins from the soil and deposit fertile sediments, but high dikes prevented the floodwaters from entering the fields for such natural soil-quality enhancements (Hung, 2012;Hung et al, 2014a;Manh et al, 2014). High dikes also decreased the flood retention capacity of the Long Xuyen Quadrangle, one of two flood storage areas in the upper part of the VMD, thereby increasing flood risks downstream (Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2013; Marchand et al, 2014). Given these developments, a proper water management strategy at large scale, and systems for irrigation and drainage at farm scale, are needed to help improve the sustainability of farmer livelihoods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to Implementing Irrigation and Drainage Policies in An Giang Province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Tran

Weger

2017

Irrigation and Drainage

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Water management in delta floodplains worldwide faces many challenges due to the changing climate and increasing human intervention in the hydrological regimes of rivers. Irrigation and drainage systems are necessary components of a water management strategy that aims to support human habitation and agricultural production, but which need effective coordination in order to adapt to exogenous impacts. However, management of such systems often fails for a variety of reasons. In the floodplain of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, irrigation and drainage systems under dike protection confront ineffective implementation of water management policy, posing a challenge for adaptation to exogenous impacts on the hydrological regime. Over the past two decades, farmers have increasingly cultivated annual triple-rice crops in high-dike compartments, ignoring government regulations that call for flood retention. This study analyses interviews with farmers to identify their motivation for not implementing the triennial cropping off-season advised by the local government (3-3-2 cycle). Our findings show that farmers have avoided implementing the 3-3-2 cycle because of various disadvantages that the system presents for them. Local officials, in turn, have accepted farmers' disregard of the rule. Lessons learnt from this study are considered to explore measures to effectively adapt to future hydrological changes. © 2017 The Authors. RÉSUMÉLa gestion de l'eau dans les plaines d'inondation des deltas du monde entier pose de nombreux défis en raison de l'évolution du climat et de l'augmentation de l'intervention humaine dans les régimes hydrologiques des cours d'eau. Les systèmes d'irrigation et de drainage sont des composantes nécessaires d'une stratégie de gestion de l'eau qui vise à protéger l'habitat humain et la production agricole, mais qui nécessitent une coordination efficace pour s'adapter aux impacts exogènes. Cependant, la gestion de ces systèmes échoue souvent pour diverses raisons. Dans la plaine d'inondation du Delta du Mékong vietnamien, les systèmes d'irrigation et de drainage sous la protection des digues font face à une mise en oeuvre inefficace de la politique de gestion de l'eau, ce qui pose un défi pour l'adaptation aux impacts exogènes sur le régime hydrologique. Au cours des deux dernières décennies, les agriculteurs ont de plus en plus adopté des systèmes d'exploitation basés sur trois cultures de riz/an dans les compartiments topographiquement plus élevés, en ignorant les réglementations gouvernementales qui exigent la rétention des crues. Cette étude analyse les entretiens avec les agriculteurs pour identifier leurs motivations à pas mettre en oeuvre la cycle triennal hors saison conseillée par le gouvernement local (cycle 3-3-2). Nos résultats montrent que les agriculteurs ont évité de mettre en oeuvre le cycle 3-3-2 en raison de divers inconvénients que le système présente pour eux. Les fonctionnaires locaux, en retour, ont accepté le mépris des agriculteurs à l'égard de la règle. Les leçons tirées d...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to Implementing Irrigation and Drainage Policies in An Giang Province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Tran

Weger

2017

Irrigation and Drainage

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“…This showed that the flood containment strategy has its technical limits (Warner, Van Buuren, & Edelenbos, 2013), something that has been observed much earlier in Asian deltas where flooding occurs more frequently and in much larger volumes (N. Islam, 2001;Marchand, Pham, & Le, 2014). Conceptual proposals to widen river beds, connecting floodplains to the main river in order to spread out flood peaks, were subsequently adopted in the Netherlands and Germany under Room for the River programmes (Duel et al, 2003;Warner et al, 2013).…”

Section: Emergence Of "Greener" Flood Managementmentioning

confidence: 91%

Bringing in the floods : a comparative study on controlled flooding in the Dutch, Bangladesh and Vietnamese deltas

Staveren¹

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“…dikes and flood water retention zones) or improving flood resilience, (e.g. living with flood) or through a combination of both approaches (Käkönen, 2008;Marchand et al 2014). Our results can be used as physical boundary conditions for making such decisions, and for testing effectiveness of flood management options proposed by planners and decision makers in the delta.…”

Section: Consequences and Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Recent major droughts occurred in 1992Recent major droughts occurred in , 1993Recent major droughts occurred in , 1998Recent major droughts occurred in , 1999Recent major droughts occurred in and 2003Recent major droughts occurred in -2005 and caused substantial damages to agricultural production, waterway transportation and saltwater intrusion in the downstream Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Extreme floods are also a major safety risk, especially those occurring in the downstream Mekong Delta (MDP, 2013;Marchand et al 2014). Floods in the Mekong basin are often caused by widespread and heavy rainfalls and the most extreme events often occur when monsoon-driven rainfalls coincide with heavy rainfalls caused by tropical storms.…”

Section: The Mekong River Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies, however, paid little attention to identify and address the challenges for flood management. In many cases, emphasis is still placed on finding the 'right' technical measures, following the conventional flood management approach (Lebel and Sinh, 2009;Marchand et al 2014). As a result, the questions of which challenges are critical and how to effectively overcome them remain largely unaddressed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Mekong’s future flows : quantifying hydrological changes and developing adaptation options

Hoang¹

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This multidisciplinary study focuses on projecting and adapting to future hydrological changes in the Mekong-an international river of global significance in terms of rapidly increasing human pressures and climate-change vulnerability. A modelling framework was developed to project future changes in both the river flow regime and hydrological extremes (i.e. high/low flows and floods), under multiple scenarios of climate change, irrigation and hydropower developments. Furthermore, we developed a combined quantitative-qualitative approach to develop suitable adaptation measures and strategies to future floods in the Mekong Delta being a key vulnerability hotspot.

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Mekong Delta: Living with Water, But for How Long?

Cited by 27 publications

References 6 publications

Barriers to Implementing Irrigation and Drainage Policies in An Giang Province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Barriers to Implementing Irrigation and Drainage Policies in An Giang Province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Bringing in the floods : a comparative study on controlled flooding in the Dutch, Bangladesh and Vietnamese deltas

The Mekong’s future flows : quantifying hydrological changes and developing adaptation options

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