The review and drafting were conducted through consultant deployment and series of consultation workshops. In total 76 people from 22 institutions were involved in consultation workshops. The new plan proposal has been integrated climate change resilience and water security. In 20 November 2014, Vietnam Water Partnership has submitted the proposal to governments for getting final feedback. Subsequently, this proposal also has been consulted to wider stakeholder groups in national workshop which conducted in 16 and 17 December 2014 and attended by 27 stakeholders. The proposal of new irrigation management plan will apply in two specific irrigation systems in 2015. Based on the field level try out, Vietnam Water Partnership will develop proposal of replication road map for integrating climate resilience and water security in other irrigation systems.
Continuing the activity on 11 September 2015
WACDEP : Implementation – Deliver New Irrigation Management Planning Integrated Climate Change Resilience and Water Security to apply in a specific irrigation System.
VNWP continued their WACDEP activities to establish the proposal of new irrigation management plan for in two specific irrigation systems in 2015. In this first six months of 2015, VNWP focus to assess the possibility of Nam Thai Binh irrigation system as a model of irrigation management planning integrated climate change resilience and water security. VNWP team conducts assessment of climate change resilience and water security integration into irrigation plan and proposes the new irrigation plan.
Thai Binh Irrigation Department was involved actively in the assessment activity. The assessment was conducted through data collection, field visit and consultation with key stakeholders. The data on irrigation system and scheme, district and province irrigation development plan and the last 5 year disasters report were collected in the assessment period by August of 2015. The data were utilized to identify sub-irrigation system performance as well as the impact of climate change.
Based on the assessment result, VNWP reviewed the existing plan with consultation with Thai Binh Irrigation Department. Currently, the proposal for new irrigation plan with integration of climate change resillience and water security is still in finalization process and will consult with wider stakeholder to finalize.
Progress of the Activity on 2016
Vietnam is one of the most affected countries because of climate change. Insecure water there will be no food security and affect energy security. “By 2050, about 8.4 million people in Vietnam lack of fresh water due to climate change”. This is the warning of Asian Development Bank (ADB), because Vietnam is one of the 5 countries most affected by climate change and natural disasters. Millions hectares of land will be flooded, ten millions of people lost their homes due to sea level rise, saltwater intrusion into the interior, while the number of people living in rural areas accounts for 73% population of the country, thus poverty will increase from 21-35%.
As technical infrastructure of irrigated agriculture, irrigation systems directly affected by climate change and water security factors, therefore it is necessary to bring contents of adaptation to climate change and water security challenges into strategies, policies and irrigation management plans. Implementation of WACDEP-SEA objectives, VNWP has done the research on “Integrating climate change and water security into irrigation management”.
After 3 years of implementation, VNWP with the support of Water Resource Directorate, Department of Hydrometeorology and Climate Change, experts have achieved the following results:
• Signing cooperation paper with the Office of Climate Change of Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment.
• Analyzing the irrigation management activities of irrigated agriculture in Vietnam in the context of climate change and water security challenges.
• Evaluation policy mechanisms related to irrigation management in the context of climate change and water security.
• Developed “Measures to integrate climate change and water security in operation management of irrigation systems”. Introduced methods on integrating climate change and water security in operation management of irrigation systems to Bac Hung Hai Operation Irrigation Works Company and some Operation Irrigation Works companies in Red River Delta.
• Developed “Roadmap to integrate climate change and water security into irrigation management” and organized a national workshop to introduce “Roadmap to integrate climate change and water security into irrigation management” with participation of Deputy of Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development.
• Pilot integration of climate change and water security in operation management of Nam Thai Binh irrigation system and monitored, assessed the performance of integrated system
With these above results:
• The measures to ensure water security and climate resilience is integrated into national irrigation management activities and operation management of specific irrigation systems
• Contribute to the development of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) in supporting water security and climate change response in Vietnam.
• Contribute to improving the capacity of partners, organizations and stakeholders in Vietnam to cope with climate change and water security challenges.
Results of integration climate change and water security in irrigation management in Vietnam was highly appreciated by Vietnamese authorities as well as a number of international organizations in Vietnam at the seminars.