Agricultural, ecological and mobility changes in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Olivia Dun, PhD Candidate

Australian Mekong Resource Centre, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Australia
Presentation for Researchers Workshop on Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific Asian Development Bank Headquarters, Manila, Philippines 14 September 2011

The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

Purpose of research
1. To investigate whether environmental change plays any role in household migration decisions

2. To investigate how households adapt to environmental change

Funded by
Australian Postgraduate Award

Australian Endeavour Research Fellowship

Australian Federation of Graduate Women Tempe Mann Travelling Scholarship

Host Organisations in Viet Nam

College of Environment and Natural Resources, Can Tho University, Mekong Delta, Viet Nam

The Mission for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Viet Nam

Climate Change Context: Mekong Delta

Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Source: Uwe Dedering (wikipedia) 2010.

Source: MRC 2010

Ci Nc District, C Mau Province

Source: Binh, T.N.K.D. et al. 2005 Land cover changes between 1968 and 2003 in Cai Nuoc, Ca Mau Peninsula, Vietnam Environment, Development and Sustainability 7(4):519-536, p521

Land Use Change in Cai Nuoc District: 1968 2003

1968 1992

Agriculture Rural settlement Waste land

1997

2003

Water bodies Mangrove Forest Mixed mangrove + shrimp Shrimp monoculture

Nha Phan Hamlet (study site)

Source: Binh et al. 2004

Migrant Destinations

Main drivers of migration identified at research site

Desire to improve standard of living (earn more money, improve level of education) Livelihood diversification strategy Social factors/networks Debt and a need to earn money

Probing deeper to understand debt drivers

Ongoing failure with raising shrimp has led to a lack of regular and/or sufficient income for many households Lack of financial support when agricultural or aquaculture production fails

Limited agricultural or aquaculture alternatives because of degraded environment

Food insecurity

Lack of suitable/stable employment opportunities in rural areas (or in urban areas close to rural areas)
Evolving society higher cost of living, levels of consumption

Take home points

In Nha Phan hamlemt, debt has triggered new patterns of (forced) whole household migration given the lack of social protection and livelihood alternatives in area affected by change

There is a need to improve our understanding of how environmental degradation and change contributes to/interacts with household debt