On 6th November 2012 Can Tho University and DRAGON Institute, supported by Hanns Seidel Foundation, organized a seminar in Can Tho on climate change adaptation. Risks and opportunities caused by climate change were discussed, and presentations given about changes in water resources in the Mekong Delta. The strong vulnerability of the region to climate change was topic as well as the agricultural development in the coastal areas of the Mekong Delta.

Due to rising sea levels the Mekong Delta is facing problems with major flooding and increasing water salinity levels which harm Vietnam’s rice, fruit and aquaculture production. Around seventy seminar participants discussed solutions on how to deal with the consequences of climate change.

The seminar was divided in two sections. The first part, guided by Dr. Le Anh Tuan, was about “utilization of natural resources”, such as methods of collecting rain water, water filtering techniques and monitoring of water quality. Topic of the second part was “bread-winning and adaptation to climate change” guided by Prof. Le Quang Tri. Pathway strategies to turn climate change threats into opportunities, considering strengths and weaknesses, were discussed.