Delta Talks Explores Care and Resilience in the Mekong Delta
The 19th installment of the Delta Talks explored how approaches to the delta have evolved from colonial and management practices toward caretaking, and examining the challenges and opportunities for building resilience.
For the 19th installment of Delta Talks, the CGIAR Initiative on Asian Mega-Deltas (AMD) and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) presented a webinar on “Delta Care as a Practice of Sustainability: The Case of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam,” exploring how approaches to the delta have evolved from colonial and management practices toward caretaking, and examining the challenges and opportunities for building resilience.
Mr. Laurent Umans, Policy Officer on Climate Adaptation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, discussed several approaches to the Mekong Delta: colonial practices that exploit it as a resource, management practices that balance resource use with long-term sustainability, and caretaking practices that recognize it as a living being. This caretaking perspective emphasizes respecting natural rhythms, allowing rivers to flow freely, and nurturing relationships with the delta through local knowledge and care.
He emphasized that the Mekong Delta faces compounding environmental and development challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, subsidence, sediment deficits, and pollution, alongside the need for equitable economic growth. Locally led adaptation, supported by state planning and emerging livelihood and energy opportunities, can strengthen resilience through agency, buffers, connectivity, diversity, equity, and collective care.
To learn more about the topic, you can watch the full session:
Delta Talks is back! A collaboration between AMD and WUR, this webinar series explores the progress and findings of research aimed at securing food systems and strengthening climate resilience in the Asian mega-deltas. The series receives funding and technical support from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Netherlands-CGIAR Senior Expert Programme-2 (SEP2).
As a learning-oriented, open-access platform, Delta Talks welcomes contributions from organizations and individuals within and beyond CGIAR and WUR who are passionate about deepening our collective understanding of delta ecosystems.