The Side Event is organised in cooperation with the Alliance for Water Adaptation (AGWA), the Water and Climate Coalition (WCC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Conservation International (CI), the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

For more information, contact karin.lexen@siwi.org.

SIWI’s niche is largely between policy and implementation, often bridging the two, and as such promoting networking and interaction. SIWI’s vision is that of a water wise world. In essence, that is a world aware that it would not survive without cherishing water, as the fundamental resource underpinning economic and social development and as a human right. SIWI’s mission is to generate and promote knowledge, solutions and tools leading to water wise decisions for sustainable development.

It is SIWI’s intention that this strategy shall not only act as guidance for us but also be valuable to anyone who is interested to learn more about SIWI and how we intend to make a difference in working towards achieving a water wise world.

Click here to download the strategy!

Current trends show that climate change will result in a significant temperature increase leading to sea level rise, increased water and soil salinity, and dramatic changes in weather and flood patterns. Increased precipitation during rainy season and drought during the rest of the year are among the current trends observed by national agro-meteorologists and the international research community.

The potential impacts of climate change are likely to be serious for agricultural production, and the availability of water resources will be less certain and more variable. As 80-90 percent of the population depends on agriculture, a majority of the population will be vulnerable to these potential impacts. Low land fish and rice farming support the livelihoods of millions of Vietnamese, and are key for both national food security and the economy. Viet Nam is the second largest rice exporter in the world.

Understanding that “climate change is water change,” the Vietnamese Association for the Conservation of Nature (VACNE) and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) launches a project to improve current knowledge and documentation of the impacts of climate change on the farming communities in both key deltas. The project is partially funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and aims at helping the country increase the resilience of its farming communities by synthesising international research with field information on this topic, and eventually raise awareness among farmers, and building capacities of water management practitioners at government agencies on how to address climate change.

During 2013, the project will pilot in three provinces, namely, Vinh Long in the Mekong Delta, and Ha Nam and Thai Binh in the Red River Delta. Farmers in these provinces will gather information on hydro-climatic hazards and local responses, which will be used to raise awareness on the potential implications of climate change, as well as the response methods that the community already possesses to address those risks. The programme will focus on empowering farmers by helping them articulate their concerns and need for support from the international community and national government working on climate adaptation policy in order to enhance resilience at the local level.

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is a policy institute that generates knowledge and informs decision-making towards water wise policy and sustainable development. SIWI performs research, builds institutional capacity and provides advisory services in five thematic areas: water governance, transboundary water management, water and climate change, the water-energy-food nexus, and water economics. SIWI organises the World Water Week in Stockholm – the leading annual global meeting place on water and development issues – and hosts the Stockholm Water Prize, the Stockholm Junior Water Prize and the Stockholm Industry Water Award.

The Viet Nam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment (VACNE) is an NGO and a member organisation connecting Vietnamese expertise from inside and outside the country in the field of nature conservation and environmental protection in Viet Nam. With its broad network, VACNE is deemed as the best possible local partner for the implementation of this project. VACNE has access to Vietnamese researchers, authorities, and organisations that are imperative for the successful implementation of this project. They also maintain a very high level of integrity and credibility in pursuing such efforts, and have had experience dealing with Swedish organisations in implementing other projects in the past. VACNE is ideally setup to take the prime communication role with the local communities, and thereby both assess the perceived needs and desires. VACNE combines long standing experience from environmental work, with excellent knowledge on socio-economic conditions and pre-requisites on local community level.

Inception Workshop
The Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment (VACNE), Vietnam and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), will co-organise the Inception Workshop to launch the project on January 22-23, 2013 at the Sunway Hotel, 19 Pham Dinh Ho str., Hanoi, Vietnam.

This workshop will present the preliminary findings of the project on the current impacts of climate change and the status of adaptation measures in Viet Nam. Priorities to address climate change in Vietnam and the role of this project from the Vietnamese perspective will be discussed. The outcome of the session will be taken into account by the PDC partnership during the further implementation stage of the project. Key experts from relevant fields as well as representatives of local beneficiaries are expected to participate.

For further information about the workshop, kindly contact us at: VACNE, thuyvacne@gmail.com, +84 983761714, or Event Organiser support: Vietnet-ict, phngan@vietnet-ict.org, +84 989146114.

At SIWI, please contact rami.abdelrahman@siwi.org for more information.

With its vision for a “water wise world”, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) recently produced its 2013-2017 strategy, placing its various programmes and activities within five thematic areas: Climate Change; Transboundary Water Management; Water Governance; Water, Energy and Food Nexus; and Water Economics. In this article, we highlight why we work with these themes and the key services we provide under each theme.

Worldwide, 2012 has been the year of drought. From the Midwest of the USA to the granaries of the Black Sea, from South Asia to the Sahel region of Africa, producers the world over have had to find ways to farm their land in the face of ravaging droughts or feeble monsoons. Both largeholders in food exporting regions and small-holders in poor countries have been hit by these droughts, which have had significant impacts on local and global food prices and thus on food security throughout the world, with potentially more impacts still to come.

Vietnam is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change in the world today, especially in the Mekong and Red River Deltas where 43 per cent of the population in the country live.

WF-3-2012_Vietnam_web

Demographic changes cannot be separated from climate changes. In his reflections on some of the fundamental issues related to climate change, SIWI’s Mats Eriksson draws some arguments related to an increased focus on adaptation versus mitigation.

Erosion and sedimentation in China is assessed by Zhou Zhide and Tong Yuling, from the International Research and Training Centre on Erosion and Sedimentation, Beijing, China. They look into how natural pollution affects water quality globally, and the human equation in the process.

SIWI’s John Joyce reflects upon the effects of the international financial crisis on financial flows for the water sector in Africa, based upon a recently published SIWI report. The two main conclusions being that: (a) local governments and households (who are not well integrated in the international economy and therefore not heavily effected by the crisis) play a crucial role in financing water sector related infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa, (b) Chinese Arab investments may have played a stabilising role in Sub-Saharan Africa during the recent financial crisis. Therefore, the effects have not been as severe as what could have been expected.

And Mr. John Feighery, PhD candidate at Columbia University and winner of the Best Poster award during the 2010 World Water Week in Stockholm wrote for this issue of the Stockholm Water Front about his research on water quality in Bangladesh which won him this honour.

Published in Water Front Magazine No. 1 2008.