Since the publication of the case study about controlled
seasonal flooding in the Mekong delta, only few months have passed. What I
heard recently is that debates about controlled seasonal flooding are
increasingly being discussed in different fora (thanks Dung!). Last September
the Vietnamese government repeated in a national workshop that seasonal
flooding would positively contribute to the sustainability of agricultural
production in the Mekong, and that they are willing to invest national funds in
this.
Related, also the Worldbank, as an external investor,
remains interested in the concept. Earlier I wrote that the Worldbank aligns tothe Mekong Delta Plan as a holistic framework to invest in various types of
water-related projects. There are now initiatives taking shape to implement controlled
seasonal flooding in the form of small pilots in some parts of An Giang
province. These pilots are well in line with the recommendations brought
forward in the MDP.
In this particular case, it is interesting to see if
objectives in the field of agriculture and water safety can be met
simultaneously. I noticed that controlled seasonal flooding was primarily
discussed from the perspective of sustainable agriculture, but also that the
‘hydraulic bureaucracy’ predominantly supported it because of reasons of water
safety. Diverting flood water in the northern parts of the Mekong delta, would
primarily be good to lower peak water levels, and thereby safeguard urban areas
such as Can Tho, further downstream. These are different, perhaps converging,
but in practice maybe diverging interests.
This movie (three parts) about (the absence of) seasonal
flooding is still very informative: link.
