Integrated Coastal Management Programme

Adapted from the project website

To support the Vietnamese authorities in preparing the coastal area of the Mekong Delta for a changing environment and to lay the foundation for sustainable growth

The Integrated Coastal Management Programme (ICMP) is a development programme that is funded by the governments of Viet Nam, Germany and Australia. Its objective is to support the Vietnamese authorities in preparing the coastal area of the Mekong Delta for a changing environment and to lay the foundation for sustainable growth.

The Mekong Delta is home to 17 million people and is Viet Nam’s most important agricultural region. Producing 52% of the country’s rice, the Mekong Delta feeds more than 145 million people in Asia, roughly the population of France and Germany combined. Thanks to this region, Viet Nam, a country which once suffered from shortages of rice, is now the world’s second largest exporter. The Delta is also the country’s third largest industrial region after the metropolitan areas of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

1. But the Mekong Delta is facing existential threats. Climate change is leading to rising sea levels, and according to official studies, 38% of the Mekong Delta could be underwater by the year 2100. Some areas of the coast are already eroding by 30 metres a year.

2. The mangrove forests along the coast, which protect the hinterland from floods and storms, are in dramatic decline. Rising levels of saltwater intrusion lead to saline soils, which pose considerable challenges to agricultural production. These changes threaten the future of the Mekong Delta and its ability to provide essential ecosystem services that the communities of the Delta and millions of people around the world depend on.

Download the project brochure here