CRMGG and NAWAPI bringing home new insights from the German Vietnamese Science Day
On April 26+27.2023 over 250 representatives from ministries, researchers, implementors, and private enterprises from Vietnam and Germany convened in Da Nang for the German-Vietnamese Science Day. Dr. Anke Steinel from the CRMGG project joint the workshops on “Clean water for rural areas” and “Climate change”. In the first workshop, Dr. Hoang Van Hoan from NAWAPI gave a general presentation about groundwater issues in Vietnam and appropriate solutions against groundwater pollution and degradation. Other presentations showed the challenges of water supply in urban areas, where the majority of people are still not connected to a piped water system; the cost-effectiveness of an off-grid water treatment system; and energy needs for different water treatment technologies. It was emphasized that wastewater treatment would combat the increasing surface water pollution and provide an opportunity for re-use. It would also mean to look at needed skills to operate treatment systems and how this could be integrated into vocational training designs.
Dr. Hoang Van Hoan during his presentation on groundwater in Vietnam at the GVSD
Workshop on “Clean water for rural areas” discussing bottlenecks and potential solutions.
The workshop on “Cimate Change” focussed mainly on the construction sector. Mr. Ha Huy Anh from the “SAND” project emphasised that negative impacts of sand mining should be included in the cost-benefit analysis and that alternative materials are urgently needed as the sand resources in the Mekong Delta are anyway limited. Dr Lan Thanh Ha (Institute for Water Resources Planning) suggested more nature-based solution to ensure adequate water supply as stipulated in Conclusion 36-KL/TW in 2022 of the Politburo. One of the suggested measures could be Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), which is supported by the CRMGG project.
Panel discussion on climate change issues
A recurring question during the event was, how to better connect research results with implementation at a larger scale, update into strategies and the dissemination of results to relevant stakeholders on the ground. CRMGG is aiming to bring research results to the governmental implementers through awareness raising and science-based advice.