Research Highlights

From Vietnam : The Saigon River project , Final Meeting   This meeting was  organized at the HoChiMinh City University of Technology (HCM UT)  in Oct.16 and 17, 2017 . Its aim was to present the results obtained in the frame of a multidisciplinary two-year programme funded by Region Auvergne- Rhone- Alpes,  and Francophone University Association (AUF).  The programme was dealing with the impacts of the development of  HoChiMinh city, coupled with possible effects of climate change, on the environmental status of  the SaiGon river-Mekong Delta continuum.  Three main  issues were covered :  

• evolution of the river system and of inundation risks in link with urban dynamics from early Saigon to HCMC

• on going impacts of the megacity on the water quality of the river system : monitoring strategy for water quality and sediments, eutrophication, trace metal dynamics, persistent organic contaminants, microplastic contamination

• monitoring of water, sediment and nutrient fluxes, assesmùent of saltwater intrusion, hydrodynamics of the delta

  The success of the programme was resting on the existence of CARE (Asian Water Research Center, http://carerescif.hcmut.edu.vn/en/), an international research laboratory under a joint funding agreement between HCM UT, Institut de Recherche en Développement, IRD and Grenoble INP, with in particular 4 permanent researchers from France.