Visit to Vietnam
I recently traveled to Vietnam as an international student from the National University of Ireland for my internship at the International Rice Research Institute. I had an opportunity to work with the best smart minds in research, agriculture and food security and climate change.
IRRI is an excellent organization and baiting the sun to work was an amazing blood warming experience. This was exactly the opposite in Ireland, where you hunt for the sun daily. There were many good tourist sites to visit as well, especially the famous Hanoi Botanical Garden. It was astounding to see the countryside and the quality of work IRRI is doing to improve the lots of people in adapting to climate change. It was like a family, and the natives where like brothers. They have a family-like environment. This helps me to heal acclimatize faster and stay happy.
The visit to the community was like going home, because it mirrors the exact landscape of my home. The rivers, lakes, forest and the community sitting were so interesting that we to spend 2 nights working with the native’s farmers, trying to understand their side of the story on rice production and adaptation to climate change. Discussions with the natives experiencing the impact of climate change, revealed a new dimension of information, that climate change is real, and not just a fictional fairy tale. To the skeptics, who believe it is hoax, I hope you could see that people are in critical danger, and if something is not done, it could be worst. The risk of do nothing and hoping that climate will repair itself will be too risky, and it is not too late.
The climate is intricately intertwined with the livelihoods of the natives, and the increasing changes in the temperature, and rainfall, as well as the occurrence of drought, flooding in intensity and frequency is affecting the lives of people seriously.
The things that support the livelihoods of many of the natives are no longer available in the right quantity and quality or too extreme. The temperature and rainfall, are increasingly becoming uncertain in intensity and frequency. The agriculture which is the main source of livelihoods is being threatened by climate change.
The climate smart villages are galvanizing stakeholders to support farmers to adapt to climate change. Support the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change to not only adapt their production system to climate change, but also contribute in solving the problem of climate change is a wining solution that needs that support of all. This is a farmers first problem, and farmers can take the lead in solving this problem. They really need our support, to help them feed the expanding population and at the same time stem down the tide of the climate change. I think farmer are ready, but we need to support them now before it is too late. The danger is that it can destroy the agricultural system which is the main source of our food. However, this can be prevented with our support. Farmer are very experience and knowledgeable, but they need all the support to improve on what they are doing to preserve the planet. The idea that farmer are ignorant and should be told what to do may not be the best way to support farmers. However, working with farmers could improve not just the process but contribute to what we may not know or assume to know. This is a win win solution.