The participants in the workshop are scientists, researchers from Vietnamese and international institutes, universities and organizations such as World Fish Center - Malaysia, Nagoya University - Japan, CARE Vietnam, Institute of Fisheries Economics and Planning, Institute of Marine Fisheries, Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources, VNU International Center for Advanced Research on Global Change, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, etc.
The workshop “Assessing and valuing impacts of climate change on aquaculture and fisheries” is held in the framework of a research project on valuing the impacts of climate change on fisheries of the North and recommending solutions to minimize the damage, within a state-level program entitled “Science and technology for National Target Program on climate change”. The research project has been implementing by VNU-UEB staff and faculty members, led by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh - President of Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment (Former Vice Rector of VNU University of Economics and Business). The workshop aimed to bring a forum for scientists and researchers to discuss about climate change and economic valuing the impacts of climate change on coastal livelihood, especially the aquaculture and fisheries.

At the workshop, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh said Vietnam is one of the vulnerable countries to climate change in Southeast Asia. Vietnam ranks 6th in global rankings on Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) period 1991-2010. Vietnam ranks 23^th in the global rankings on Global Vulnerability Index to climate change in the next 30 years. During 1994 to 2003, the average damage caused by natural disasters in Vietnam was for approximately US$250 million per year, representing about 0.8% of average GDP in the same period. Meanwhile, aquaculture is an important economic sector in Vietnam and is the most sector affected by unusual weather phenomena. Under the climate change scenarios to 2050, damage caused by sea level rise and hurricanes can account to 10.9% and 42.5% of GDP in the Red River Delta. In this context, the study of the impacts of climate change on economic sectors has great significance, contributing to provide response policy to the challenges by natural disasters.
At the workshop, the participants have listened to seven reports relating to the discussing topic, namely: Vulnerability analysis of Vietnam’s aquaculture to climate change (Dr. Suan Pheng Kam - WorldFish Center, Penang, Malaysia); Assessing and valuing the economic damage caused by climate change on aquaculture in northern (Dr. Nguyen Viet Thanh and M.Sc. Nguyen Thi Vinh Ha - VNU-UEB); Implications of rising temperatures for cold-water aquaculture in northern Vietnam (Dr. Alex Campbell - Institute of Fisheries Economics and Planning); Impacts and solutions for developing livelihood adapted to climate change: Experiment in Red River Delta (M.Sc. Than Thi Hien - Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development); Assessing damage caused by flooding under climate change scenarios and sea level rise; Proposing solutions adapted to the northern coastal communities (Dr. Du Van Toan - Research Institute for the Management of Seas and Islands); Impacts of natural disasters and climate change on aquaculture and solutions (Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Van Viet - Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment); Employing Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) to forecast the impacts of climate change on aquaculture in the north (M.Sc. Vu Duyen Hai - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development).

Through the papers, the researchers analyzed the damage caused by climate change, current situation of fisheries, the Ecopath with Ecosim modeling to assess the socio-economic damage by natural disasters and climate change on aquaculture and fisheries. The paper also presented detailed statistics on the extents of damage, analytical framework and livelihood criteria adapting to climate change as well as methods of risk and damage assessment caused by natural disasters. In particular, the participants were provided with valuable information on the forecast scenarios of climate change, from which to draw the influence possibilities to the fisheries industry as well as some proposed adapting solutions and further research directions. The studies focused on analyzing and evaluating the situation of climate change as well as its impacts on the northern region especially the Red River Delta and the northeast coast of Vietnam.

After the presentation, scientists and delegates at the workshop have discussed and exchanged about the current situation of climate change as well as the solution, such as questions about valuation and research methods, the assessment indicators and statistics used in the papers.

Closing the workshop, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh has thanked the partners, scientists, researchers and students for taking time to attend the workship. He stated, the workshop has provided an overview on the status of climate change and impacts on Vietnam aquaculture in the northern region. The paper presented are devoted researches of scientists, which aim at providing reliable analysis, suggesting the solutions to minimize negative effects of climate change to the socio-economic development in general.

The workshop draws the attention of numerous researchers, scientists from international institutes, universities and organization

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