Study tour to climate change adaptation models

In order for officers from NGO/CSOs to be able to gain valuable lessons and practical experiences from effective models of community responses to climate change and CSOs’ supporting activities, the project “Capacity Building on Climate Change”, sponsored by the Embassy of Finland, organized a study tour to visit the bamboo processing model project which is part of the project “Green Future” at Quan Hoa Commune, Thanh Hoa Province. The study tour took place over three days from 15 to 17 September 2010 with the involvement of 26 officers from different NGO/CSOs and mass media organisations.

The project “Green Future” was selected as the destination of the study tour because it has been operating successfully to assist local people in implementing quite a few different models contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation. The project
is managed and implemented by GRET, an international non-governmental organization and Cooperative for Rural Development of Quan Hoa Commune CRD, a Vietnamese non-governmental organization.

During the study tour, the participants visited a number of effective model activities of the project “Green Future” such as: wood-saving cooking stoves; mushroom cultivation using sawdust; charcoal production using waste from bamboo; cultivation of organic vegetables with microorganism fertilizer from sawdust; chicken raising under bamboo forests; bamboo reinvigoration; and creating biogas from dung. Different learning methods were used including direct observation and interviews with local people. On the last day of the study tour, all participants and GRET/CRD officers sat together in a workshop to exchange information and experiences gained from visiting the models and to analyse how these activities can help respond to climate change. In general, participants highly appreciated the creative and effective way these models achieve their aims in the context of climate change. Moreover, attendees gave constructive feedback to GRET/CRD officers to improve the implementation of the models.

Information and lessons learned from the models by participants are planned to be used as reference for the project’s manual on effective models to respond to climate change at the community level.

(Source: Climate change Capacity Bilding project's E-bulletin)