The Situation and Solutions for Using Indigenous Knowledge of Local People in Adaptation to Floods in An Giang Province, Vietnam

Abstract

Abtract This study was carried out to systematise and assess the appropriateness o f farmers ' indigenous knowledge and their adaptive capacity with floods. Objectives o f the research was to create the scientific basic for proposing the appropriate conservation measures and effective usage o f valuable indigenous knowledge in reducing the vulnerability o f people living in flooded areas. The study results showed that local people had adequate experiences in predicting floods, weather based on animals, plants, and water colours' directives which help them have pro-active adaptation in agricultural production such as seasonal schedule adjustments, rational use offertiliser, selecting appropriate varieties to different flood conditions. However, this valuable indigenous knowledge was not recorded yet, nor documented in written, which leads to hardly transmit to future generations for applying. As the result, the study proposes some recommendations on how to conserve this valuable indigenous knowledge and how to strengthen the pro-active adaptation capacity o f local people to floods in the context o f climate change.