Mekong Delta Data Center Officially Operates

In the context of complex climate change developments, with increasingly severe impacts on the lives and production of the Mekong Delta, the construction of the Mekong Delta Data Center is vital.

This center will integrate multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary data while designing and creating databases and software processing tools, supporting timely and effective decision-making to respond to increasingly severe climate change in the region. The Mekong Delta Data Center was formed and built within the framework of the "Integrated Climate Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Mekong Delta" (ICRSL) Project, which has been implemented in 13 regional provinces and cities. The project aims to implement Resolution No. 120/NQ - CP dated November 17, 2017, by the government on sustainable development of the Mekong Delta in response to climate change.

Specifically: the content and scale of the project are data collection; standardization, database integration; analysis, model design, newsletter and sample report design; purchase and development of application software; development of legal corridors, propaganda; training and technology transfer. The project also analyzes and designs many models to serve the creation of newsletters, sample reports on climate change, natural disasters, timely information warnings with high accuracy to the community; purchase and development of application software to serve the import, standardization, checking, integration, search, extraction of the integrated database of the Mekong Delta and the Mekong Delta data portal software is designed to be modern, secure, with a friendly interface, easy to access, easy to use.

The components of the center include hardware infrastructure, IT infrastructure, an internal software system for management and decision support, and a database with three specialized data groups in the fields of resources and environment, agriculture, and socio-economics. The center is capable of integrating multi-sectoral data (resources - environment, agriculture, socio-economics...), gradually standardizing, overcoming the shortage of databases, and synchronizing documents in the Mekong Delta region to serve analysis, assessment and decision support on sustainable development in the context of climate change.

The Center aims to provide helpful information to people, helping them to be proactive in agricultural production and increase crop productivity. At the same time, it provides timely and accurate data to scientists and supports them in research, technical improvement, and agricultural development to adapt to climate change and rising sea levels. The Mekong Delta Regional Data Center is built to provide accurate, complete, and continuous data to all levels and sectors in planning, policy-making, and planning, from small projects to inter-provincial and inter-regional projects.

In terms of operation, the monitoring stations (built according to sub-projects) will simultaneously transmit information to beneficiaries and the Mekong Delta Regional Data Center for everyday use by ministries, sectors, and localities. The content and scale of the project are data collection, standardization, database integration, analysis, model design, newsletter design, sample reports, purchasing and building application software, building legal corridors, propaganda, and technology transfer training, including collecting historical data, and current status during the project implementation period as a basis for updating data later related to resources and environment and some other related fields in the Mekong Delta region; standardizing and integrating Mekong Delta databases such as analyzing data information content, designing integrated database models, building base maps, building riverbank and coastal landslide databases, transferring databases, determining riverbank and coastal landslide trends and training on technology transfer; monitoring changes in land use and crop structure using remote sensing technology. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Quy Kien hoped that the Center would operate effectively, providing services to the public and private sectors, helping to save time and costs, and providing accurate advice in planning and deciding on tasks related to the economic and social development of the Central and local levels. The Deputy Minister also requested that the Department of Digital Transformation and Environmental Resources Data Information take over and closely coordinate with relevant units to manage and operate the Center's equipment to achieve the best efficiency. To put the Mekong Delta Data Center into operation in 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has been coordinating with units to organize training and implement user manuals for information technology items under Sub-project 4, "Investment in building a Mekong Delta Data Center integrating natural resources and environmental data of the region to serve analysis, assessment and support decision-making on sustainable development in the context of climate change." The training content is aimed at the trial operation phase before handover.