Strategic advice to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development regarding erosion mitigation in the Mekong Delta Erosion along the rivers and coastline of the Mekong Delta is a serious threat to livelihood, ecology and economic developments in the delta. As a result, the riverbeds are deepened so that more saline water enters from the sea, houses and infrastructure along the riverbanks collapse and valuable mangrove forests along the Vietnamese coast disappear. Without the mangrove forests, the natural protection against coastal erosion is weakened and waves attack directly the coastal flood protection. To secure a sustainable solution, the Vietnamese government and World Bank Vietnam requested the Government of the Netherlands to provide technical advice on potential measures. A team of experts from Royal HaskoningDHV works together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on mitigating the erosion at five locations with severe erosion problems. These locations are in the Mekong Delta provinces An Giang, Kien Giang and Ca Mau. The project is part of the World Bank-funded Mekong Delta Integrated Climate Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods (MD-ICRSL) program. In 2018, the Royal HaskoningDHV team assisted MARD on defining the project and on conducting a basic study to identify the possible erosion mitigation options. In particular, the options for nature-based solutions and the system-based approach were explored. Also, for each of the five project sites, the team helped MARD with getting a good understanding about the causes of erosion, the specific environmental and social conditions, and the feasible solutions.Since 2019 Royal HaskoningDHV collaborates with MARD and a Vietnamese consortium, including the Southern Institute of Water Resources and Research (SIWRR), to execute a Feasibility Study and Safeguard Study for the erosion mitigation measures, for which the implementation is expected to be funded by a World Bank loan provided to the Government of Vietnam. Among others, Royal HaskoningDHV helps with defining the baseline situation, the design conditions, the technical design and the socio-economic impact of the measures. Royal HaskoningDHV’s added value is two-fold: promoting nature-based solutions and multi-criteria analysis. Where possible, nature-based solutions, or a combination of nature-based solutions and structural measures, are proposed and implemented in the designs. The multi-criteria analysis assures that the team of MARD selects integrated solutions that fit best within the system, based on a wide range of social, economic, environmental and technical criteria rather than only technical criteria or construction costs. With the help of Royal HaskoningDHV, MARD and SIWRR have access to quality expertise and global experience in finding the best solutions for livelihood, ecology and economic development. The envisioned interventions protect about 13,500 people and economic activities representing a value of about 70 million USD against erosion and coastal flooding.This assignment is financed through the Partners for Water Program, under the International Water Ambition and executed by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), part of the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate. The Partners for Water Program is commissioned by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management on behalf of the Interdepartmental Water Cluster. The Netherlands embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam is involved in the execution of this assignment and the bilateral collaboration on water and climate. This project is conducted in cooperation with: Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.