Report
Overseas field training FOLENS office organized: In / with Can Tho University, Bach Ma National Park and Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry “Natural environment and human impacts in the Mekong Delta, and a grope for sustainability”
There are two types of overseas field training in FOLENS program, one is “Thematic research type” with the supervisor mentioned above and the other is “FOLENS office organized type”, in which various major field participants learn together in FOLENS’s Education & Research Base. The latter type was collaboratively done in Can Tho University (E&R base), Bach Ma National park and Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, in Vietnam in September 2012. We put “Natural environment condition (flood, canal network, international river, rice agriculture…) and human impacts in the Mekong Delta, and a grope for sustainability” to be our common axis of the field study. Number of the participants was 8 students and 4 staff from TUAT, 10 students and 7 staff from Can Tho University (CTU). Among the 8 students from TUAT, 1 student combined this field training with her internship, 2 students extended their stay period for further research, and other 2 students belong to another department but traveled together. This made our group more diverse whose major areas include environmental microbiology, veterinary science, hydrology, environmental pollution chemistry. We believe the various backgrounds harmonized each other and had individual viewpoint for field survey, sample water measurement, and received lectures on the common axis of the study. The final day in Can Tho, on September 12th, both side students reviewed the trip contents and sorted issues. It took all over the afternoon. Professor Nguyen Van Be advised us that not only quantitative discussion but also “timing” (of sample collection, field visit and so on) is very important to consider water environmental problems in Mekong Delta. Above all, we hope the participants are encouraged from the field training trip to consider more about society, nature and environmental issues by field oriented mind in the long term perspective and the fruits from the field survey might enrich their Master and Doctoral research. And this joint training should be one of promotions for future collaboration between CTU and TUAT. (HO)