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Purpose: Mekong Delta's shrimp farming contributes to socio-economic development but tends to reduce the mangrove area. On the one hand, NGOs advocate balancing ecology and economy, while on the other hand, the Vietnamese government supports intensifying shrimp production. The latter strategy increases shrimp diseases and marginalises smallholders. To influence the opinions, knowledge and behaviour of shrimp farmers, we developed and tested a serious board game. Approach: Through several iterations, we designed a realistic board game mimicking local shrimp farming. Then, after conducting three sessions of gameplay with farmers in three sites, we assessed how this gameplay influenced players. We used a semi-experimental set-up by collecting data on the day of the gameplay, and on two further time-points. Findings: After the gameplays, farmers reported to have learned about the risks of monoculture-intensive-shrimp system and the advantages of hybrid systems. Likert ratings showed that players adopted innovations faster and, in case of shrimp diseases, consulted commercial service-providers less, but with other farmers more. They confirmed to have learned that the best strategy for them would be to adopt hybrid systems, i.e. intensify part of the area of mixed-mangrove or improved-extensive shrimp farms. Theoretical implications: Realistic board games can create opportunities for social learning and training of groups which are not always easy to reach. Practical implications: Board games can support transfer of knowledge and skills to farmers, and can develop their critical thinking. Creation: The findings that board games are effective in the context of a top-down extension systems offer value opportunities.

There is an implementation gap between government plans and land-use changes at the local level in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. This stands in the way of the sustainable development of the delta, especially in the face of environmental degradation, climate change, and water-use conflicts. To narrow the gap between plans and practice, the government needs a better understanding of what drives land-use decisions at the farm level. Our research developed and applied a multi-scale framework to identify the principal drivers of land-use changes at the farm level in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta over the past 40 years. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 farmers in the highly flooded zone, then used transcript analysis to quantify the influence of the drivers mentioned by farmers. We found drastic shifts in land uses, predominantly towards rice intensification. Among the 43 change drivers the farmers mentioned, those operating at the regional scale were particularly influential, including the activities of local authorities, neighborhood effects, and the development of water management infrastructure. Market factors have become more prominent in the last two decades, motivating farmers to shift from double to triple rice or to gradually diversify into vegetables. However, agricultural diversification remains limited by the agro-hydrological context, which favors triple rice cropping, as well as household scale factors such as natural and physical assets of the farm, household capital, and labor capacity. The local community also played a key role in land-use change, though with a double-edged effect, both delaying implementation of central government policy and forcing farmers to follow the majority's decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of shrimp farming in Vietnam has eroded the social-ecological resilience of the coastal ecosystem. Recent literature supports the idea that integrated mangrove-shrimp production systems can contribute to rebuilding this resilience in the Mekong Delta. Two experts panels, international and Vietnamese, were consulted to validate and weight drivers identified from literature that enable or constraint farmers to shift from extensive production system to integrated mangrove-shrimp system or to continue such integrated system. Though a combination of drivers is needed to enhance changes, two sets of drivers were given the highest weight. Experts considered the ecosystem function of the mangrove an enabling driver pushing farmers to plant mangrove in order to improve the pond's water quality and limit disease outbreaks. They perceived the drivers related to the current regulatory framework as constraining because these limit the financial return associated with integrated mangrove-shrimp systems. The analysis indicates that the adoption of these integrated systems requires more equitable distribution of benefits from shrimp and timber production between farmers and other stakeholder in these value chains. We recommend to develop a regulatory framework that can optimize the financial benefits of the integrated mangrove-shrimp production systems for farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]