The 5th Asia-Pacific Coastal Aquifer Management Meeting (APCAMM) was held at University of Da Nang. Da Nang, Vietnam, July 17-19, 2017. The meeting was partly sponsored by MONRE and co-organised by Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment and the University of Danang. A total of 130 participants from Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Korea, Thailand, USA and Vietnam attended the meet. There were 31 oral presentations and 16 posters exhibited. CCOPTS had attended the meeting to expose and advertise CCOP as future partner of the activity.
The meeting was first established in 2009 and had formed a bi-annual forum to share knowledge in coastal aquifer water resources and management, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. The meeting forms an avenue where scientists, engineers, managers and other ground water stakeholders who are concerned with coastal groundwater in the Asia-Pacific region could interact, discuss, establish linkages and communicate on the subject in a formal forum. It is a fact that a large portion of the world’s population inhabits coastal areas, and puts significant stress on surface and ground water resources. In addition, sea level rise due to climate change is expected to adversely impact coastal systems, in particular, groundwater resources. A UN report showed that by 2050, seven of the ten most vulnerable countries worldwide are in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the 3 days meeting, 2 days were allocated for discussing topics which include: Coastal Aquifer Management; Numerical Modeling; Investigations of Coastal Aquifers; Island Hydrogeology; Geochemistry and Isotopes; and Saltwater Intrusion Vulnerability, Climate Change and Sea level rise Impacts to Coastal aquifers. CCOPTS presentation titled “The role of Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programs in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) in promoting groundwater and other geoscience activities” was delivered. A day excursion to the Central Coastal Vietnam and visit to Gio Linh groundwater wellfield and water treatment plant were also arranged.
