FPC - Ho Chi Minh City, 7 December 2009. To explore the effects of the changing climate on life in the Mekong Delta, BBC World Service is launching a special project, Climate Change and Vietnam.

During a three-day boat-trip along the Mekong river, BBC World Service’s multilanguage, multimedia team will report to the BBC’s global audience of 233 million on the efforts already being undertaken to adapt to the changing environment and the potential impact across the region and wider world.

The BBC boat sets sail on Saturday 7 December from Ho Chi Minh City where the team of  BBC World Service English is joined by BBC Vietnamese , BBC Afrique, BBC Burmese, BBC Chinese, BBC Indonesia and BBC Urdu journalists, to examine issues which affect Vietnam, the wider region and the rest of the world. Also on board are climate experts, NGO representatives and government officials.

The overarching theme of the BBC coverage is the relation between climate change on the one hand and the regional and global food and water security on the other. The BBC investigates how the Mekong Delta, dubbed the rice basked of Asia, is coping with rising sea levels and increased water salinity; discusses existing methods of dealing with flooding including mangrove measures being put in place to deal with flooding and cyclones.

The Climate Change and Vietnam Project Manager, James Sales, says: “The security of this fragile ecosystem, which is the Mekong Delta, is vital to millions of people. As the eyes of the world are fixed on the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the BBC’s multilingual teams, broadcasting to audiences across regions and continents, are embarking on this journey so we can help inform the global debate with inputs from people representing various backgrounds and agendas.

“The boat journey includes stops in My Tho and Can Tho City. From these locations, the teams will make trips to the Thoi Son sand islet, a floating market, a uniquely Vietnamese fusion such as a VAC farm, and other places, reporting Vietnam’s climate story to the rest of the world.”