The Vietnamization of delta management: The Mekong Delta Plan and politics of translation in Vietnam.

• The Mekong Delta Plan translates Dutch climate adaptation knowledge to Vietnam. • Dutch advisors established themselves and their approach as indispensable. • Tensions produced as Dutch approach confronted Vietnamese system of governance. • Meanings were altered, but long-term transformative vision applied to new context. • Vietnamese government has adopted this vision to implement own development goals. With the identification of river deltas as especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, efforts are underway to mainstream climate change adaptation into development planning in many delta countries. Yet understanding how these processes unfold demands attention to how knowledge is translated from one context to another and across levels of governance to influence action. This paper examines the "Mekong Delta Plan" (MDP), produced in partnership between the Vietnamese and Dutch governments in 2013, as a vehicle for the translation of knowledge to shape climate change adaptation in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Drawing on ethnographic research at sites in Vietnam and the Netherlands, the findings illustrate how the MDP has come to play a key role in the governance of climate change adaptation in the Delta, driven first by Dutch advisors and then by the Vietnamese government. This study suggests that attention to the politics of translation in climate change adaptation governance can shed light on important factors shaping the socio-material evolution of both the Mekong Delta in particular and deltas more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]