Created in 1987, the Entretiens du Centre Jacques Cartier are a major annual gathering that takes place in the Rhône-Alpes and, once every three years, in Québec. The Entretiens have deepened the connection between France and Québec in numerous spheres of cultural and scientific activity. This year, to celebrate their 27th anniversary, the Entretiens Jacques Cartier presented 27 colloquiums: 25 in Québec in October, one in Hô-Chi-Minh-Ville in November, and a last one set to take place in Haiti in spring 2015. 

CARE was born as part of the many activities surrounding the creation of RESCIF, under the aegis of the main partners, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Grenoble Institute of Technology, École Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and Polytechnique Montréal. 

For the Southeast Asian edition of the colloquium, a science committee led by Guy Leclerc, professor in the Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal, developed a program in two complementary parts: 

- Addressing the major challenge posed all over the world by populations' progressive adaptation to climate change, along with their activities and their ecosystems, and; 

- Addressing research that targets particular local and regional issues, one of CARE's objectives. 

Professors Sarah Dorner and Michel A. Bouchard, also from the Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering, spoke at the colloquium as representatives of Polytechnique Montréal. 

The colloquium's aims were to provide status updates on studies currently underway at the Asian Centre for Water Research and to share knowledge and experiences of integrated water management in an ocean watershed. Four main research focuses were chosen in keeping with CARE's current activities: sediment and contaminant transfer, water quality and health, hydrologic risk and vulnerability, and urban hydrology. The topics addressed in integrated water management covered the identification of socio-economic and technical issues, constraint determination, and the links between water management and land-use planning.

The participants feel that this first CARE colloquium defined the conditions for success in an integrated water-management program in a changing environment that requires that adaptive solutions be implemented, that their efficiency be monitored, and that managers and researchers interact constantly to identify ever better solutions. The colloquium was not only a place for scientific information to be exchanged, but was first and foremost a space for animated and creative discussions about how to seek the solutions best tailored to the populations of the Mekong Delta region – populations served by the civil infrastructures we design and affected by our decisions. 

Many thanks to the science committee's chair and members for their collaboration, and to the whole team led by Dr. Phan Thi San Ha, Director of CARE, for making the colloquium a success.

Source: Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering and Office of International Relations, Polytechnique Montréal