Vo Quoc Tuan, who has been working at the German Aerospace Center, DLR, for the past 3.5 years successfully defended his PhD thesis at University of Kiel on May 24th 2013. His thesis has been associated to the WISDOM project, while funding came from a Worldbank Grant via Can Tho University, CTU. Topic of the thesis has been the valuation of ecosystem services of mangrove forests in the coastal Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau. Vo Quoc Tuan has published two SCI papers in renowned journals, and a third paper is currently under review. After over three years in Germany he is now returning to Can Tho University.