ICM Study tour in Danang

Group photo in front of DONRE Danang, 10 April 2013

Following last year trainings and workshops to support the integrated coastal management (ICM) process in Soc Trang, from 8 to 10 April 2013, a study tour to Danang has been organised for representatives of local authorities from three coastal districts and members of the Interdisciplinary Planning Team. Aim of this study tour is for the participants to learn from practical experiences of Danang’s good practice on ICM application. 

Before dinner on Monday 8 March, the vice director of Danang DONRE welcomed the delegation from Soc Trang and presented briefly about Danang’s achievements. On Tuesday 9 March, we visited Khanh Son landfill, Hoa Cuong wastewater treatment plant in the morning and some developments, tourist sites along the beach of Son Tra peninsula, climbing up to Marble mountain in the afternoon. On Wednesday 10 March, we listened to presentations about the ICM implementation in Danang and the ECUD GIZ project at Danang DONRE in the morning and visited the sustainable community model in Tho Quang ward in the afternoon and then flying back to Saigon. 

Danang’s achievements

 

Danang is a new established city as it has just been separated from Quang Nam Da Nang province in 1997 to become an independent first-class city (central controlled). In 2000, Danang was selected as one of the national demonstration sites for integrated coastal management (ICM) in the framework of the regional program on Building Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA). Since then, Danang has consistently implemented the ICM framework and process and has had a comprehensive boom. Marketing and educational campaigns on sea and environment have been conducted. Data about the sea has been collected. Resources from the seas are used to improve coastal communities. High value of the sea has become its trademark with regulation for environmental protection. Environmental protection is considered as a crucial factor to the sustainable development of the city. Danang has refused 2 big steel and paper production projects because of their potential pollution to environment. Drainage system, wastewater treatment and solid waste management have been improved. All wastewater is collected and treated before going to the sea. Danang has developed the strategy of environmental protection for Danang up to 2010, and has conducted the project of “Danang – towards Environmental City” up to 2020. In 2011, Danang gained the “ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable City” Award and the National Environmental Prize. 

The economy has grown fast with its structure shifting step-by-step towards service-industry and reduction in agricultural sector. Its macro policy has recognised the sea as a valuable front door of the city. From beginning of the renovation process, the city has applied land use planning and successfully relocated hundred thousands of households with reasonable compensation based on the fund from land auction for development projects[1]. As an international sea harbour, having both the sea and the mountains, the Cham museum, Danang has taken advantage of its unique condition to promote tourism, particularly with spiritual tourism in Kuan Yin pagoda, Ba Na pagoda. Nowaday, Danang has been famous as the most livable city in Vietnam. It is also the host for some international events such as the yearly fireworks festival. The city is also proud of its beautiful bridges, the unique rotatable Quay bridge, the dragon bridge, etc. which serve not only for transport but also for decoration. 

The city has successfully implemented its ambitious “5 NO” campaign: no hungry households, no illiteracy, no beggars, no drug addicts, no murder/robbery. Danang has no longer hungry households under poverty line. Danang is the only city in the country without wanderers for begging. The city has been continuing the campaign with “3 YES”: housing, jobs and urban cultural & civilized lifestyles. More apartments/condominiums and 60 new residential areas have been built to provide more housing. More job trainings have been conducted. Education is considered as an important pillar for development. Poor students get tuition remission. There is a gifted high school for excellent students with scholarships. On the other hand, there are policies, endowment to attract talents to work in Danang. 

Khanh Son landfill 

 

Khanh Son landfill had been built from 2004 – 2006 with funding from World Bank and has been in use since 2007. Its designed lifespan is for 12 years (up to 2020). We can easily observe the informal waste separation right at the site. The landfill has 5 cells in total. Two cells had been used up so far and the 3^rd cell is currently in use. The leachate is collected and then goes through wastewater treatment system. The effluent meets Vietnamese standard (except color parameter). The odor treatment is good there (using some kind of biochemist enzyme). Operational cost of the landfill is about 6 billion VND per year. The collected fee is 29,000 VND per tonne of municipal waste. It is planned to build here additionally the sludge treatment system.

Khanh Son landfill


The incinerators

Medical waste and other hazardous industrial waste are treated separately in the 2 incinerators next to the landfill. These two incinerators are made in Vietnam and the construction cost in total about 3 billion VND. The collected fees are 10,000 VND/kg and 6,000 VND/kg correspondingly; which means 10 million VND per tonne for medical waste and 6 million VND per tonne for other hazardous industrial waste. The cost is much higher in these cases because of the fuel used. The incinerators consume about 350 litres of diesel per tonne of these wastes. Normally, 1.4 tonnes of these hazardous wastes are burnt every two days in 7 hours. The incinerator has 2 chambers, one for burning waste into ash (which then is compressed into bricks and then will be buried carefully) and the other chamber is for burning smoke. The fuel is used mostly to burn the smoke completely therefore no smoke escape from the system. 

Hoa Cuong wastewater treatment plant

 

Danang has 4 municipal wastewater treatment plants (Hoa Cuong, Phu Loc, Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son) using anaerobic technology for both domestic and industrial wastewater and 1 specific wastewater treatment plant (Tho Quang) using combining aerobic and anaerobic technology for wastewater from aquaculture. 

Hoa Cuong wastewater treatment plant has been operated since 2007 and received domestic wastewater from Hai Chau, Cam Le and Hoa Vang districts. The plant’s capacity is 110,799 m³ and the flow is about 30,000 m³/day. There are 2 parallel anaerobic ponds. To ensure anaerobic condition, the ponds are covered with HPDE geotextile layer. 

Operation is simple since the water flow by gravity. The wastewater is collected by the system along Han river with pumping stations. There is a primary settlement for sand and big size waste removal. Then the wastewater flows through 4 channels into 2 parallel anaerobic ponds. The anaerobic pond comprises 2 chambers. The first chamber is smaller but deeper and it is where substrates such as sludge from septic tank are added regularly to provide microorganism for the anaerobic treatment process. After flowing through the first chamber, wastewater is separated into liquid and solid phases. The water (liquid phase) continues to flow through the second chamber and the sludge (solid phase) remains at the first chamber. The wastewater stays in the ponds totally for 3 days (retention time) and then the treated effluent goes to Cam Le river. The effluent meets level B of Vietnamese standard.

The advantages of this anaerobic technology are simple design, high capacity, low cost for both operation and maintenance. On the other hand, the disadvantage of this anaerobic technology is odor because of H₂S, NH₃ generated. However, considering the high volume and the low level of pollution concentration of municipal wastewater, this simple technology is okay and practical. 

Hoa Cuong wastewater treatment plant 

Development and tourism along Son Tra peninsula 

After lunch on Tuesday, 9 March 2013, we had chance to see some development and tourist sites along Son Tra peninsula. It was more like a sight-seeing tour. We visited the Kuan Yin (The Goddess of Mercy) pagoda which has just been built in 2010. People said that since then, no more heavy storm reaches Danang or even if there is storm, it changes direction and thus Danang is safe. Then, we visited the Ocean Villas, a real estate project of luxury residential area by the Vinacapital Cooperate. This is an example of turning unused and bare land into high value residential area. End of the excursion day, we had a short trip to Marble mountain.

Kuan Yin pagoda

Ocean Villas

Marble mountain

  

ICM implementation in Danang – Experiences and lessons learned 

 

Mrs. Pham Thi Chin presenting about Danang’s ICM process 

At the beginning, through MONRE, PEMSEA[2] approached several nominated coastal provinces including Nghe An, Khanh Hoa (Nha Trang), Danang to introduce about ICM as a tool to achieve sustainable development. PEMSEA saw the higher motivation, interest and willingness from Danang local authorities among others. Then in 2000, Danang has been chosen as the national demonstration site for ICM (2000 – 2004). Agreement was signed between PEMSEA and Danang in which PEMSEA committed to contribute 450,000 USD and Danang contributed 907,000 USD as counterpart fund. These fund was mostly be used for capacity building and integrating interdisciplinary approach in management, not for infrastructure investment. 

In the preparation step, the project office, project coordination unit, management board, monitoring program were established. Stakeholders were identified. Core staff got trainings from PEMSEA. Then data of all sectors were collected. Workshops were organized for consultation to identify environmental issues and setting priority. Environmental profile for Danang was compiled. Vision for Danang in 50 years has been built. Based on the vision, strategy and 44 action programs have been developed. Danang has assigned DONRE to lead the city on the way towards becoming one of the top 10 low-carbon-development cities in the region. The action programs are regularly revised and adjusted. In recent year, climate change concern has been added into the strategy.

After the project finished, the project office has become VASI’s office in Danang and they still keep contact with PEMSEA and PEMSEA continues giving technical advice. The ICM project has been an important initiative for Danang towards sustainable development. It has strengthened Danang’s coastal governance through[3]: 

§ Creating a multi-disciplinary co-ordination mechanism for coastal resource and environmental management 

Most of the programs and development plans for the city, which are related to coastal resources and the environment, have been prepared in consultation with all relevant departments and districts. Community awareness-raising, as well as capacity building for local staff, contributed remarkably to the success of ICM in Danang. The multi-disciplinary co-ordination mechanism helps investment projects to fit in with the city’s coastal strategy (which considers risk management, recovery and protection of habitat, waste management, prevention and mitigation of pollution), and action plans for coastal resource and environmental protection have been implemented synchronously and harmoniously. Such as action plans include: waste separation at source, public awareness-raising on beach cleaning, environmental monitoring, investigation of marine resources, and project planning for the coral reef protection zone in the Southern part of Son Tra peninsula. 

Danang’s ICM co-ordination mechanism 

§ Creating technical tools to support integrated coastal resource and environmental management

Based on the ICM strategy approved in 2001, Danang’s Peoples’ Committee issued regulations for the management and protection of coral reefs and ecosystems related to the coastal areas from Chao islet to Nam Hai Van and the Son Tra peninsula. 

Zonation planning for Danang’s coastal use includes categorization of coastal spatial uses, regulations on coastal use, a coastal use zoning plan and an institutional framework for implementation. This zoning plan has had a big impact on the achievement of reasonable coastal use and the mitigation of conflict. 

The Integrated Environmental Monitoring program was approved by Danang’s People’s Committee on May 4, 2006 with 47 monitoring points for water (covering rivers, the sea, lakes and groundwater), sedimentation, soil, and air quality. Since then, DONRE has co-ordinated with other related departments to conduct regular monitoring, as well as irregular monitoring, in order to evaluate environmental quality in the whole city, and to assess the state of the coast. 

The Integrated Information Management System (IIMS) has been established as a socio-economic, resource and environmental database system for Danang for risk management, developing strategies, environmental monitoring, and coastal use zoning, as well as other related activities supporting state management. 

§ The integrated coastal resource and environmental management model has been widely applied by organizations, faculties, and authorities, as well as communities 

Components of the environmental protection model, such as waste separation at source, planting trees, etc., have been implemented by many social organizations and unions. The movement, Green-Clean-Beautiful Sunday, has spread all over the city. The model of the “Community club of coastal sustainable economic development” developed by the Farmer Association of Tho Quang ward, has been a typical model which would be replicated in other places in the city. 

§ Organizing inspections and conducting checks on the implementation of regulations and coastal resource and environmental protection 

In recent years, inspections, and conducting checks on the implementation of regulations on ICM have been actively conducted, particularly in Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son districts. 

Limitations and lessons learned

 

Since ICM is a new management approach, knowledge and experience on ICM of local staff is still limited. There is a lack of information related to resource values, as well as a lack of human resources. Moreover, there is lack of experts in new areas such as zonation of coastal uses and institutional arrangements. Following are the lessons learned from the implementation of ICM in Danang. 

(1) Ensuring capacity for project operation, management and implementation

The establishment of the Project Co-ordination Board, with the Board’s Chairman being the Vice-president of Danang’s People’s Committee, and with members being heads of relevant departments and districts, has created a synchronous and united management and co-ordination system for Danang. This has helped to mobilize the active participation of all stakeholders in the planning and implementation of the project. The Project Office was also founded with the selection of qualified personnel to advise and assist the Project Co-ordination Board. 

(2) Organizing public awareness-raising activities as soon as possible

Awareness-raising activities on ICM have been organized and developed quickly for staff of local authorities as well as for the community, in order to build a consensus of appreciation of the importance and values of the coasts for the city’s sustainable development. This helps to create a high level of commitment and agreement from all stakeholders in the application of ICM. 

(3) Building consensus among stakeholders

The support of stakeholders is essential for the success of the project. The commitment and active direction of Danang’s Peoples’ Committee shows a high level of determination and support for the project. This creates favourable conditions for ICM implementation, as well as mobilizing the interests and participation of stakeholders. Support from individuals and the community is a prerequisite for sustaining project activities. The active participation of departments, faculties, local authorities and communities helps the project to identify possible challenges in its implementation, and thereby be able to recommend solutions for problem-solving. 

(4) Role of experts

The expert group plays an important role in providing technical advice. Danang has organized a multi-disciplinary expert group, which includes scientists, engineers and managers. Throughout the project, from building strategies to implementation of sub-projects, the advice of the multi-disciplinary group has been listened-to and considered as part of an integrated approach to complete the project’s products and to ensure their feasibility. 

(5) Information collection

Right from beginning, Danang started collecting relevant information for the project. All information on environmental resources, and economic, social, cultural, and historical aspects have been collected and analyzed for building the database. This database is vital for the ICM implementation.

  

Eco-city and climate friendly urban development project (ECUD, GIZ Danang) 

Ms. Dinh Le Quan presenting about the GIZ ECUD project at Danang DONRE

The GIZ ECUD project in Danang started in July 2011 and will end by March 2014. Its commissioning party is BMZ – the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and its implementing partners are DPI, DONRE and Department of Construction (DOC). The project aims to support Danang to effectively implement target programs on environment and climate change through interdisciplinary co-ordination mechanism. The project consists of 4 components: Environmental development strategy (1), Environmental monitoring, assessment and report (2), Environmental friendly master planning (3), Pilot studies on climate change mitigation and adaptation (4). 

Danang has decided to become environmental friendly city in 2020, however the objectives have been just limited mostly to satisfy national standards on clean air and water rather than broader theme related to sustainable development, green growth and resources conservation. There is also lack of basic indicators and strategy to achieve the objectives. Therefore, the ECUD project aims to provide consultancy to support policy identification, building route for action plans and developing general strategy for environmental and climate friendly urban development. 

For environmental monitoring and assessment (2^nd components), activities of the ECUD project are building inventory of emission sources, including detail information, emission map; causes & effects modeling of environmental state in Danang and roles of polluters (polluters pay principles); developing emission reduction plan and action plan; revising impacts of suggested action plans by life cycle assessment. 

Danang University of Technology with funding from the Rockefeller developed flooding model. On the other hand, CDM Smith consultant company with funding from World Bank developed the urban drainage model for Danang. None of these models has been used in policy analysis. The master plan and infrastructure decisions have been made without support of modeling. Therefore, the ECUD project aims to combine these flooding and urban drainage models into one integrated model, developing respectively scenarios to analyse policies for recommendation on development strategy and master planning of the city. 

The ECUD project also conducts pilot studies on composting, climate-resilient house for replication in Danang and other cities in Vietnam. 

The GIZ project Environmentally and Climate-friendly Urban Development (ECUD) in Da Nang has received a certificate of merit by the People’s Committee of Da Nang City in January 2013. The honorary certificate is awarded annually to groups and individuals in recognition of their contribution to Da Nang’s socio-economic development.

Sustainable development community in Tho Quang ward

 

Mr. Nguyen Dinh, head of the Farmer Association of Tho Quang presenting about the club for sustainable development of coastal community at People’s Committee of Tho Quang ward

The club for sustainable development community in Tho Quang ward, Son Tra district has been established in 2010. It serves as the pilot model for later replication into other places in the city. Goals of the model are raising legal awareness on coastal environmental and resources protection and management, improving coastal environment through mobilizing public participation, sustainable use of resources and economic development at Son Tra peninsula. 

The club has 37 members and they have meetings quarterly. The regulation on coastal environmental protection has been developed and agreed among the club’s members. This core group then has mobilized a larger number of people in the community to sustainably use the coastal resources and to protect the environment. The club has taken care of the environment along 2.5 km coastline in Tho Quang ward. They have detected and timely prevented 2 incidents of illegal seaweed collecting in the forbidden zone along Son Tra peninsula. 

With support from the ICM project, since October 2010, three trainings, workshops have been organized for farmers and fishermen in the area to raise public awareness on community role in integrated coastal management and environmental protection. The club has distributed 1000 flyers on roles of farmers in building environmental friendly city. Together with the Farmer Association, the club has mobilized people to participate in 12 environmental events of “Green, Beautiful, Clean Sunday”. Moreover, 25 members of the club have joined the rehearsal on responding to environmental risks organized by the city. 

The club has encouraged members and other aquaculture/fishermen households in the coastal area to apply alternative livelihoods; so far, 5 households have shifted from aquaculture to tourist services. Three small capacity vessels have been converted into tourist boats, creating jobs for 14 people, including 5 club members. 

Mr. Dinh, head of the club mentioned that they want to support more and more households’ livelihood, but the most difficult thing is the limited funding. It was recommended from the discussion that they can focus more on the task of raising community’s awareness because supporting alternative livelihoods for people there would be beyond their capacity and that can be taken care by other bigger projects.

---

[1] From Danang’s perspective, this initiative of land auction policy is a successful tool to create fund for the city’s urban development. On the other hand, from the state perspective, there is some legal violation related (see the link below). In my opinion, Danang has taken innovative policies and they have their reasons.
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/government/69035/conclusions-about-da-nang-s-land-related-violations-have--legal-basis-.html
[2] PEMSEA members including China, Japan and 10 Southeast Asian countries
[3] Some old notes from the ICAM training in June 2012 are put additionally in this session.

Coastal geomorphology, dam construction's impacts and ecosystem based approach

On March 8, 2013, the training workshop “Coastal Geomorphology, Sediment Transit and Their Integration into Biodiversity Conservation Planning in the Mekong Delta” was held in Ben Tre by WWF – Greater Mekong Programme and Biodiversity Conservation Agency (BCA, MONRE). In the morning session, Professor Edward J. Anthony[1] gave lectures on coastal geomorphology and impacts of hydropower dams on coastal areas (Mekong Delta as a case study). In the afternoon session, Mr. Ngo Xuan Quy (BCA) gave an overview on biodiversity in the Mekong Delta and Ms. Tran Thi Mai Huong (WWF Vietnam) gave a brief introduction to ecosystem-based approaches to climate change. The workshop ended with the plenary discussion and conclusion.

1. Introduction to coastal geomorphology and coastal evolution

Sediment sources for coasts are from land (90%, mainly from river catchments), seabed, from the coast itself (coastal erosion), from marine and coastal plants and animals (corals, mangroves, salt marshes).

Sediment types can be boulders, blocks at high energy coasts (brought by tsunamis, extreme storms), gravel at high-energy-coasts in temperate to high latitude coasts, and sand or mud at all climate settings, but dominant in tropical settings due to chemical weathering.

There are erosional coasts (rocky coasts, cliffed coasts) and depositional/alluvial coasts (beaches, sandflats, mudflats, salt marshes, mangroves). Depositional coasts can become erosional in case of deficient sediment supply.

 

The energy sources for coasts are waves, tides, currents, wind flows, river flows, freshwater – saltwater interactions, exceptional events (storms, tsunami, earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes, etc) and also impacts of direct and indirect human interventions.

Longshore drift is a fundamental coastal process enabling sediment transport from sources (notably river mouths) to the rest of the coast. Although longshore sediment drift is essentially due to waves obliquely approaching the shore, this transport can also be generated by tidal currents and wind stress, especially where mud is available.

Sediment gain relates to coastal advance (accumulation, progradation) while sediment loss relates to coastal retreat (erosion). Sediment losses can be caused by perturbation of river sediment supply such as forestation, land use changes, dams, climate change, perturbation of longshore drift such as ports, coastal defence works, or extreme storms and tsunamis. Low eroding coasts are likely to be strongly impacted by sea level rise.

Estuaries are commonly net sediment sinks. High river flow, and ebb-dominated tidal flows, can lead to sediment transport from the estuary to the sea. The supply of sediment to coasts by rivers has, however, been strongly affected by humans through:

-       modification of catchment characteristics such as vegetation cover and soils mainly related to agriculture, mining, road construction, settlements;

-       river bank and channel engineering works, including waterway diversions, aimed at stabilizing flow, controlling floods and enhancing navigation;

-       and especially through dams and reservoirs for water storage, water control, hydroelectricity, irrigation.

The sediment input to the floodplains during the annual flood plays a crucial role in terms of nutrient supply to agriculture. Sedimentation in floodplain plays a key role for the economic and ecological sustainability of low lying deltas. Its values can be acknowledged for nutrient input for agriculture, but also in terms of compensation for delta subsidence and sea level rise.

The transition from the river to the coast involves complex interactions between sea, coastline and land.

 Humans have increased the sediment transport by global rivers through soil erosion by 2.3 ± 0.6 billion metric tonnes per year, but yet reduced the flux of sediment reaching the world's coasts by 1.4 ± 0.3 billion metric tonnes per year because of retention within reservoirs. Over 100 billion metric tonnes of sediment are now sequestered in reservoirs constructed largely within the past 50 years, especially in Africa and Asia (Syvitski et al., 2009).

Large-scale over-exploitation of riverbed sand, granulates together with dam construction all over the world have caused significant reduction of suspended sediment discharge which in turn can result in widespread coastal retreat. Engineering of delta shoreline for reclamation purposes can also reduce sediment supply to the coast. Moreover, river flow declines after dam construction.

Widespread erosion of the Mekong delta shoreline

Existing and planned mainstream dams in China would have large impacts in terms of decreasing sediment, given that more than 60% of the Mekong’s suspended sediment load originates from this part of the river. Models project that at least 50% of total basin sediment load will be trapped annually by the Chinese dams. Proposed dams in the lower Mekong would trap even more sediment, with substantial negative impacts expected in Cambodia and parts of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

Delta shoreline status shows that erosion dominates with more than 75% of the Mekong delta shoreline in erosion. Erosion rates of up to 10 m/year. Erosion is severe along the muddy wave-tide-dominated coast southwest of the delta mouths and most severe along north Ca Mau and south Bac Lieu provinces. Erosion ‘hot front’ appears to be migrating southwest.

Future stability of the Mekong delta shoreline and assurance of the continuity of its ecosystem services will strongly depend on dam effects on the sediment balance, in a context of exacerbated vulnerability from sea-level rise and delta sinking.

2. Biodiversity conservation in the Mekong Delta

 

The national policy for adaptation to climate change requires assessment of climate change impacts to related aspects, including biodiversity. The draft national strategy on biodiversity conservation recognises climate change as one of the threats to biodiversity and suggests actions for biodiversity conservation in the context of climate change.

Planning is considered as a useful tool to conserve and identify priority zones for conservation, particularly relevant in the context of climate change. Among 12 provinces in the Mekong Delta, Soc Trang, Ben Tre and Ca Mau have developed their biodiversity conservation planning.

3. Introduction to ecosystem based approaches to climate change

An ecosystem approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. Mainstreaming an ecosystem based approach to biodiversity conservation plan is crucial.

Ecosystems provide a variety of services to people and economies that range from provisionary services such as water and food to regulatory services such as regulating local climate. Ecosystem-based approaches address the crucial links between climate change, biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainable resource management which have the potential to simultaneously contribute to the avoidance and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions while maintain and increase resilience, reduce vulnerability of ecosystems and people, help to adapt to climate change impacts, improve biodiversity conservation and livelihood opportunities and provide health and recreational benefits.

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.

Ecosystem based mitigation (EbM) is the use of natural ecosystems as the major carbon stores and sinks to mitigate the causes of climate change  (mitigating and reducing GHG emissions from energy production or land use changes).

Final decision of using one approach instead of the other one needs to be carefully weighted, considering local situations and scientific evidences, since in many cases the best strategy might be the combination of the two. It may be appropriate to combine EBA and infrastructure solutions in some cases.

Excursion on March 9, 2013

In the tentative agenda, the half-day fieldtrip on March 9 was supposed to visit the erosion site in Ben Tre. However, since they could not get permission for the two foreign experts (Prof. Edward Anthony and Dr. Marc Goichot, senior adviser of WWF), the plan was changed to visit Vam Ho Bird Sanctuary and the Ba Lai sluice gate.

Vam Ho has long become a favourite destination for many animals, especially birds. Vam Ho Bird Sanctuary is home to thousands of storks, herons and other types of bird. We arrived at the entry to Vam Ho Bird Sanctuary but could not move deeper inside the forest. Again unfortunately, the visit to Vam Ho Bird Sanctuary had to cancell for safety reason because of huge amount of mosquitos and because people were not well prepared (wearing shorts).

On the way back, we had a quick look at the Ba Lai sluice gate, which was built in 2000 and has been operated since 2002. The aim of this Ba Lai sluice gate construction is to serve for salinisation prevention, freshwater retention, flooding drainage and soil reclamation. However, currently salinization, reduction of sediment, erosion at the two banks of the estuary are some problems in the area. 

 

Some key remarks at the plenary discussion

·         Dams construction and overexploitation of sand cause sediment deficits which in turn affects significantly to coastal stability because this creates more erosion downstream.

·         Reduction of sediment is just one legacy of dams construction, there are many more negative consequences, including the reduction of fish resources.

·         Mekong Delta are facing risks of erosion, shrinking and sinking.

·         Putting coastal barriers can affect downstream, especially for muddy coast. Therefore, we need to see the whole picture, looking the whole coast as a system.

·   “Hard” solutions or structural measures such as sea dyke are costly and only create temporary sense of safety. After some years it can be collapsed and washed away out to the sea. Moreover building sea dyke can block the water exchange which is needed for mangroves (as mangroves also need freshwater), resulting in mangrove death.

·       Ecosystem based approaches or “soft” measures are environmental friendly and can bring multiple benefits at the same time.

·         Restoration of coastal mangroves can facilitate rehabilitation of biodiversity through creating habitats for aquatic resources and other animals, birds.

A video clip in Vietnamese made by VTV Can Tho about building wavebreaker in Vam Ray, Hon Dat, Kien Giang province to reduce wave energy (reduce 63% wave energy) and stimulate sedimentation (deposition rate of 20 cm sediment/year) for mangrove planting was shown. Results after 3 years of implementation this model (2010-2013) show that no more erosion, increasing deposition, decreasing of salinization, restoration of habitat with more aquatic resources, birds returning to the area.

 *****

 My friend Cam Nhung, she is working for WWF.

 Me at the Ba Lai sluice gate

Mekong Environmental Symposium, March 2013

In the spirit of the United Nations’ International Year of Water Cooperation 2013, from March 5 to 7 in Ho Chi Minh city, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) organized the Mekong Environmental Symposium[1], bringing together over 300 stakeholders and scientists from 25 countries to discuss environmental issues challenging the Mekong River Basin. Flowing over 4800 km through six countries, the Mekong river has one of the world’s largest transboundary delta, which is home to over 70 million inhabitants, in which 60 million people live within the lower Mekong countries and 10 million residing in the upper Mekong (Yunnan Province, China).

On March 5, the first day of the symposium, in the morning session, there were welcome notes  of organizers, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), MOST, MONRE, MARD and country statements of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and China. In the afternoon, the German-Vietnamese WISDOM[2] project (2007-2013), a bilateral, multidisciplinary research was presented. The main project goal is to design and implement a comprehensive information system tool which supports regional government agencies in the Mekong Delta in their planning processes to develop the region and adapt to climate change. All of the results generated over the 6 years of the project, geodata, maps, research reports, legal document databases, additional literature, image galleries, etc. are available online to a broad audience.

During the symposium, there were also exhibition of many projects, organisations, displaying their posters, documents, flyers, brochures such as the AKIZ project, GIZ, German Red Cross (GRC), Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET), IUCN Mangroves for the Future, Goethe Institute, Stockholm Environment Institute etc.

On the next two days of the symposium (March 6-7), parallel sessions of 12 topics below were presented:

·         Hydropower development and impacts on the river ecology

·         Hydropower development and impacts on the economy

·         Mekong Basin forest dynamics and REDD+

·         Mekong Basin land use (non-forest) dynamics

·         Mekong Basin hydrology and hydrography

·         Hazards and disaster risk reduction in the Mekong Basin

·         Mekong Basin aquatic ecology, biodiversity and water quality protection

·         Tonle Sap Lake: ecology, biodiversity and rural livelihoods

·         Mekong Delta: Climate change related challenges

·         Impacts of urbanization and industrialisation on agriculture and water resources

·         Collaboration platforms in basin management: Information Systems and Spatial Infrastructures

·         Capacity building, education and outreach

Key messages and lessons learned

1. Anthropogenic activities outweigh and exacerbate the effects of climate change. The Mekong River is under intense development pressure, with multiple upstream dams under construction and downstream dam proposals[3] that, in combination, would dramatically alter ecosystem and human livelihoods. The cumulative impacts of hydropower development are expected to modify the regime over the coming decades. Water level has been remarkably decreasing.

A major expansion of intense irrigated agriculture in the basin is also planned, which has the potential to further modify flows. Comparison between the soil erosion by change of land use and soil loss due to typhoon reveals that land use change has a stronger importance over a long-term period.

2. Hydropower development impacts – Interconnected drivers of change. The cumulative effects of the lower Mekong hydropower projects – if built, and together with existing Chinese dams, will transform the Mekong by altering natural flow patterns, disrupting fisheries and other ecosystem services, to the detriment of millions of people who depend on the river for their livelihoods.

Results indicate that trade-offs between hydropower production, irrigation and flood control are modest. Among others, displacement, land shortages, lack of livelihood opportunities, fisheries losses, flooding and erosion are the main negative impacts.

Altering natural flow regime: Dams would turn more than half of the length of the main river channel into reservoirs characterised by slow-moving water conditions, thereby increasing the risk of water-borne diseases. The dams also damage natural habitats and cause degradation of the environment.

Effect on water quality: Changing conditions of water in the reservoir subsequently affects both the quality of water in the reservoir and downstream as many heavy metal occurred. Domestic and industrial wastewater from a rapidly growing population will also combine with these developments to affect water quality in the Delta.

Risks to food security: Construction of dams would reduce yields of fish and other aquatic resources by 6-34% depending on the scenario considered. Regional supplies of fish and related products are likely to be significantly impacted by dams acting as barrier to fish migrations and sediment traps diminishing the transport of nutrient-rich sediments to coastal fisheries. Hydropower decreases the migrating fish due to reduce access to spawning grounds and rearing zones, and to cause mortalities or injuries.

Involuntary resettlement: Hydropower development alters local communities in many different ways, including changes in water access and use. It is a big concern for the affected communities as it makes them lose of their livelihoods and resources.

Risk of dam failure: Main severe accident risk of hydropower is the risk of dam failure which can make serious flood.

Our understanding of the Mekong ecosystem is far from complete. It was concluded that the immensity of risks was beyond the current capacities of regional governments to address, and recommended deferring all lower Mekong mainstream dam building for at least 10 years.

3. Transboundary problems need transboundary solutions. Given the transboundary nature of the Mekong River Basin, the challenges transcend the spheres of influence of individual Mekong riparian states. There are inextricable links between water, food, energy, and all the drivers of change in the countries that share the Mekong river. It will be necessary to strengthen Mekong governance and knowledge network across borders. The management of Mekong challenges can therefore only be successful if pursued at a transboundary governance level. A sincere and constructive dialogue is needed as well as a more informed and collaborative water governance by Mekong countries. Cooperation is mutually beneficial as it can enhance efficiency and equity.

4. To minimize the impact of hydropower dam on the affected community, well design of the hydropower scheme, good management of dam construction and well hydropower project operation should be applied. The multi-use of reservoir, particularly for irrigation, fishing and fish raising should be considered during design phase and applied during operation. Multiple use of the water of the reservoir would optimize the economic value of water as opposed to its existing single use. Multiple use of the water of the reservoir would provide not only greater economic benefits but would also entail a more equitable distribution of these benefits in favour of local rural communities. However, this would need a more coordinated water management mechanism among local authorities. Comparative analysis of trade-offs helps to build a more holistic understanding of livelihood changes due to hydropower development and provides new insight for appropriate intervention that integrates multiple water uses for decision-makers.

5. Hazards and disaster risk reduction in the Mekong Basin. While regular floods are not a threat but an opportunity for livelihoods and income generation, extreme flood events can pose considerable risks to the people living in the Deltas.

• More climate risk investments such as early warning system, adaptation and preparedness are needed to minimize risk.
• Proper river channel improvement leads to advantages not only for the navigation but also for extreme events mitigation.

Salinity related problems will increase in the coastal areas:

• Rethink about adaptation measures including both structural and non-structural options instead of focusing on dyke constructions.

6. Sustainable natural resource management requires local participation and close monitoring. Training courses for stable alternative livelihood are necessary to reduce pressure on natural resources in the area. The participation from community and civil society should be encouraged and taken into account for preparing environmental impact assessment (EIA) and making decision of hydropower development.

7. Paying the forest for electricity. Forest conservation can reduce soil erosion, and therefore, efforts to maintain upstream forest cover within a watershed contribute to the economic life span of a hydropower facility. The cost of forest conservation can be viewed as an investment in hydropower and be financed via a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme.

8. The Participatory Social Return on Investment (PSROI). Adaptation to climate change has necessarily become an integral component of planning and policy decision making. Top down policies and cost estimates related to climate change adaptation frequently lack sufficient resolution for identifying realities and values at the community and household levels. Without local input, adaptation costing estimates may lead to misallocation of funds to interventions not identified as priorities to vulnerable communities. Community involvement in prioritizing and costing local adaptation interventions can be important for policy decisions and funding allocation, and can guide implementation and long term monitoring of impact.

The PSROI framework is developed to identify stakeholders’ priorities for adaptation and analyse the value of interventions from stakeholder perspectives. It is a pluralistic framework that focuses on local capacities and community strengths, instead of solely needs, when planning for resilience.

9. Transboundary flows – interesting concepts. Transboundary flows are flows that cross shared international borders. Four main types of transboundary flows are distinguished: resource flows refer to the movement of animals and natural resources (1); people flows (2); goods flows (3); and non-material flows such as symbolic transactions, in particular, of money, ideas and information (4). Those related to ideas, technical skills or culture have received less attention; they are more indirect but profound, influencing the evolution of other flows as they shape perceptions, beliefs and expectation. Transboundary flows are not independent of each other. They create opportunities, risks and burden for social development, economic growth and environmental sustainability.

Places are linked and transformed by flows. In the Mekong Region, improved transport infrastructure is increasing trade in agriculture and manufactured products. Advanced in communication and IT are also changing the way people perceive themselves and others, their aspirations and how they organise.

******

Stefanie - GIZ Bac Lieu

Hendrik and his friend from BTU Cottbus

Lisa from GIZ Bac Lieu presenting our topic: "Erosion protection through bamboo breakwaters: climate change adaptation in the Mekong Delta".

 Dr. Klaus

Dr. Harry and Nigel

Harry presenting the topic: "Challenges and opportunities for risk-adapted land-use planning in Ho Chi Minh City: Balancing rapid urban growth and resilient water management".

Joep presenting

  Me and colleagues from Hanoi at our GIZ stall in the symposium

 Talking after lunch

*****

 Group photo at the rooftop of the Intercontinental Asiana Hotel

 
References

The documents and video clips collected at the symposium can be download at the links below:
Abstract Volume: http://mekong-environmental-symposium-2013.org/frontend/file.php?id=3020&dl=1   
Presentations: http://mekong-environmental-symposium-2013.org/frontend/index.php?folder_id=317  
Photo Gallery of the Mekong Environmental Symposium:
https://picasaweb.google.com/102414143747684961201/MekongEnvironmentalSymposium2013
The Mekong movie^[4]:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10206844/mekongmovie/Mekong_DVD.mp4 

---

[1] Website of the Symposium http://www.mekong-environmental-symposium-2013.org   

[2] The WISDOM Project: http://www.wisdom.caf.dlr.de/

[3] During the foreseeable future (to 2030), additional 56 tributary dams and 11 mainstream dams may be constructed in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB).

[4] The Mekong movie: Filmed in four countries, the documentary ‘Mekong’ includes footage of China’s Mekong (Lancang) dams and footage of the controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos. The film examines the issues of hydropower development and its impact on the lives of Mekong citizens.

More information on the documentary: http://www.mekongcitizen.org