IMOLA Project > Activities > Environmental Survey > FIA

Floods in Viet Nam are well known phenomena and occur in all regions of the country, especially in the Central Coast region, Mekong delta, and Red River delta. People had to learn to live with floods, particularly those whose livelihood depends on the productive functions of annual flooding. Severe floods are well known and embedded in the Vietnamese culture, as ancestors of the Vietnamese nation regarded flooding as one of the four biggest dangers to people, along with fires, robbers, and invaders.

Indeed the negative impacts of floods are often so prominent that their benefits are underestimated or even ignored in flood management planning. In fact, floods are also an essential component of agricultural and ecological systems, because floods provide the basis for the growth of crops, plants and aquatic life. Thus, it is important for Viet Nam to adjust its current flood management strategy both to protect the livelihoods of people who survive because of annual flooding, and to reduce the property and economic loss caused by the floods.

To assess the impacts of annual flood in the lagoon area, the IMOLA Project carried on a specific study in select pilot areas of the Tam Giang–Cau Hai Lagoon of Thua Thien Hue Province.

The survey sites and the interviewees (residents) were selected according to geographical location, economic status, and main livelihood activity. The four study communes (Phu An, Hai Duong, Vinh Hien, and Quang Phuoc) were requested to provide a list of all households within the commune together with their village location, main livelihood activity, and economic status that includes three levels: poor, medium, and better off. From these lists, households were randomly selected for interview. The final number of questionnaires gathered was 401 (average 100 per commune).

The study found four main challenges to flood risk management in Thua Thien Hue: (i) changes resulting from transition to the market economy; (ii) substantial environmental degradation; (iii) the effects of climate change; and (iv) declining effectiveness of traditional methods of flood risk mitigation.

This study provided further support to the notion that flood disaster is not a pure hazard-led disaster, but has deep roots in social vulnerabilities. It also revealed that floods, although cause losses and damages (that often inhibit economic development), are also essential elements for the subsistence of the coastal populations of the lagoon. The livelihood of many coastal communities depends on the productive functions of cyclical floods. Thus, over time these communities developed coping mechanisms to reduce the negative impacts of floods, and take advantage of their positive effects. Unfortunately, these coping mechanisms are under pressures due to environmental degradation and improper development of the build environment around the lagoon. These pressures have been increasing since Viet Nam moved from a planned to a market economy. Furthermore, the region may already be experiencing the effects of climate change. Hence, an integrated flood risk management approach that considers all above findings both to maximize the beneficial aspects of annual floods and to reduce the socio-economic loss in the region is needed.

The avobe adopted and modified from: Phong Tran, Fausto Marincioni, Rajib Shaw, Massimo Sarti, Le Van An, “Flood Risk Management in Central Viet Nam: Challenges and PotentialsE

Related Reports:

♦ Assessment of the Impact of Yearly Floods and Development of Strategies and Tools in TGCH Lagoon - Progress Report (L.V.An & H.D.T.Hoang, Mar 2007)
♦ Assessment of the Impact of Yearly Floods and Development of Strategies and Tools in TGCH Lagoon - Final Report (L.V.An & H.D.T.Hoang, Aug 2007)
♦ Climate Change Impact, Traditional Knowledge, and Coping Strategies of Local People to Mitigate Vulnerability of Floods (L.V.An & H.D.T.Hoang, Aug 2007)