Support to the Marine Protected Areas Network, Vietnam (Funded by Danida, Implemented by NIRAS, cenTER provided long term resident advisor in Vietnam and short-term consultants as well as providing home-office support / backstopping for the advisor) (MPA)

Vietnam’s marine areas faces a problem regarding the formal administrative jurisdiction. While the Land Law allocates provincial governments the responsibility for planning, zoning and management responsibility for the terrestrial portion of their provinces, coastal provincial jurisdiction is in practice assumed to end at the limit of the coastline and there are no provincial boundaries extending into the maritime zone. The national government is responsible for the planning and management of the maritime area and does so on a purely sectoral basis (e.g. fisheries, marine transportation etc.).

The result is that the marine zone of Vietnam is treated as a completely open access area with none of the controls of the hierarchical system of government and administration that exist on the terrestrial side. A consequence of this situation is the fact that inter-sectoral conflicts are virtually inevitable. This is especially true when one sector (e.g. petroleum or fisheries) is given national priority (implicitly or explicitly) over others. In this context, it is clear that more appropriate planning and management is required – one that is area-based and therefore explicitly inter-sectoral.

The project is a of component of the Danish Environmental Assistance – Vietnam Programme (DEA-Vietnam Programme) on Sustainable Management of Coastal Zones/Marine Protected Areas, also known as the ‘blue’ component:

Sub-project 1:

The national-level sub-project will assist the Government of Vietnam to (i) develop a legal and policy framework for a national marine protected areas system; and (ii) establish an institutional framework for the development of a more multi-sectoral approach to marine management issues.

Sub-project 2:

The provincial-level sub-project will be implemented in the Cu Lao Cham Archipelago (Quang Nam Province). The project is designed to support the Government of Vietnam’s initiative to develop a national marine protected areas network. Management procedures will be developed and implemented at the provincial site by means of a strategy that emphasises the importance of (i) capacity building and (ii) the full involvement of all stakeholders.

The experiences gained at the project’s field site, and at other sites where similar initiatives are being implemented, will feed back to the national-level sub-project, thereby facilitating the development of a coherent overall policy and legal framework for a national marine protected areas network.

KNOWFISH: Knowledge base for fisheries management (Funded by: EU INCO-DEV programme, Coordinated by Institute for Fisheries Management, cenTER providing scientists for the project)

The objective of the project is to improve our understanding of the information needs and appropriate institutional structures for fisheries management in developing countries by making a comparative analysis of three cases in South East Asia (one in Laos and two in Vietnam) and four cases in Southern Africa (Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and South Africa). The project will produce: A) Analyses of candidates for indicators of aquatic resource system health and exploitation status that are robust, less costly than traditional stock assessment parameters, and compatible with the management institutions in developing countries. B) Analyses of how these candidate indicators relate to existing institutions and social contexts that influence the quality, content and use of scientific information, including both research-based information and information generated in cooperation with stakeholder groups. The 18 partners include national research institutes in the countries where case studies are conducted and a group of European social science and fisheries biology research institutes.

Integrated Tropical Coastal Zone Management at Asian Institute of Technology Bangkok (Funded by Danida, implemented by cenTER)

The ITCZM Special Programme strongly supports the overall mission of AIT with an expressed focus on technology and with special emphasis on the inter-disciplinary interface between technology, planning and management including attention to environmental and socio-economic conditions.

The ITCZM Special Programme is in strict adherence with the AIT strategy to offer teaching, research and outreach activities only in those fields where requirements of academic excellence, relevance to the needs of the region, and meeting the demands of the education market are fulfilled.

The long-term development objective of the ITCZM Special Programme is to enhance the overall capabilities of Asian academics, planners and managers in relation to environment and natural resource management in the coastal zones and to integrate these issues with physical planning in these areas.

The immediate objective is to establish and consolidate ITCZM as an interdisciplinary programme at AIT including education, curriculum development, research and outreach.

The specific objectives of this Twinning Arrangement through collaborative efforts are:

•         To support curriculum development, research and training activities at AIT through a sustainable technology transfer

•         To support research and /or teaching activities at collaborating Danish institutions

The ITCZM interdisciplinary programme is linked to the IWDM interdisciplinary programme through the MTERM interdisciplinary programme which provides skills to use relevant modelling tools in the ITCZM and IWDM areas and also provides an introduction to integrated water resources management to be developed for inclusion in all three interdisciplinary programmes.

Twinning arrangements with Danish and regional institutions are seen as important vehicles in achieving the objectives of the ITCZM Special Programme and will also support research and teaching activities at the collaborating institutions. The twinning arrangements under the ITCZM Special Programme are in accordance with one of the strategy goals of AIT to act as a hub linking other academic institutions and research organisations in the region and in the world through partnerships.

The twinning partners endeavour to extend their collaboration beyond the duration of the Danida Special Programme Support to AIT. This collaboration may develop around the same type of activities as covered by the proposed twinning arrangements to the extent that they are professionally attractive and economically viable for the involved institutions.

Coastal Wetlands Protection & Development Project for Lower Mekong, Vietnam (Funded by Danida and the World Bank, cenTER provided consultants for monitoring and review missions)

The Coastal Wetlands Protection and Development Project assisted to reestablish the coastal mangrove wetland ecosystems along the Mekong delta, and, protect its aquatic nurturing, for the development of the sustainable coastal protection it stands for. The components included: 1) provision of seedlings, civil works, and, equipment supply, for planting, rehabilitation, and, protection of mangrove forests, - barren, degraded, or, under new accretion land. Project management, and training, will focus on the protection of newly planted, or existing forests, and, improved forest conservation, and fish sanctuaries' management practices will be implemented; 2) institutional strengthening of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, and training, to improve creditability, and, grass roots organizations/farmer group demonstrations extension. Technology development and transfer, will improve farm productivity, decreasing farming risks; 3) social support, for the development, and implementation of commune action plans, and, establishment of communal grants, and social funds; 4) technical assistance and training for policy development assistance, to improve land, and water uses allocation, and, restructure selected enterprises; 5) resettlement plans, to assist affected groups, and, environmental assessment of bio-diversity, and socioeconomic impacts.

Danish/South-East Asian Collaboration in Tropical Coastal Ecosystems Research and Training Project (Denmark, Thailand and Malaysia) (Funded by the Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development (DANCED), implemented by cenTER)

The Danish/SE Asia Collaboration in Coastal Ecosystems Research and Training (Denmark, Thailand and Malaysia) started on 03 October 1996 and the first phase ended 03 October 1999. This project is funded by DANCED and implemented by the Centre for Tropical Ecosystems Research, Aarhus University (cenTER Aarhus).

The TCE-Project aims at demonstrating methods for sustainable coastal resource utilisation and management through field research in mangrove areas in Thailand and Malaysia. At the project sites in the mangrove forests, Danish and South-East Asian scientists are conducting research in Tropical Coastal Zone Management, Fisheries and Aquaculture to find sustainable ways of replanting mangrove forests, of improving methods of small-scale aquaculture, crab fishing and crab fattening etc., activities crucial to the local communities in mangrove areas.

At the same time, a Danish resource base has been established at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, to co-ordinate the field activities and provide a focal point and network for the available Danish and South-East Asian research and natural resource management within tropical CZM, aquaculture and fisheries.

Objectives

Development Objectives

•         Improved local coastal resources management capacity in Thailand and Malaysia

Immediate Objectives

•         Regional SE Asian institutes/agencies in collaboration with Danish institutions able to carry out effective and collaborative research and training on Tropical CZM (mangrove forest management, aquaculture production, fisheries) in SE Asia.

•         A Danish research and education capacity developed on tropical CZM, fisheries and aquaculture in SE Asia.

This three year project is a regional one including Thailand and Malaysia; it is implemented by Centre for Tropical Ecosystems Research (cenTER, University of Aarhus, Denmark) with Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA, Bangkok, Thailand) as Executing Agency and various government agencies involved in forest and fisheries management and universities in Thailand and Malaysia as partners. The project has a total budget of 16.1 million DKK with DANCED contributing 11.2 million DKK (including contingencies).

The TCE-Project was converted into a programme in 1998 by linking related activities in Vietnam (funded from sources other than TCEP, particularly the Danida/World Bank funded Environmental Indicators Project) into the network of field study sites and project offices established under the DANCED project. This was agreed with both DANCED and Danida to be a desirable development, given the common environmental strategy for SE Asia. Recently, Cambodia was added in to TCE-Programme in a minor way, although no physical base has been established there. cenTER Aarhus is assisting a Danida funded CZM project in Cambodia and may be more involved in the planned second phase of this project.

Core Activities

The core activities of TCE-Project are mainly applied management research on:

•         mangrove reforestation/rehabilitation;

•         sustainable coastal aquaculture;

•         mangrove-related artisanal fisheries and aquaculture (especially mud crab);

•         community participation in coastal resources management and education (preliminary development of community activities for mangrove areas);

The project set aside a fund to support the students/young scientists’ research projects related to coastal zone management.

Field Stations

Three field stations were established during the implementation of TCE-Project (see Figure 1). There are:

•         Ranong, Southern Thailand

•         Kuala Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia

•         Sematan, Sarawak, East Malaysia

Core Partners

Regional Level

•         Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) in Bangkok, as Executing Agency

•         UNESCO “Man and Biosphere” Programme (via UNESCO Bangkok)

Malaysia

•         Department of Fisheries, Malaysia (DOFM)

•         Department of Agriculture, Sarawak (DOA)

•         Malaysian Nature Society (MNS)

•         University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (UM)

•         University Sains Malaysia, Penang (USM)

•         University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)

•         University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in collaboration with DANCED funded “Collaboration on Biodiversity between UMS and Danish Universities’’

Thailand

•         Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand (RFD)

•         Department of Fisheries, Bangkok, Thailand (DOFT)

•         Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand

•         Office of Primary Education

•         Department of General Education

•         Ngao Tambon Administrative Council

•         Informal NGO links (Yadfon, Southern Thailand, Wetlands International)

Mangrove Replanting in the Red River Delta, Vietnam (Funded by the Danish Red Cross, cenTER provided consultants)

Development Objectives

• To help lessen natural calamities and protect people’s life and property.
• To help improve the environment
• To increase the supply of sea food, provide employment of fishery, collecting the mangrove forest’s products, bee honey
• In 10-20 year’s time, when the mangrove forest has developed and the land may have been raised, part of the land can be used for cultivation, shrimp crab and other sea animal rearing provided that careful research must be carried out before that.
• "..that the vulnerability and suffering of coastal communities is reduced, in accordance with the fundamental principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement."

Immediate Objectives

• To help provide the locals with more employment and increase their incomes
• To help protect the sea dyke, human life, people’s estate and the animal rearing zone
• The frequency and severity of natural disasters due to typhoons and flooding in coastal areas in northern Vietnam reduced
• The coastal zone environment improved with increased natural resources
• The socio-economic conditions in coastal communities improved

World Bank Thematic Review on Coastal Wetland Habitats and Shrimp Aquaculture (funded by the World Bank, WWF and cenTER, cenTER providing consultants and experts.)

To promote coastal aquaculture in an environmentally responsible basis and to promote a net increase in mangrove area where this is a policy of the country concerned, promoting the concept of co-existence