The focus of the research project is the Thi Vai river landscape and the Can Gio Mangrove Forest in South Vietnam. The selected survey sites are situated in three provinces: Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai und Ba Ria - Vung Tau.
The catchment area of the Thi Vai covers appr. 625 km2 and overcomes nearly 32 km before it enters the South China Sea. There are about 80 companies, mostly situated in industrial areas along the river, which are discharging 63.000 m3 waste water (from various areas and different origins) per day, mainly without effective treatment. Due to the numerous discharges, the river has been considered ecologically dead from 1995 to 2008.
This situation affects also the 760 km2 large Can Gio mangrove forest, adjacent to the Thi Vai River basin, which has been designated as a biosphere reserve in 2000. In recent years, the reserve was substantially damaged by erosion, sedimentation along the coastal region, fish farms, sewage and oil pollution. As a result of reduced land-based freshwater inflow, the seaside saltwater intrusion and the increasing evaporation the forest soil is subject of chemical alteration.
The overall objective of the research project is the development, supply, and the use of water and environmental technologies and service tools in the framework of a management system. The system offers the user the capability of sustainable improvement of the environmental and living conditions of the designated coastal zone in South Vietnam. The project takes into account the anthropogenic influences, as well as the natural climate variability and future climate change.
In addition, the project aims to the transferability of the EWATEC COAST concept in the target country and other countries on capacity building, as well as the economic valuation of the management strategy.
The Project Management is carried out by Professor Günter Meon, TU Braunschweig, Leichtweiß-Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources, department of Hydrology, Water Ressources and Pollution Control. His deputy is Professor Joachim Fettig, Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, University of Applied Sciences (HS-OWL), department of Environmental Engineering and Applied computer science.
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the programme "CLIENT Vietnam" between 01.07.2012 and 30.06.2015.
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