Vietnam is a country that is heavily affected by global climate change, with the coastal zone and low-lying river deltas being especially vulnerable. The coastal zone has rapidly evolved over the past few decades, as coastal tourism and other social-economic developments and industries all seek fortune and exploit resources in this area. Along with this rapid economic growth, the coastal zone has suffered severe impacts of both human activities and global climate change, resulting in an increasing number of coastal hazards, such as typhoons, floods, saline intrusion, and coastal erosion. The purpose of this paper is to identify natural and human factors that affect coastal erosion through case studies in the south-central coastline. Measures for minimizing threats to both socio-economic activities and the surrounding natural environments are brought forward, in which integrated coastal zone management approach plays a key role. In addition to addressing the issues and potential management strategies, selected coastal areas in Vietnam characterized by severe coastal erosion are studied in terms of coastline dynamics, changing beach morphologies and coastal engineering structures through on-site measurements and aerial images. Seasonal variations and changing beach morphologies after the construction of coastal engineering works are clearly visible.
Vietnam attracts many tourists owing to its unique and diverse geological landscapes. The Vietnam tourism development strategy until 2030 sets a target to make tourism a more sustainable economic sector, in which the advantages of natural resources and development of a variety of tourism products are promoted. Binh Thuan province in central-south Vietnam, hosts many high potential geosites including Mui Ne Red Dunes. Although this is a popular tourist destination, there is no clear tourism strategy for this site and local communities now regulate tourism in an unsustainable way. Online comments from review databases (TripAdvisor and Google reviews) are analysed to find themes in tourism perceptions after a visit to the Red Sand Dunes. Main themes are found that negatively affect tourist perceptions, such as the extended pollution of the dunes, theft reports and disturbance by jeeps, ATV’s and motorbikes. Many tourists recommend that this site should be better managed. To conserve this area in the future, the development of an all-inclusive local geopark is suggested, based on the tourism perceptions and previous studies assessing this landscape. This strategy is adapted from the UNESCO geopark framework and an example of a recently established local sand dune geopark in Taiwan is discussed. Implementing a local geopark, following the steps described in this study, can be beneficial for sustainable development and local communities in this area, while also promoting environmental education and enhancing disaster risk reduction.
Both natural and anthropogenic forces could play significant roles in coastal erosion in Western Taiwan and Central Vietnam's coastlines. Intensive socio-economic development, sea level rise, more frequent and strong intensity of disasters are predicted to occur in a future of global climate change, which poses an urgent need for coastal hazard management strategies. This chapter describes main causes and discusses the applied engineering interventions to reduce coastal erosion at these sites. Hard engineering structures are often constructed in these areas, but they seem to be merely short-term costly solutions and have a negative impact on the coastal environment and its residents. Nature-based solutions and soft engineering approaches are proposed, which seem to be sustainable and less expensive than hard engineering options. These possible future solutions can be applied in coastal settings to meet the principles of sustainable and humanitarian engineering with multiple benefits to reduce the risk and negative impacts on both humans and the environment.
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