Livelihood impacts of water policy changes: evidence from a coastal area of the Mekong river delta

Abstract

The coastal zone of the Mekong river delta has experienced rapid economic and environmental changes during the last decade. Given the nature of the environment and the level of dependence on the natural resources base, policies for land and water were very influential in this process. The emphasis on rice created an imperative to control saline intrusion, which was realized through the construction of major engineering works over an extended period (1994-2000). The inertia built up by this process led to a divergence between policy and practice, and adversely affected the livelihoods of fishers and of those farmers who live on aquaculture. This prompted the government to rethink the rice-focus policy, in favor of a land and water policy for balanced rice and aquaculture production. This paper describes an analytical process, which was adopted to explore the feasibility of adopting the new policy for the balanced development of both rice and shrimp production and discusses the impact of the new policy on farmers’ livelihoods.

Land and water management in coastal zones: dealing with agriculture-aquaculture-fishery conflicts.

“…The social unrest arising from the socioeconomic impacts reported in Bangladesh and India is less evident in Vietnam, but similar underlying problems have been reported (EJF, 2003;Hoanh et al, 2003). Results from a study involving ecosystem changes from agriculture to aquaculture in Quang Ninh Province of Vietnam (Adger et al, 2000) demonstrate that conversion of part of a mangrove forest for agriculture and aquaculture affects property rights and imposes additional stress on local livelihoods.…”

“…The available scientific and technical capacity is often a constraint and there is a need to develop appropriate planning tools (see Trung et al and Baran et al,Chapters 14 and 16, respectively, this volume, for examples). However, technical competence does not guarantee success, since institutional inertia may mean that planning authorities do not respond quickly to rapidly changing circumstances (Hoanh et al, 2003). Also, well-laid plans are often undermined by the strength of economic and political interests.…”

Livelihood systems and dynamics of poverty in a coastal province of Vietnam.

“…Findings from this study have helped the Bac Lieu provincial government to readjust the landuse policy and water management strategies that allowed intensification of rice in the east of the province and, at the same time, a shrimp-based production system in the rest of the province. This has helped reverse the downward economic mobility of the transition zone (Hoanh et al, 2003).…”

“…However, because of saline intrusion, the growth in rice production in the coastal parts of the delta lagged behind that of other regions. To cope with this problem, the government began investing in the early 1990s in the construction of a series of embankments and sluices along the coast to prevent saline water incursion, with the objective of intensifying rice production and improving farmers' livelihoods (Hoanh et al, 2003).…”

Social and environmental impact of rapid change in the coastal zone of Vietnam: an assessment of sustainability issues.

“…The background to this policy shift within the highly dynamic environmental and socio-economic circumstances of the project area is discussed by Hoanh et al (2003). This shift is significant because it represents a relaxation of centralized planning in order to allow more freedom for private-sector decisions on land use.…”