Living With Environmental Change: Social Vulnerability and Resilience in Vietnam (Global Environmental Change)

337 Pages·2001·1.74 MB·English

by  W. Neil Adger

Living with Environmental Change
Vietnam and the neighbouring countries of Southeast Asia face a diverse set of
challenges created by the rapid evolution of their social, economic and environ-
mental systems. The editors of this book argue that any sustainable development
strategy must include measures to avert adverse impacts on society and the
environment and protect those most at risk.
Using a multidisciplinary approach, Living with Environmental Change provides a
comprehensive assessment of the factors shaping vulnerability and resilience in
Vietnam, and the prospects for sustainable development, as social and economic
renovation transforms this enigmatic society. Vietnamese, European and North
American authors examine land use, forestry, coastal resources, disaster manage-
ment, urbanisation and industrialisation, as well as relations between Vietnam and
its neighbours over shared resources, in a stimulating mixture of environmental
and social science.
The lessons from the past investigated in this important collection will prove to
be of pressing relevance to current and future generations. The volume will be of
considerable interest to scientists concerned with society’s response to environ-
mental change, not just in Southeast Asia but worldwide. Students and policy
makers wanting to learn more about interdisciplinary approaches as well as
environmental change will also find this book a thought-provoking read.
W. Neil Adger is a Lecturer in Environmental Economics in the School of
Environmental Sciences and Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Social and
Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) at the University of
East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
P. Mick Kelly is a Reader with the Climatic Research Unit in the School of
Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, and a Senior Research Fellow
with CSERGE.
Nguyen Huu Ninh is Chairman of the Centre for Environment Research,
Education and Development, Hanoi, Vietnam and the Director of the Global
Environment Programme of the Hanoi University of Science.
Routledge Research Global Environmental
Change Series
Editorial Advisory Board: Alister Scott, Jim Skea,
Michael Redclift, Martin Parry, Timothy O’Riordan,
Robin Grove-White, Kathy Homewood, Judith Rees,
Camilla Toulmin, Kerry Turner, Richard Welford and
Stephen Yearley
1 The Condition of Sustainability
Ian Drummond and Terry Marsden
2 Working the Sahel
Environment and society in northern Nigeria
Michael Mortimore and Bill Adams
3 Global Trade and Global Social Issues
Edited by Annie Taylor and Caroline Thomas
4 Environmental Policies and NGO Influence
Land degradation and sustainable resource management in sub-Saharan Africa
Edited by Alan Thomas, Susan Carr and David Humphreys
5 The Sociology of Energy, Buildings and the Environment
Constructing knowledge, designing practice
Simon Guy and Elizabeth Shove
6 Living with Environmental Change
Social vulnerability, adaptation and resilience in Vietnam
Edited by W. Neil Adger, P. Mick Kelly and Nguyen Huu Ninh
7 Land and Limits
Interpreting sustainability in the planning process
Susan Owens and Richard Cowell
8 The Business of Greening
Edited by Stephen Fineman
9 Industry and Environment in Latin America
Edited by Rhys Jenkins
Also available in the Routledge Global Environmental Change Series:
Timescapes of Modernity
Barbara Adam
Reframing Deforestation
James Fairhead and Melissa Leach
British Environmental Policy and Europe
Edited by Philip Lowe and Stephen Ward
The Politics of Sustainable Development
Edited by Susan Baker, Maria Kousis, Dick Richardson and Stephen Young
Argument in the Greenhouse
Mick Mabey, Stephen Hall, Clare Smith and Sujata Gupta
Environmentalism and the Mass Media
Graham Chapman, Keval Kumar, Caroline Fraser and Ivor Gaber
Environmental Change in Southeast Asia
Edited by Michael Parnwell and Raymond Bryant
The Politics of Climate Change
Edited by Timothy O’Riordan and Jill Jaeger
Population and Food
Tim Dyson
The Environment and International Relations
Edited by John Vogler and Mark Imber
Global Warming and Energy Demand
Edited by Terry Barker, Paul Ekins and Nick Johnstone
Social Theory and the Global Environment
Edited by Michael Redclift and Ted Benton
Living with
Environmental Change
Social vulnerability, adaptation
and resilience in Vietnam
Edited by W. Neil Adger, P. Mick Kelly
and Nguyen Huu Ninh
London and New York
First published 2001
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2001 selection and editorial material W. Neil Adger, P. Mick Kelly and
Nguyen Huu Ninh; individual chapters, the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storate or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Living with environmental change: social vulnerability, adaptation and
resilience in Vietnam / edited by W. Neil Adger, P. Mick Kelly and
Nguyen Huu Ninh.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Vietnam – Economic conditions – 1975–. 2. Vietnam – Environmental
conditions. 3. Sustainable development – Vietnam. I. Adger, W. Neil.
1964–. II. Kelly, P. Mick, 1951–. III. Ninh, Huu Nguyen, 1954–.
HC444.L58 2001
333.7'09597 – dc21 00-047054
ISBN 0-203-99557-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-21722-9 (Print Edition)
Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables xi
List of boxes xiii
List of contributors xiv
Preface xix
PART 1
Vietnam and environmental change 1
1 Environment, society and precipitous change 3
W. NEIL ADGER, P. MICK KELLY AND NGUYEN HUU NINH
2 Social vulnerability and resilience 19
W. NEIL ADGER AND P. MICK KELLY
3 Managing environmental change in Vietnam 35
P. MICK KELLY, TRAN VIET LIEN, HOANG MINH HIEN,
NGUYEN HUU NINH AND W. NEIL ADGER
4 Historical perspectives on environment and development 59
CECILIA LUTTRELL
PART 2
The natural resource base 77
5 Property rights, institutions and resource management:
coastal resources under doi moi 79
W. NEIL ADGER, P. MICK KELLY, NGUYEN HUU NINH AND NGO CAM THANH
6 Forest land allocation and deforestation processes in
the uplands 93
DAVIDE PETTENELLA
viii Contents
7 Sustainable agriculture in the northern uplands: attitudes,
constraints and priorities of ethnic minorities 109
ANDREAS NEEF
8 Environmental change, ecosystem degradation and the
value of wetland rehabilitation in the Mekong Delta 122
DUONG VAN NI, ROGER SAFFORD AND EDWARD MALTBY
9 Mangrove conservation and restoration for enhanced
resilience 136
NGUYEN HOANG TRI, PHAN NGUYEN HONG, W. NEIL ADGER
AND P. MICK KELLY
10 Responding to El Niño and La Niña: averting tropical
cyclone impacts 154
P. MICK KELLY, HOANG MINH HIEN AND TRAN VIET LIEN
PART 3
Development pathways 183
11 Trade, investment and industrial pollution: lessons
from Southeast Asia 185
RHYS JENKINS
12 Sustainable urbanisation and environmental issues in
Vietnam 213
DAVID DRAKAKIS-SMITH AND ANDREA KILGOUR
13 Politics, ecology and water: the Mekong Delta and
development of the Lower Mekong Basin 234
CHRIS SNEDDON AND NGUYEN THANH BINH
14 Prospects for sustainable development 263
W. NEIL ADGER, P. MICK KELLY AND NGUYEN HUU NINH
List of references 271
Index 304
Figures
1.1 Gross Domestic Product growth rate, 1990–1995, for selected
‘transition’ economies 13
1.2 Area under crops and food staple output for Vietnam, 1976–1994 14
1.3 Estimates of birth and death rates for North Vietnam, 1930–1979 15
1.4 Relationship between income inequality and GDP per capita
for selected ‘market’ and former centrally planned economies 17
2.1 How inequality and vulnerability are linked. 23
3.1 Seasonal cycle in monthly mean temperature (minimum and
maximum) and total rainfall for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City 37
3.2 Growth in electricity output during the 1990s 53
5.1 Property rights regimes and conflicts in mangrove conversion in
Quang Ninh Province 84
5.2 Lorenz curves showing distribution of incomes in (a) Le Loi and
(b) Thong Nhat 90
5.3 Contribution of income sources to inequality for Le Loi and
Thong Nhat Communes 91
6.1 Location of forestry case study areas: Thuong Lo Commune,
Thua Thien Hue Province, and Phong Du Commune, Quang
Ninh Province 99
6.2 A proposed framework for organising the land use planning and
allocation process 101
7.1 Location of case study areas: Son La and Bac Kan Provinces 110
8.1 The Mekong Delta and the two low-lying depression areas with
different geomorphology and hydrology, labelled ‘flood plain’
and ‘broad depression’ 124
8.2 Rice cropping systems calendar of the Mekong Delta 125
8.3 Conceptualising the relations between natural resources and
rural inhabitants of the Mekong Delta 129
8.4 Seasonal variation in acidity of surface water in relation to
present land uses on acid sulphate soils at Hoa An,
Mekong Delta 131
8.5 Sources of dissolved substances in surface water in a Melaleuca
ecosystem in the Mekong Delta 132