MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (MARD) CENTRAL PROJECT OFFICE (CPO) VIETNAM MANAGING NATURAL HAZARDS PROJECT (VN-Haz Project)

Transcription

1 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (MARD) CENTRAL PROJECT OFFICE (CPO) VIETNAM MANAGING NATURAL HAZARDS PROJECT (VN-Haz Project) ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (EA) Water Resources University E2993 v8 Consultancy & Technology Transfer Company March

2 Table of Contents List of Annexes... ii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES... iii Abbreviations... iv Abbreviations... iv EXECUTIVE SUMARY... 1 Chapter 1: Introduction Background Objectives and Scope... 6 CHAPTER 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION Project Objectives and Components Project Areas and Main Activities CHAPTER 3 POLICY, LEGAL, AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK World Bank s Safeguard Policies National Policy, Regulations, and InstituionalFramworks CHAPTER 4. ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND Environmental Background Natural Disaster Situation and Response Capacity CHAPTER 5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT Potential Positive -Iimpacts Identification of Potential Negative Impacts Assessment of Potential Negative Impacts during Construction Assessment of Environmental Impacts during Operation Analysis of alternatives CHAPTER 6. PROPOSED MITIGATION MEASURES Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) Mitigation measures for Phase 1 subprojects Dam Safety Framework (DSF) Implementation and Monitoring Arrangement Responsible agencies: Reporting arrangement Safeguard training and capacity building Budget allocation CHAPTER 7 PUBLIC CONSULTATION Objective and Methodology Public Consultation Results References 85 i

3 Annex 1: Subproject List and Location Maps Annex 2: National Policies and Institutions Annex 3: Background on Key River Basins Annex 4: Background on Natural Disaster Annex 5: Initial Screening for Potential Negative Impacts of Subprojects Annex 6: Public Consultation Annex 7: Pictures of Field Trip and Public Consultation ii

4 Table 2.1. List of the activities to be implemented under Component Table 2.2: Classification of subprojects under Component 4 by type of works Table 2.3: Number of proposed subprojects under Component 4 by the provinces Table 2.4: Number of proposed subprojects under Component 4 by river basins Table 2.5: List of the first phase subprojects (5 provinces, 5 basins) Table 2.1: Relevant WB s Safeguard Policies Figure 2.1: Environmental Management Structure Figure 4.1. River basins and Provinces related to VN-Haz Project Figure 4.2. Locations of national parks and important nature reserves Figure 4.3. Location of key socio economic zones Figure 4.4: Population density in the key river basins in the project area Figure 4.5. Economic structure of the key river basins in the project area Figure 4.6. Locations of key cultural sites Table 5.1. Identification of potential negative impacts Table 5.2: Impacts due to land acquisition and relocations of first phase Component 4 subprojects (RAPs for five-first phase subprojects) Table 5.4: Comparison between without project and with project option Table 6.1: Technical Guideline for Safeguard Screening and Actions for Component 4 Subprojects Table 7.1. Public consultation during the development of the EA and ESMF iii

5 CAFSCP CBDRM CCCC CCFSC CDPM CFSC CPC CPMO CPO CSC CSEP DARD DMC DONRE DPC DRM ECOP EA EIA EMC EMP EMDP EMP EMPF EPC ESMF ESU GoV M&E MARD MONRE OP/BP PCFSC PCSR PPMU RAP RPF SA UXO VN-Haz WB Commune Annual Flood and Storm Control Plan Community-Based Disaster Risk Management Commune CBDRM Coordination Committee Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control Centers for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Committee for Flood and Storm Control (at Province, District and Commune levels) Commune People's Committee Central Project Management Office Central Project Office Construction Supervision Consultant Contract Specific Environmental Plan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Disaster Management Center Department of Natural Resources and Environment District People's Committee Disaster Risk Management Environmental Code of Practices Environmental Assessment Environmental Impact Assessment Environmental Management Consultant Environmental Management Consultant Ethnic Minority Development Plan Environmental Management Plan Ethnic Minority Policy Framework Environmental Protection Commitment Environment and Social Management Framework Environmental and Social Unit Government of Vietnam Monitoring & Evaluation Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Operational Policy/Bank Procedures Provincial Committee for Flood and Storm Control Provincial Committee for Search and Rescue Provincial Project Management Unit Resettlement Action Plan Resettlement Policy Framework Social Assessment Unexploded Ordnances Vietnam Managing Natural Hazards Project World Bank iv

6 EXECUTIVE SUMARY 1. Vietnam Managing Hazards Project (VN-Haz or the Project) is one of the projects invested by the Government of Vietnam to support the implementation of the National strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to The project is partially funded by the World Bank's loan and will be carried out in 10 provinces in the central region, including Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Ninh Thuan. 2. The development objective of the Project is to increase the resilience of the people and economic assets to natural hazards in selected river basins of the project provinces within the overall framework of the Vietnam s National Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation Strategy Towards To achieve this objective, a river basin approach has been used in the Project design by focusing investments in major river basins, integrating components activities to avoid small and scattered efforts, and applying structural and nonstructural measures to reduce the vulnerability to natural disasters. The Project activities will be implemented through the following five components, namely Component 1: Strengthening Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Institutions, Information Systems and Planning; Component 2: Strengthening Weather Forecasting and Early Warning Systems; Component 3: Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM); Component 4: Priority Disaster Risk Mitigation Investments; and Component 5: Project Management. 3. Objective of the Environmental Assessment (EA): To be in line with the World Bank (WB) safeguard policy (OP/BP 4.01) an EA was carried out to examine environmental issues and impacts associated with the project based on a river basin approach. The EA presents the policy, legal, and institutional aspects relevant to the environmental management and natural disaster situations; assessed the potential impacts both positive and negative, including consideration on alternative options; and proposed measures to mitigate the potential negative impacts, including recommendation to strengthen the environmental management during the design of the Project. 4. National policy and institution framework: The Government has established national policy, regulations, and institution related to environmental management and natural disaster. Law on Environmental Protection (2005) sets out regulations requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or an Environmental Protection Commitment (EPC) for a development project. The EIA report is developed at an early stage of the project preparation (feasibility study). 5. World Bank s safeguard policy: The Project has been assigned as category B and WB clearance of the mitigation measures is required. The Project triggers the following six WB s safeguard policies: Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01); Physical Cultural Resources (OP/BP 4.11); Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10); Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12); Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37); and Projects on International Waterways (OP/BP 7.50). It has also to comply with the policy on Public Consultation and Information Disclosure. The Project will not affect critical natural habitats/protected areas and/or involve forest logging/production. 6. Environmental background: The existing environmental conditions in the Central Region are presented including those in the context of river basins especially for Ma river basin, Ca river basin, Thach Han river basin, Gianh river basin, Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin, Tra Khuc-Tra Bong river basin, and Kone river basin. Most of the rivers are short and steep causing fast water flows and accumulation of sediment at the river mouths. The Project area 1

7 lies within the tropical monsoon region, with an average temperature of 27 o C. The Central Region s climate is divided into two major patterns, the North Central and the South Central Coast. The air quality is generally good, except in some urban areas where levels of dust and noise are relatively high. Across the entire area, the groundwater quality is good and can be used for domestic water supply. However, high content of iron or manganese or salinity can be observed in some specific areas. Surface water quality is also good, except the high content of total suspended solids due to riverbank erosion. However, the water quality is often degraded during and after heavy rains or storms. The soil quality of the region is generally good. The terrestrial ecosystems of the region mainly consist of natural and plantation forests. Freshwater ecosystems in the Project area are not unique and many National Parks and Natural Resources Reserves of high biodiversity value have been established. 7. Population densities of most of river basins are below the national average, except Tra Khuc and Kone river basins. All of river basins have rural population, accounting for more than 70% of the total population. Agricultural, forest, and vacant land areas are being reduced due to construction of transportation network, irrigation system, hydropower plants, urban areas and factories. The infrastructure in the Project area is still poor, especially the rural road systems which haven t met the need for transportation and rescue in heavy rains or floods. The regional economy is still in a difficult situation and the marine resources are being overexploited. 8. The Central Region often experiences most of the different types of natural disasters in Vietnam, of which the most frequent are floods, typhoons, heat waves, and droughts. Floods and inundations in the region usually occur on a large scale, simultaneously in several provinces, sometimes cover the entire region. Floods have been hitting the region more frequently and more fiercely, causing human casualties, property damage, and soil and water pollution. Storms and tropical low pressures are happening more regularly and intensely. 9. Positive Impacts: The overall impacts of the Project will be positive. Results of the assessment show that the Project would benefit the country and local communities, namely: (i) Reduction of human losses and property damage by protecting approximately 900,000 people (more than 210,000 households), including people of 5 ethnic groups: Muong, Thai, Co Tu, H re and Cham, and nearly 50 thousand of hectares of productive land from annual floods and droughts; (ii) Facilitation for socio-economic development and improvement in living standards for local people in the project areas; (iii) Raising community awareness and natural disaster risk management capacity of different levels; and (iv) Improvement in quality of living environment. Technical assistance and financial support to be provided under Components 1, 2, and 3 will continue to strengthen policy and institutional capacity of key agencies at national and local levels as well as capacity of local communities to address natural disaster issues. 10. Negative Impacts: The negative impacts will be mainly due to civil works to be carried out under Component 4, especially those related to: (i) Land acquisition and resettlement of local people including ethnic minority people and gravesites and (ii) Site clearance and construction which could temporary increase levels of dust and other air pollution, noise, vibration, water pollution, local traffic volume, safety risk, and other impacts on local residents and businesses. The impacts, however, will be small to moderate, localized, and temporary considering that civil works will only be limited to rehabilitation and upgrading, and can be mitigated through good construction management and practices with close supervision of contractors by field/site engineers and in consultation with local authorities and local residents. To mitigate these impacts a standard Environmental Code of Practices (ECOP) has been developed and will be included in the bidding and contract documents for 2

8 the Component 4 subprojects. There are UXO risks during construction but this risk is considered moderate and could be mitigated through an UXO examination and clearance (as needed), prior to the commencement of civil works. There are also risks during operation if the infrastructures are not properly designed and/or maintained adequately and/or sluices are not properly operated. However, these risks are also considered moderate and could be mitigated through proper design, close consultation among stakeholders, and the capacity building activities to be carried out under Components 1, 2, and 3. Risk related to coastal erosion could be mitigated through proper design of coastal structure and consultation with nearby local authorities and communities. The Project will not affect any national and local physical cultural resources, historical sites, and nature and biodiversity reserves. 11. Potential negative impacts of Component 3 subprojects will be limited to community infrastructure and very small works such as construction of buildings and meteorological stations and they can be mitigated through the participatory planning process and/or the application of good construction practices. A simple ECOP has also been developed and it will be applied to bidding and/or construction contracts for Component Environmental Safeguard Management Framework (ESMF) and other Environmental Safeguard Documents/Instruments: Given that the subprojects will be implemented in phases an ESMF has been prepared to ensure that the subprojects and activities to be financed under the Project would not create adverse impacts on the local environment and local communities and the residual and/or unavoidable impacts will be adequately mitigated in line with the WB s safeguard policy. The ESMF process describes criteria for safeguard screening of subprojects, including an exclusion list, and identification of impacts; basic principles for development of mitigation measures; requirements for WB safeguard clearance; and implementation, supervision, monitoring, and reporting. The ESMF also provides guidelines for preparation of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for a subproject, including actions to facilitate effective implementation of the EMP, institutional arrangement, safeguard training and capacity building, and budget allocation and source of funds. EMPs have been prepared for the year 1/phase 1 subprojects. For the subproject involving dam safety, a Dam Safety Framework (DSF) has also been prepared including guidelines for preparation of a Dam Safety Report (DSR) for large dams and a Dam Safety Inspection Report (DSIR) for small dams. The ESMF is prepared as a stand alone document and is closely connected to other social safeguard policy documents of the Project, namely the Ethnic Minority Policy Framework (EMPF), the Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs), and the Ethnic Minority Development Plans (EMDPs). 13. Implementation arrangement: The Central Project Management Office (CPMO) in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has overall responsibility for ESMF implementation within the Project, including training on safeguard policy frameworks and action plans (ESMF/EMP, DSF/DSRs/DSIRs, RPF/RAPs, and EMPF/EMDPs) for the Provincial Project Management Units (PPMUs) and other related units; selecting an external monitoring agency; supervising and reporting on environmental and social issues. The PPMUs would be responsible for the development and implementation of the safeguard action plans (EMPs, DSRs/DSIRs, RAPs, EMDPs) in cooperation with the District Resettlement Committees (DRCs) and local agencies and regularly monitor the implementation. CPMO will supervise and monitor the implementation of safeguard measures at least twice a year and report annual monitoring results to the World Bank. 14. Public Consultation: In consistency with the Bank s requirements regarding public consultation and information disclosure, consultations were carried out during the preparation of the EA and ESMF one in June-July 2011 and one in September Participants in these 3

9 consultations included farmer and fisherman households likely to be directly or indirectly affected by the Project, local authorities; central and local state agencies, NGOs, civil society organizations, etc. Stakeholders issues and concerns were taken into account in the preparation of the safeguard documents. Most of the provinces and communities in the project area showed enthusiasm in supporting the implementation of the Project and wished that the Project would be carried out soon. 4

10 1.1 Background 15. As one of the world s most disaster-prone countries, Vietnam is highly susceptible to typhoons, floods, seawater intrusion, landslides, drought, and forest fires. In November 2007, the Government of Vietnam (GoV) approved a National Disaster Prevention, Response, and Mitigation to 2020 strategy which lays out the country s primary disaster risk management objectives. Investment needs, covering both infrastructure and institutional capacities were estimated. In October 2009, the Government released an Implementation Plan pertaining to this strategy. The Plan designated the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC), within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), as the focal point for implementation. Responsible provincial and local committees are responsible for addressing disaster risk management in an integrated manner. 16. The World Bank (WB) has been active in supporting disaster risk management and water resources management through the Natural Disaster Management Project (WB4), which has been under implementation since May 2006 and planned to be completed in June It has supported investments in disaster mitigating infrastructure (e.g. safe harbors for fishing boats, sea dyke construction, etc.), provided support for post-disaster reconstruction in eight provinces affected by typhoons in 2007 and It has also successfully piloted the concept of community based disaster risk management in 30 communes, and provided technical assistance in disaster damage assessment, disaster risk management-related budgetary planning, and other areas. In addition, the Bank has been providing the Government with training, technical assistance, and analytical inputs on various DRM matters under the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). The program has applied the concept of Climate Resilient Cities in Vietnam, explored options for financial plans related to disaster risks, raised public awareness in disaster risks, and undertaken disaster risk assessments in selected provinces. Based on recent disaster risk management investment experience, especially the WB4 project, MARD - on behalf of the Government - and the WB have been developing a new project to continue providing support on national disaster risk management namely Vietnam Managing Natural Hazards Project (VN-Haz, the Project). This Project will apply lessons learned from other projects. The Project will be implemented in 10 provinces in the Central Coast of Vietnam, which are most likely to be affected by typhoons and floods. Typhoons and floods in the Central Coast often occur with high frequency and severity and cause serious damages. Provinces covered by the project will be Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Ninh Thuan. 17. The Central Project Office (CPO) of Water Resources Projects under MARD has been charged with Project preparation and lists of priority activities and investments have been proposed and feasibility studies have been carried out. 18. To be eligible for WB funding the proposed Project must comply with the WBs safeguard policies that are triggered for the Project, including: Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01); Physical Cultural Resources (OP/BP 4.11); Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10); Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12); Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37); Projects on International Waterways (OP/BP 7.50); as well as the Public Consultation and Information Disclosure. Moreover, individual EIA and/or Environmental Protection Commitment (EPC) for each specific subproject will be prepared and submitted for GoV approval as required by the Government s EIA regulations. 5

11 19. To meet the WB safeguard requirement per OP/BP 4.01, preparation and WB approval of an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Project, including the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) and the Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) for the first year subprojects are required. The Consultancy & Technology Transfer Company of Hanoi Water Resources University has been contracted for the preparation of the EA, and the ESMF. The assignment was carried out from 1 June 2011 to 10 September The main activities included collection of project information and background data, field visits to the 10 provinces for collection of environmental data (water, sediment, etc.), field surveys, and consultation with key agencies and authorities located in the regions, in particular the local authorities and line departments such as the Provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) of MARD, and the provincial Department of Planning and Investment (DPI) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). The results are provided in this report Objectives and Scope 20. The main purpose of the EA is to identify potential impacts of the Project to ensure that potential negative impacts are adequately mitigated to an acceptable level and that an opportunity to enhance the potential positive impacts is integrated in the Project design. The following approach was used in the preparation of this EA: Study Approaches Desk review. Review of Project description, draft feasibility studies of the proposed subprojects, environmental conditions (land use, etc.) of the Project area as well as the proposed subprojects sites, WB safeguard policies and documents for previous and existing similar projects, Government regulations applicable to the project, etc. Conduct a preliminary assessment of potential environmental impacts of the subprojects by classifying the subprojects according to types of works, area/basin, social/environmental risks/impacts, etc. and identify the subproject with significant risks so that field visits and/or primary data collection could be made. Carry out surveys and field studies to collect data on water, air, land use, sediment, etc. Collect relevant data from related agencies and partners from central to local levels. Apply environmental matrixes and checklists for each type of subproject works to facilitate the planning for minimizing the potential environmental risks and maximizing the environmental benefits; Study existing materials and descriptions of subprojects; Use professional knowledge and working experience in the country and discuss with key agencies and other national consultants working on feasibility studies and other technical aspects as well as the WB s environmental and social specialists. Propose an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) and technical guidelines for preparation of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the subprojects given that they will be implemented in phases. Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF), Ethnic Minority Policy Framework (EMPF), and and Dam Safety Framework (DSF) are also being prepared to guide the preparation of actions when land acquisition, resettlement, ethnic minority, and dam safety are involved. These policy frameworks are prepared in line with WB safeguard policy requirements and 6

12 will be translated into local language and disclosed locally and at WB s InfoShop and Hanoi office. Conduct public consultation in line with the Government guidelines taken into account WB policy and guidelines on consultation. Structure of the Report 21. Given that the ESMF and DSF are prepared separately, this report will therefore briefly summarizes the key points of these frameworks while details are referred to the ESMF and DSF. Other social safeguard documents referred in this report such as the Social Assessment (SA), the RPF, and the EMPF are also prepared as standalone documents. In this context the EA report is divided into -7 chapters and 7 annexes as follows: Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Project Description Chapter 3 Policy, Legal, and Institutional Frameworks Chapter 4 Environmental Background Chapter 5 Environmental Impact Assessment Chapter 6 Proposed Mitigation Measures Chapter 7 Public Consultation Annex 1: Subproject List and Location Maps Annex 2: National Policies and Institutions Annex 3: Background on Key River Basins Annex 4: Background on Natural Disaster Annex 5: Initial Screening of the Potential Negative Impacts of Subprojects Annex 6: Public Consultation Annex 7: Pictures of Field Trip and Public Consultation 7

13 CHAPTER 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 22. This chapter presents the Project objectives and components including the Project areas and proposed subprojects. Locations of the proposed subprojects are presented in Annex Project Objectives and Components 23. The project development objective is to increase the resilience of the people and economic assets to natural hazards in selected river basins of the project provinces within the overall framework of the Vietnam s National Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation Strategy Towards To achieve this objective, a river basin approach has been used in the Project design by focusing investments in major river basins, integrating components activities to avoid small and scattered efforts, and applying structural and non-structural measures to reduce the vulnerability to natural disasters. The Project activities will be implemented through the following five components: Component 1: Strengthening Disaster Risk Management Institutions, Information Systems and Planning (US$ 7.0 million). 24. The specific objective of Component 1 is to strengthen institutional and technical capacities at national, provincial and local level on disaster risk management (DRM) in order to better plan and mitigate hazard risks, thereby reducing potential loss of life, damage to property, and economic disruption. The institutional strengthening will be in line with the priorities outlined in the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation to 2020 its national Action Plan and draft DRM law, which serves as the overarching document for the Government's approach to disaster management and MARD s Institutional Vision for The component will focus on the institutional mechanisms relevant to national, provincial and local levels as well as regional scale for hydromet services. The DRM institutions of 10 provinces of Central Vietnam (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Ninh Thuan) will be covered with an renewed focus on a river basin approach. 26. Component 1 will have three sub-components: (i) Strengthening DRM institutions, (ii) Improvement of the DRM information systems, and (iii) Support for the integration of DRM in river basin Planning. 27. Under the first sub-component, Strengthening DRM Institutions, the project will provide relevant support to implement the National Platform on Disaster Preparedness, Prevention and Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change. This activity aims to facilitate inter-ministerial coordination meetings, policy dialogue and knowledge-sharing mechanisms between the government ministries, development partners, academic institutions, NGOs and private sector. One of the outputs of this activity will be to develop an on-line web-based knowledge sharing portal on Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) at national level. The sub-component will also review and update DRM codes, standards and technical manuals for water resources management at river basin level. Technical assistance will be given for a study on the feasibility of financing mechanisms for DRM. 28. The sub-component will support the establishment of 8 Provincial Disaster Management Centers (PDMCs) in the project target provinces (except in Quang Ngai and Da Nang where PDMCs already exist). This would include renovation of office facilities and 8

14 basic equipments. Before establishing PDMCs, a detailed study on the performance of existing PDMCs and standing office of PCFSC will be conducted in order to propose the most relevant PDMC model. The experience and lessons learned from the existing PDMCs and river basin approach adopted in this project will be considered while establishing PDMCs in eight provinces. 29. The sub-component will strengthen DRM technical capacity of government agencies at different levels. This will require an update of training needs assessment of national and provincial level agencies involved in DRM work which was done by the on-going Bankfinanced NDRMP, and subsequent training would cover all aspects of DRM such as risk, vulnerability assessments, preparedness, search and rescue, and response. The National level Disaster Management Centre (DMC), which is mandated to offer CBDRM training to provincial and district level staff, will be supported with technical assistance to improve training content. Technical expertise on CBDRM will be strengthened at the provincial and lower levels following a Training of Trainers (ToT) approach, using an experienced local consultancy firm to conduct the trainings. The national DMC would provide supervision, technical guidance and monitoring of these trainings. 30. The CBDRM training curriculum will integrate on-going capacity development related to Community Based Adaptation (CBA). This activity is closely related to component 3 (CBDRM), and ToT training would cover all 10 provinces. The ToT training will target provincial level staff, and after the training, these staff would participate together with other experts in providing similar trainings to selected district and commune (component 3) level staff. It is proposed to conduct CBDRM trainings in each of the 28 districts selected under component 3. This sub-component will also support international training on DRM and study tours. 31. The second sub-component, Improvement of the DRM information Systems, will support DRM databases, spatial interpretation tools, and dam/reservoir safety information systems. Strengthening existing DRM databases and information systems include update and addition of indicators such as hazards, vulnerability, risks, livelihood groups, data on damage and loss, socio-economic information and post disaster interventions. MARD s current information collection procedures will be improved and linked to the proposed information systems. In addition, links will be established to existing socio-economic database of General Statistics Office (GSO) of Vietnam. Interactivity of the databases is expected to be enhanced by strengthening query and quality checking procedures. This activity will help to harmonize all existing DRM databases and provide access to agencies involved in DRM related work. 32. A database on smaller dams/reservoirs held by MARD is currently not available at the provincial level. There are at least three different management layers of reservoirs (provincial, district and commune level), and lack of coordination and information exchange weakens the reservoir operation and disaster preparedness. Improved coordination and sharing of information can promote better management of these reservoirs and protect lives and livelihood assets. The project will support: (i) an inventory of existing medium and small scale reservoirs, their safety standards, operational procedures; (ii) development of a software that can be applied at national and provincial level; (iii) development of guidelines for safety of medium and small reservoir/dam operations in 10 provinces, and (iv) a training program on how to use the database, software and on guidelines for safety of medium and small reservoir operations to provincial and district staff. 9

15 33. The third sub-component, Support for the Integration of DRM in River Basin Planning, will help integrate DRM into river basin management. In particular, the subcomponent would support: (a) data collection and assessment of exposure, risks and vulnerability at the basin scale, (b) identification of vulnerable areas, and possible structural and non-structural measures to mitigate the natural disaster risks. The sub-component will cover all river basins in the 10 project provinces to be supported under the project, and take place in two phases: a study phase and the preparation of the river basin plan itself. 34. The study phase will assess the main DRM problems in the river basins (such as environmental degradation, soil erosion, drought, landslides, sedimentation, solid waste management, water quality, flood impacts); the climate change impacts on the major river basins; flood mapping combining existing hazard and vulnerability maps prepared under NDRMP project with new data sets; an institutional analysis; and an inventory of existing plans (land use, provincial disaster management plans, agriculture, transport). The DRM priorities and basin risk maps would then be integrated into river basin plans. 35. At present, nine out of ten provinces have prepared Integrated DRM Plans (IDRMs) under the Bank-funded NDRMP project. At the same time, the National Target Programme on Climate Change requests provinces to prepare provincial plans on adaptation to climate change. Given that there are similarities with respect to actions under DRM and CCA and that promoting two similar plans may add complexity for the provincial authorities, there is a need to integrate CCA into DRM action plans aiming to address short term priorities, but at the same time with long-term perspectives. This activity will promote a joint action plan for CCA and DRM in 10 provinces based on lessons and experiences from IDRMP exercise and updated comprehensive vulnerability and risk analysis. 36. Finally, the sub-component will provide training on the use of hydrological models and GIS tools to DRM staff at provincial level and will be closely linked to component 2 of the project. This activity will promote use of existing data on land use, vulnerabilities and risk maps from NDRMP project combined with satellite imageries for preparation of flood maps in eight river basins (Ma, Ca, Vu Gia-Thu Bon, Tra Khuc Tra Bong, Kone Ha Thanh, Thach Han, Gianh, Cai Phan Rang). These flood maps will contribute to preparation of river basin plans and joint action plans for DRM and CCA described above. Technical specialists from the sub-department for Water Resources and Flood and Storm Control within the provincial DARD, MARD s Water Resources Directorate and Faculty of Hydrology in Water Resources University (WRU) will be trained on modeling, use of satellite maps and GIS. Component 2: Strengthening Weather Forecasting and Early Warning Systems ($30.0 million) 37. The objectives of component 2 are to strengthen hydrometeorological services, weather forecasting and early warning systems for disaster preparedness at all levels and to improve delivery of locally relevant early warning products and services. Particular emphasis will be given to strengthening the integration of the existing and planned hydro-met components in the country. Two sub-components will be implemented: (i) Designing and implementing an integrated national hydromet forecasting and early warning system and endto-end applications at the regional and provincial level; and (ii) Strengthening hydromet observation and monitoring network, computer hardware and ICT infrastructure. 38. Sub-Component 2.1 Technical Assistance for development and implementation of an integrated National Hydromet forecasting and EW System and end-to-end applications ($6 million): This sub-component will cover the technical assistance to design a nation-wide 10

16 integrated system and to provide overall guidance and implementation support. This will include the preparation of hydrometeorological implementation plans for the national and central region and the design of a nation-wide communication system. Priorities to be addressed include (i) Analysing institutional frameworks, staff capacity requirements and Preparation of Concept of Operation; (ii) providing technical advice on software, forecasting models, instruments, computer architecture and data processing; (iii) Instrument specifications, ensuring inter-operability of the observation networks and contract performance monitoring; and (iv) providing support for the development and testing of a sustainable hydromet business model. An Integrator will be hired at the beginning of the project to develop a detailed framework and to support and monitor the implementation of the integrated system. 39. Technical support will be provided for the maintenance and operation of hard- and software of weather forecasting and early warning systems according to the developed concept of operation. The national level strengthening will ensure better integration of the planned improvements (observation, forecasting and communication infrastructures) proposed for three regional hydrometeorological centers (north-central, mid-central, and southern) under sub-component 2.2. Synergies and collaboration will be sought with other proposed and existing investment programs, including the Government-funded MONRE investment program and donor-funded programs such as the Italian ODA program phase I & II, the Mekong River Commission s-hycos, the USAID support and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) assistance. 40. An overall training strategy will be developed to improve the technical capacity at national, regional and provincial levels based on user information needs and institutional analysis. The objectives of the training are to maintain the hard- and software, use the weather and hydrological models and analyse model outputs (down-scaling), and prepare quality forecast products and early warning information. The capacity development programs will include training on weather forecasting, drought monitoring, storm surge prediction, seasonal climate prediction and assessment of climate change impacts. Improvement of forecast models and other software include high resolution non-hydrostatic Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models, topography and land use database, ensemble multi-scale weather forecast models for short range forecasts, hydrological and hydraulic models for flood forecasting and flash flood warning, integration of radar data (existing) for hydraulic models and development of techniques for quantitative precipitation estimate from radar and visual display and analysis system. 41. User interaction, climate data and information sharing will be strengthened by establishing a national user forum (linked to a national platform supported under component 1). This sub-component includes study tours and on-the-job training for managers. Strengthening of end-to-end application includes user training on interpretation of early warning products for provincial departments, district staff and communities for better informed decisions. Three regional hydro-met centers (north-central, mid-central and southern) are included. 42. Sub-Component 2.2. Strengthening hydro-met observation and monitoring network, computer hardware and ICT infrastructure ($20 million): This sub-component will support the establishment of multi-hazard early warning systems, including the installation of automated hydro-meteorological observing networks and communication systems through provision of equipment and relevant training. 11

17 43. Major priorities to be addressed include: (i) Upgrading ICT infrastructure and computer hardware at national, regional and provincial NHMS centers, (ii) modernization of hydromet observation and monitoring infrastructure in north-central, mid-central and southern regional centers; and (iii) improvement of technical capacity to maintain instruments, including observation, data transfer and communication between provincial, regional and national hydro-met centers. Installation of computer systems and forecast interpretation tools such as GIS mapping facility to deliver rapid location-specific forecasts are included. Three regional hydro-met centers (north-central, mid-central and southern) are included under this sub-component 1 This sub-project would be implemented in the two phases: (a) Phase 1 (southern region) to complete the initiative taken by the NDRMP, and (b) Phase 2 (national and central region). 44. Major investments include High Performamce Computer (HPC) hardware and operating software, service development and technical support for the national center, upgradation of computer hardwares and operating softwares, service development and technical support for the provincial centres; modernization and upgrading of existing meteorological stations and automatic weather stations, upgrading to SMS automated rain gauge networks, automatic water level and rain gauge stations, integrated discharge and suspended sediment, water level and rainfall measuring devices and boats for discharge and velocity measurements. This sub-component covers upgrading of communication networks to connect provincial and regional centres with the national centre and setting up a LAN and other communication networks in three regional centres, together with a reliable backup system. Real time status of major and important reservoirs will be included within the LAN communication network for development of flood forecasting services. Upgrading of equipment and networks will be closely coordinated with ODA activities to avoid potential duplication and overlaps. 45. The sub-component will include support for the southern regional hydromet centre. This support will facilitate an upgrade of meteorological instruments and an enhancement of the hydrological monitoring along the Mekong river. The support in question will focus on the design and establishment of an automated hydrologic network and on defining clear operating procedures for the network. The modernization will cover automatic weather stations, river discharge measurements devices, suspended sediment measurement, sounding depth measurement device, automatic water level recorders and flood measurement poles; and calibration and evaluation of flood danger/alarm levels. It will also help complete the renovation/construction of office buildings for five provincial centres and other fire fighting and early warning equipments. Training and capacity development activities include operation and maintenance of automatic weather stations, maintenance of water level and rain measurement devices and maintenance of discharge and water depth measurement instruments. Component 3: Community-Based Disaster Risk Management ($22.0 million) 47. This component will build on the successful pilot experiences in community-based disaster preparedness including safer commune planning and risk management awareness under the current Bank-financed NDRMP project. It also introduces new design features, including river basin approaches, cluster approaches, interactive Management Information 1 The priority (i) on modernization of measurement/monitoring infrastructure and data transfer will be excluded for mid-central region as this has already been covered by ODA assistance to the Regional Hydro-Meteorological Centre located in Da Nang. 12

18 System (MIS) with commune reporting by cell phone and private sector-commune partnerships. 48. The objective of this component is to help implement the GoV s national CBDRM strategy (Decision 1002/QD-TTg). As a result this component, approximately 100 communes will be better prepared for natural disaster events. 49. The selection of communes will be carried using a clustering approach which will ensure that the communes selected are those benefiting from the larger scale infrastructure investments supported under Component 4. This integration, following a river basin approach, will maximize and better sustain the impacts from the larger scale DRM investments as well as the commune level engagement. Under the first phase of the DRM investments, 27 communes have been identified for support (see Table 1). The identification of the remaining communes will be conducted after project inception. The abovementioned objective will be achieved through two sub-components: (i) Commune Institutional Strengthening and (ii) CBDRM Investments. Table 1. The List of Proposed Commune for Phase 1 CBDRM Activities No Province District Commune River basin 1 Thanh Hoa Yen Dinh Yen Thinh Ma river 2 Dinh Hoa Ma river 3 Dinh Thanh Ma river 4 Dinh Cong Ma river 5 Dinh Binh Ma river 6 Dinh Tuong Ma river 7 Yen Tam Ma river 8 Yen Giang Ma river 9 Thieu Hoa Thieu Thanh Ma river 10 Tho Xuan Xuan Vinh Ma river 11 Ha Tinh Cam Xuyen Cam Phuc Rac River 12 Cam Long/ Thien Cam town Rac River 13 Cam Nhuong Rac River 14 Cam Thang Rac River 15 Quang Nam Duy Xuyen Duy Phu Thu Bon river 16 Duy Thu Thu Bon river 17 Duy Tan Thu Bon river 18 Duy Hoo Thu Bon river 19 Binh Dinh Tuy Phuoc Phuoc Hoa Kon river 20 Phuoc Hiep Kon river 21 Phuoc Quang Kon river 22 Phuoc Loc Kon river 23 Phuoc Thuan Ha Thanh river 24 An Nhon Nhon An Kon river 25 Nhon Phong Kon river 26 Nhơo Hau Kon river 27 Nhon Khanh Ha Thanh river 28 Nhon Hung Ha Thanh river 50. Commune Institutional Strengthening ($2.0 million). This sub-component aims to develop the capacity of participating commune-level stakeholders and agencies 2 to plan and 2 Commune-level stakeholders and agencies in this document refer to not only government 13

19 engage in a broad range of risk reduction measures encompassing pre-, during- and postdisaster activities. Gender equality and integration will be ensured through these capacity development initiatives, as too will be the focus on vulnerable groups. Main activities include: Strengthening of commune-level flood and storm risks management procedure. This activity will help commune-based institutions to prepare a commune-annual flood and storm risks management plan (CAFSCP) on yearly basis. 3 The plan will improve early warning and support the Communal Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CFSC) and its counterparts to understand responsibilities during pre- and post-disaster activities. Training for commune-based institution leaders. The project will provide training to improve capacity of CFSC, CBDRM facilitators and other commune-level stakeholders and agencies (see Appendix 1 for details of training). Development of inter-communal support platforms. This activity will develop an intercommunal support platform where leaders of the CFSCs and commune-based institutions conduct exchange visits to plan co-operation for pre- and post-disaster activities, including joint evacuation exercises, post-disaster clean up and relief operations. Community Resilient Planning: Each participating commune will: (i) identify its vulnerability through a participatory risk assessment; (ii) prepare and update communelevel annual flood and storm control plans (CAFSCP) based on the risk assessment; and (iii) integrate the CAFSCP into commune socio-economic development plans. Private sector-commune partnerships. This project seeks to develop enterprisecommunity collaboration for enhancing commune resilience to disasters and thereby support the Government s development objectives under the National Community- Based DRM Program and the National Program of Developing New Rural Areas, both of which highlight private sector engagement as a key requisite for successful implementation. 51. CBDRM Investments ($18.0 million). This sub-component will fund CBDRM activities identified in the updated CAFSCPs. Risk reduction measures will include nonstructural and structural measures determined through the VCA and CAFSCP and driven by the needs of the local communities, which would include representatives of most vulnerable in the communes. Non-structural measures: Activities will include evacuation drills, public awareness raising, communications/early warning systems, provision of small equipment such as small boats, pumps, and first aid kits. Activities will be followed by participatory workshops to review the results and document the lessons learned in the CAFSCP. Structural measures: The project would support the participating communes to construct small-scale physical structural measures in a hazard-resilient manner. These would include multi-purpose shelters, evacuation roads, bridges, river bank 3 agencies, institutions, political parties and interest groups, but also other private organizations and citizens. This activity would build on existing manuals such as CCFSC Manual/Handbook, the four on the spots motto and CCFSC Emergency response and early recovery guidelines. 14

20 rehabilitation, retention ponds as well as reforestations and other structures identified by the target communes. The project will also provide support to prepare plans and designs for such prevention measures and plans for the management, operation and maintenance of each structural measure built. The CPC would be responsible for monitoring and reporting on the progress and quality of construction as well as for preparing and implementing operational and maintenance guidelines. 52. Monitoring and Evaluation of CBDRM. As a part of the project-wide M&E framework, the project will set up a CBDRM monitoring system that will be both participatory and also use a web-based Management Information System (MIS) at national and sub-national levels. The system will record the performance of each commune in close to real time. Key performance information on the status of project implementation will be available to authorized users at national and provincial level. Component 4: Priority Disaster Risk Mitigation Investments ($104.7m) 53. A river basin approach will be used to identify and prioritize major DRM investments (subprojects) within the four selected river basins in the Central Region. The structural measures will mitigate risks posed by storms, floods, landslides and drought, including river and sea dykes/ embankments, safe harbors, rescue roads and bridges, and reservoirs. The Government strategy on reservoirs for disaster management objective would mainly be focusing on rehabilitation of selected existing dams and reservoirs to improve their safety. The rehabilitation would involve safety measures such as lowering and/or expansion of existing spillway or building addition spillway, additional backfill with better compaction of the main dam and its auxiliary apparatus, termite treatment, grouting, and installation of safety monitoring devices. 54. Based on the Integrated DRM Plans (IDRMPs) developed under the on-going Bankfinanced NDRMP project in all 12 project provinces using hydraulic modeling technology piloted in the three provinces of Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri and Quang Nam. These plans provide number of priority infrastructure investments within the context of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation for long-term benefits. These plans have been reviewed and endorsed by MARD and the provincial authorities. 55. Experience learned from the on-going Bank-financed NDRMP project proved that an investment of approximately UD$ 12 million protecting 12 communes with population of 64,000 and 5,271 hectares of rice land. A dam safety investment with budget of US$ 6 million protected 8 communes living downstream 80,960 population and about 4,500 hectares of agricultural land. Similarly an amount of US$ 2.5 million to build a safe harbor in one of the province in the Central Coast that helped protect about 1,500 small fishing boats to evacuate during the typhoons season of the last and this year. This proves that priority infrastructure investments are crucial to protect livelihood and economic assets of local people who are living in the disaster-prone areas. This is also confirmed in the Government s strategy on DRM prevention and mitigation. 56. Phase 1 Investments: These will include the high priority specified in the approved IDRMPs, and are most advanced in term of preparation including technical engineering, economic/financial, social safeguards aspects. A maximum of two such subprojects would be implemented per one province over the course of the first two years of the project 15

21 depending on the readiness of preparation of subprojects. Greater priority would be given to those subprojects that incorporate a river basin approach, and have complementary investments under other components clustered nearby. Six subprojects have been confirmed as ready for inclusion in Phase 1 spanning in 5 provinces, including four dyke or embankment upgrading, one bridge with connecting rescue roads, and one reservoir upgrade. These are: (i) 42 km. of a river dyke system in a tributary of Ma river basin in Thanh Hoa province (ii) 7 km. of river bank protection and 3 km. of rescue roads and 100 m. birdge in Ca river basin in Nghe An (2 subprojects) (iii)11.5 km of Phuc-Long-Nhuong Sea-dyke improvement in Ha Tinh province, prepared by the current NDRMP project (iv) Dam safety improvement in Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin in Quang Nam province (v) 4 km. of River embankment erosion protection in Kon river basin in Binh Dinh province 57. Phase 2 Investments: These investments would include other high priority physical investments that need further detailed preparation work after project start-up, and that together with Phase 1 investments fall under within the cost ceilings indicated above. Provinces would undertake detailed technical, social, environmental and economic design work over the course of year 1 and 2 and submit these for approval by MARD and no objection by the World Bank for execution in years 3, 4 and other subprojects are shortlisted for inclusion in Phase 2 including 11 dyke, embankment and weir repair, 3 roads/bridges, 2 harbors and 9 reservoir subprojects. The harbor works would involve some dredging of sea sand, construction of breakwater structure, buoys and anchoring system for fishing boats to hire during flood and typhoon events. Reservoir works would be mainly on rehabilitation a stated earlier. Details of phase 2 proposed by provinces are in Appendix 1. Component 5: Project Management ($3.8m) 58. The objective of this component is to deliver sound project coordination, financing and procurement, as well as ensure timely reporting and lesson learning. This component provides financial support for those project implementing entities in MARD and MONRE responsible for project coordination, financial management and procurement, as well as ensuring compliance with relevant safeguards and fiduciary policies. It would provide incremental operating cost for implementing agencies at all levels in managing the implementation of the project. 59. Strengthening of both national and provincial implementation capacity of the project will include provision of office renovation, equipment facilities and vehicles, external monitoring on fiduciary and safeguards, internal audit and control, operating expenses and training. The component will also support the establishment of an effective M&E system for the project and applicable to the broader DRM sector including tracking the implementation of the National DRM Strategy. The system will monitor the performance of the various implementing partners at national and local level and the achievement of project deliverables as defined in the results framework and detailed M&E design. An independent baseline and final evaluation will be funded. 60. The detailed design will be prepared by international technical assistance in the first six months of project implementation. Funding is provided for an independent baseline to take place between appraisal and project effectiveness, and final evaluation in Year 5. The 16

22 estimated cost includes contribution from the Government, such as personnel, office space, and utilities both at the central and provincial level Project Areas and Main Activities 61. The Project areas will cover 10 provinces in the Central Region of Vietnam including: Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Ninh Thuan. The areas will involve four major river basins and five small basins considered to be Vietnam s most disaster-prone areas. The four major basins are (a) Ma basin in Thanh Hoa province, (b) Ca basin in Nghe An province, (c) Vu Gia-Thu Bon basin in Da Nang and Quang Nam provinces, and (d) Tra Khuc-Tra Bong basin Quang Ngai provinces. The five smaller basins are Giang, Nhat Le, Thach Han, Kone and Dinh river basins within Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Binh Dinh and Ninh Thuan. Figure 3.1 presents the provincial boundaries Activities to be implemented under Components 1, 2, Most activities to be implemented under Components 1 and 2 will be related to technical assistance and capacity building aiming to strengthen planning and forecasting capacity of the Government at national and provincial levels. Procurement of equipment, renovations of offices, and construction of small hydrometeorological stations would be involved. 63. Activities to be implemented under Component 3 aim at implementing a Community- Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) program. Activities have been proposed for 10 provinces and will include: Support for the establishment or activities of Centers for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (CDPMs) at provincial, district and commune levels; Providing training and communication, awareness raising and capacity strengthening activities on natural disaster prevention at community levels in select communes; Building and renovating CDPMs, building disaster prevention storages and public houses, etc. List of activities under Component 3 is shown in Table

23 Table 2.1. List of the activities to be implemented under Component 3 No Component / Sub-component / Activity Sub C 3.1 Capacity strengthening for CBDRM A Commune Resilient Planning 1 Commune risk assessment preparation 2 Commune annual flood and storm control plan (CAFSCP) Improvement 3 Integration of safety plan into Socio Economic Development Plan 4 Commune Resilient Planning B Commune Institution Strengthening 1 Facilitation skill 2 CBDRM, risk assessment and safety plan 3 Exchange visits 4 M&E training 5 Network of CFSC (community for flood and storm control) 6 CPC/CF follow-up training Sub C 3.2 CBDRM Investments C CBDRM Non-structural Investment 1 Public evacuation drills 2 Information, education and communication (IEC) material development 3 Public awareness 4 School education and evacuation drills 5 Loud speaker system 6 Safe house design training 7 Mass organization training (first aid, evacuation support, others) 8 Equipment for emergency response D CBDRM structural measure investment 1 Small scale structures (Multi-purpose shelter, feeder road, pumps, ) Subprojects under Component The subprojects proposed under Component 4 are the structural measures proposed in the Implementation Plan of the National Disaster Prevention, Response, and Mitigation to 2020 strategy. The subprojects were selected based on the following criteria: i) in line with the Vietnam s Second National Strategy and Action Plan on National Disaster Management and Management for the period ; ii) under the DRM strategy/plan; iii) proved benefits from DRM; iv) and/or not yet funded by the Government and donors. DRM investment subprojects will be integrated into the provincial level economic and social development and DRM plans. Of the 43 subprojects proposed by the Government 34 subprojects have been selected for consideration and the subproject list and locations are provided in Annex 1. The proposed subprojects could be classified by type of works as follows: (1) Upgrading river dikes and revetments; (2) Upgrading rescue roads/bridge; (3) Upgrading dams and reservoirs; and (4) Dredging of river mouth and upgrading of fish berths. Scope of the activities are described in Table 2.2. Table 2.3 and Table 2.4 provide the number 18

24 of the subprojects by provinces and river basins, while Table 2.5 provides a brief description of the subprojects to be implemented during the first phase. Table 2.2: Classification of subprojects under Component 4 by type of works Type of works (1) Upgrading river dikes and revetments, including roads and bridges (2) Upgrading rescue roads/bridge (3) Upgrading dams and reservoirs, including upgrading and widening flood drain for An Trạch weir No. of Subpr ojects (4) Coastal structure (river mouth 3 dredging, fishing boat habors Total 34 Province Number of subprojects Main activities - Upgrading: Raising and widening cross-section, reinforcing dike surface (combined with traffic way function), construction of wave-prevention walls on the dike surface, dike slope embankments; Construction of under dyke culverts; Construction of premises for the dike management and flood and storm prevention and control unit on the dike, construction of pumping stations to the river. - Revetment: Reinforcing river banks mainly with slope revetments (ashlars or rock gabions aranged in reinforced concrete frames (pile up or excavate earth to form slope design before reinforcing)); Construction of reinforced concrete wave-prevention walls on the revetment surface; Construction of management and operation roads combined with transport ways on top of the revetments; Construction of drainages to the river. Raising and widening rescue road cross-section, stabilize road surface to facilitate rescue activities; construction of culverts accross the roads, construction of traffic bridges combined with overflow dam. - Raising and widening cross-section, reinforcing dam surface (combined with traffic road function and reservoir management and operation function); Construction of wave-prevention walls on the dam slope; Reinforcing upstream slope, plantting grass on downstream slope; Supplementing or repairing drainage structures, new construction or reparing/upgrading flood drain; New construction or reparing/upgrading sluices; Construction of head management house; New construction of management and operation roads, reparing and upgrading irrigation canals. -Replacing 12 old valvet gates by 12 flat valvet gates operating by electricity to gain control in operation of flood drain; Widening 2 more drain sections on two sides of the weir to increase flood drain capacity; Reinforcing absorption yard and basin; Reparing the weir; Equiping automatic control system. Dredging passages to ensure safe water-line for fishing boats to enter habors to avoid storms; Construction of flow control embankments; construction of dyke protection for habors and surrounding; Construction of technical infrastructure for anchorages; Construction of mooring posts. Table 2.3: Number of proposed subprojects under Component 4 by the provinces Thanh Hoa Nghe An Ha Tinh Quang Binh Quang Tri Da Nang Quang Nam Quang Ngai Binh Dinh Ninh Thuan Total 19

25 Table 2.4: Number of proposed subprojects under Component 4 by river basins River basins Ma Ca Number of subprojects Ha Vang- Rac Gianh River Thach Han Vu Gia- Thu Bon Vu Gia- Thu Bon Tra Khuc- Tra Bong Kone River Dinh River Table 2.5: List of the first phase subprojects (5 provinces, 5 basins) Total No. Provinces Subprojects 1 Thanh Hoa Maintaining, upgrading and treating the key parts of the left dyke of Cau Chay river (section from K0-K42) 2 Nghe An Upgrading dike site of Luong Yen Khai, Thanh Chuong 3 Nghe An Bridge combining with overflow connecting rescued roads, Nghi Loc and Vinh city 4 Ha Tinh Upgrading dike site Phuc Long Nhuong, Cam Xuyen district 5 Binh Dinh 6 Quang Nam Upgrading anti-erosion embankment of Kone river for safety, An Nhon and Tuy Phuoc district Repairing and upgrading Thach Ban Reservoir, Duy Xuyen district 20

26 CHAPTER 3 POLICY, LEGAL, AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 65. This Chapter briefly presents the WB safeguard policy as well as the national policy, legal, and institutional frameworks related to natural disaster and environmental management of which more detailed information on the latter is provided in Annex World Bank s Safeguard Policies 66. WB s regulations on environmental protection are provided in the form of operational policies (OPs), including 10 policies, of which OP 4.01 on environmental assessment is an important environmental policy. To be referred to also is the WB Group s Environmental Health and Safety Guidelines. Below summarizes key objectives of WB s policies triggered for the Project: Table 2.1: Relevant WB s Safeguard Policies Policy OP/BP 4.01 Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.11 Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP 4.10 Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.12 Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.37 Safety of Dams OP/BP 7.50 Projects on International Waterways Objective To ensure the environmental and social soundness and sustainability of investment projects. To provide decision makers with information on potential environmental and social impacts related to the project. To enhance the transparency and participation of affected communities into the decision making process. The policy aims to avoid, or mitigate, adverse impacts on cultural resources which are important as sources of valuable historical and scientific information, as assets for economic and social development, and as integral parts of a people's cultural identity and practices, including graves and graveyards. The policy provide guideline to ensure that (a) Physical cultural resources are identified and protected in the project and (b) National legislations on Physical Cultural Resources Protection are fully complied with. To ensure that ethnic peoples: (a) Receive full respect for their dignity, human rights, and cultural uniqueness; (b) Do not suffer adverse effects during the development process; (c) Receive culturally compatible social and economic benefits; and (d) Benefit from consultation and participatory processes. To ensure that the following policies will be applied: (a) Avoid or minimize involuntary resettlement and impacts on economic activities, including loss of livelihoods; (b) Provide transparent compensation procedures during involuntary taking of land and other assets; (c) Provide sufficient investment resources to enable the persons displaced by the project to share in project benefits (implemented through the Resettlement Action Plan); (d) Restore and improve the standards of living of persons affected by the project; and (e) Provide prompt and effective compensation at full replacement cost for losses of assets attributable directly to the project. Development of Resettlement Plan and mitigation measures must be carried out based on consultation with affected populations and participatory approaches. To ensure that dam safety issues are adequately addressed, especially for high and/or risky dams; The policy applied to new dams, existing dams, and/or dams under construction that are related to infrastructure to be financed by WB. To ensure that the projects neither affect the effective use and protection of international waterways, nor the relationship between the Bank and the borrower and between nations sharing the same waterway. 21

27 67. To comply with these policies, the following safeguard documents have been prepared: An Environmental Assessment (EA) assessing the environmental background of the project as a whole, including the EMPs of first year subprojects, and possible followon year subprojects. A social assessment was also carried out for the Project. An Environmental and Social Safeguard Framework (ESMF) for phase 2 subprojects, including a standard Environmental Code of Practices (ECOP) for civil works to be carried out under Component 4 and actions related to dam safety and subprojects related to dredging and upgrading of fishing boat harbor, and a simple ECOP to be applied to the activities to be implemented under Components 2, 3 that are related to civil works. The ESMF is prepared separately as a standalone document. A Dam Safety Framework (DSF), outlining the policy requirements for ensuring safety of dams to be rehabilitated and/or upgrading including a technical guideline for preparation of Dam Safety Report (DSR) and a sample table of content. The DSF will be applied to all the subprojects involving dams. The DSF is prepared separately as a standalone document. Ethnic Minority Policy Framework (EMPF) and Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) clarifying resettlement principles, organizational arrangements and designing standards applicable to subprojects. The EMPF and RPF are prepared separately as standalone documents. Relocation of graves will be carried out based on the principle of replacement cost and in accordance with local cultural practices, taking into account cultural preferences which are typical for each ethnic group as set out in the RAPs and EMDPs. During the preparation of the EA and ESMF, two consultations were conducted: one in June-July 2011 and one in September Participants in these consultations included farmer and fisherman households directly or indirectly affected by the projects, local authorities, central and local state agencies, NGOs, civil society organizations, etc. Stakeholders interests were taken into account in the preparation of the safeguard documents. 2.2 National Policy, Regulations, and Institutional Frameworks Policy on natural disaster 68. Natural disaster management. On 16 July 2007, the Government approved the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation to Accordingly, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is the standing agency and to cooperate with relevant agencies to support the Government in executing state management in the field of disaster management. The overall goal of the Strategy is to Mobilize all resources to effectively implement disaster prevention, response and mitigation from now up to 2020 in order to minimize losses of human life and properties, damage of natural resources and cultural heritages, and the degradation of environment, contributing significantly to ensure the country sustainable development, national defense and security. To achieve this goal, tasks and measures are laid out as follow: (1) Consolidate the system of laws, policies and mechanisms; (2) Consolidate organizational structure; (3) Human resources development and social mobilization, (4) Financial resources; (5) Community awareness raising; (6) Ensure safety for dyke, reservoir and dam systems; (7) Enhance the search and rescue capacities; and (8) Promote international cooperation and integration. 22

28 69. For the Project areas, natural disaster prevention and mitigation tasks and measures in the strategy include: (i) North Central Region: Radically prevent floods, and take initiatives in preventing and responding to storm, drought and storm surge, for which the following solutions must be taken in places in the same time: making flood control plannings for river systems, reviewing and adjusting dyke system plannings as bases for activities of dyke construction, upgrading, protection, and management; strengthening of underdyke structures; treatment of weak dyke foundation; and reinforcing dyke surface for rural traffic, etc. (ii) Central Coast and the Eastern South: the approach applied for the areas is "Proactiveness in disaster prevention, and adaptation for development", for which following solutions are considered as priorities: planning residential, industrial and tourism areas; planning and constructing disaster prevention and mitigation structures, and transportation infrastructures to ensure flood resilience and drainability; shifting crops and animal husbandry; strengthening dykes, building reservoirs and embankment structures, and increasing forestation; building storm shelters for boats and ships; establishing and upgrading coastal communication stations for typhoon, sea rise and tsunami warning Other policies 70. There are also other policies and plans related to environmental protection, socioeconomic development, water resources planning, and flood prevention and natural disaster mitigation that are relevant to the Project. Key policies and plans are highlighted below while a brief background are provided in Annex 2. National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response, and Mitigation to 2020 National Strategy on Environment Protection to 2010 and Direction to 2020 Planning on Socio-Economic Development of Central Coastal Line to 2020 Water resources planning of regional level and provincial level Planning on flood prevention and natural-disaster mitigation for key river basins EIA regulations 71. The Law on Environmental Protection (2005) sets out regulations on strategic environmental assessment, environmental impact assessment and environmental protection commitment of development activities. Environmental impact assessment report is developed at the same time as investment project preparation (feasibility study). Time of preparation, submission and approval of reports are detailed in Term 2, Article 13 of Circular 26/2011/TT- BTNMT. The project s type for the environmental assessment is carried out based on the list of project types in Annex I and Annex II of Decree 29/2011/ND-CP. 72. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Articles from 12 to 28 in Chapter 3 of Decree 29/2011/NĐ-CP provide detailed regulations on the preparation, appraisal and approval of an EIA report, inclduing a detailed description of technical and management solutions to address negative impacts and environemtnal monitoring program. According to this Decree, the subprojects under the Project that require an EIA approval are included in Annex II of the Decree. 23

29 73. Environmental Protection Commitment (EPC). Article 29 to 36 in Chapter 4 of Decree No. 29/2011/ND-CP identifies scope of the EPC requirements, including the review and approval process and responsibilities of the project owners and agencies in charge of the EPC preparation, description of pollution mitigation measures, environmental monitoring programs, and committment to comply with environmental standards. EPC can be considered a simplified EIA for investment activities that have smaller impacts. Some of the subprojects under the Project will have to prepare EPCs for approval by the disctrict authorities Pollution control and other regulations 74. Other related regulations include: Regarding construction: Law on Construction No. 16/2003/QH11 and some Decrees such as the Decree No.12/2009/ND-CP dated 10th February 2009 on managing construction and investment projects and Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP dated 16th December 2004 on managing the quality of construction projects. Regarding planning, land acquisition and resettlement: Law on Land No.13/2003/QH11 dated 26 th November 2003; Decree No. 197/2004/ND-CP on compensation, support and resettlement when the State acquires land; Circular No. 116/2004/TT-BTC on instruction on executing the Decree No.197/2004/ND-CP, etc. Regarding disaster management: Law on Dykes No. 79/2006/QH11 dated 29 Nov 2006, Ordinance No. 32/2001/PL-UBTVQH10 dated 04 April 2001 on the exploitation and protection of irrigation works, Decree detailing some of the Flood Prevention and Response Ordinance No. 08/2006/NĐ-CP dated 16 Jan 2006, etc. Regarding dam safety: The Decree No. 72/ND-CP dated 07/05/2007 of the Government's dam safety management clearly provides provisions for dam construction, dam management and state management on dam safety. The Decree distinguishes between small and large dams. Small dams are normally less than 15 meters in height. Large dams are 15 meters or more in height and/or create a reservoir having a capacity above 3,000,000 m 3. Dam owners must have detail plans for water regulation, sluice and related works operation, dam safety and hydrological monitoring/ inspection, dam maintenance and protection, dam rescue, dam safety reporting, flood and inundation prevention in the downstream. All plans must be carried out strictly. MARD is responsible for the state management of reservoirs and dams nationwide. The Directorate of Water Resources under MARD assists MARD to implement the function of state management on safety of reservoirs. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for the state management of hydroelectric dam safety. Provincial People's Committees (PPCs) are responsible for the state management function on reservoir safety in their provinces. PPCs assign the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to implement this function. Other related areas: Law on Forest Development and Protection No. 29/2004/QH11, Law on Labor dated 23 June 1994, Law on Cultural Heritage No. 28/2001/QH10, Law on Water Resources No. 8/1998/QH10. Vietnamese Environment Standards: National technical regulations on quality of drinking water QCVN01:2009/BYT; National technical regulation on quality of domestic water QCVN02:2009/BYT; National technical regulation on quality of surface water QCVN08:2008/BTNMT; National technical regulations on quality of groundwater 24

30 QCVN09:2008/BTNMT; National technical regulations on quality of coastal water QCVN10:2008/BTNMT; Air quality Standards for ambient air quality QCVN05:2009/BTNMT; Air quality Maximum allowable concentration of hazardous substances in the ambient air QCVN06:2009/BTNMT. Dam design standards for flood cycle: 500 to 1000 years for dam grade I; 200 years for dam grade II; 100 years for dam grade III; 67 years for dam grade IV; and 50 years for dam grade V Institutional framework related to natural disaster 75. MARD plays a lead role in disaster risk management (DRM) in Vietnam. The Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC) is the national disaster risk management agency responsible for formulation of all flood and typhoon related policies and mitigation measures. The CCFSC is chaired by the Minister of MARD and comprising representatives from the Office of Government, the Ministry of Defense, and other agencies. The Department of Dyke Management and Flood Control (DDMFC) of the Directorate of Water Resources of MARD serves as the secretariat. 76. At the provincial level, the lead DRM coordination body is the Provincial Committee for Flood and Storm Control and Search and Rescue (PCFSC) with its Secretariat in the sub- Department for Water Resources and Flood and Storm Control within the provincial DARD. The Provincial People s Committee (PPC) has the ultimate authority on major decisions at the provincial level, while the equivalent People s Committees hold responsibility at district and commune levels in line with the overall provincial decision framework. Coordination between provincial authorities which share the same river basins (and hydrological risks) is underdeveloped. 77. At commune level, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) established within MARD in early 2010 serves as the implementing agency and focal point for the national CBDRM program. The DMC is responsible for developing strategies, policies, plans and guidelines related to natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation at commune level. The DMC also manages certain databases and provides technical assistance to the Directorate of Water Resources in the field of natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation and climate change adaptation on a national scale. 78. The National Hydro-Meteorological Services (NHMS), an operational unit under the MONRE, is mandated to carry out meteorological, hydrological and environmental observations, provide weather and hydrological forecasts, and provide other specialized services in support of planning for disaster prevention and preparedness. It provides hydrometeorology information for making engineering designs of disaster-resistant infrastructure and for storm early warnings to communities. At the national level, NHMS has a data center and a hydro-meteorological forecasting center, and it has nine regional hydro-meteorological centers and several provincial hydro-met forecasting centers. The communication on hydrology and meteorology information at provincial and lower level is often inadequate as are the links between the national and local level systems Institutional framework related to environmental management 79. According to Chapter 8 of the Law on Environmental Protection, key national agencies responsible for management of environmental protection include the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), the Ministry of Planning and Investment 25

31 (MPI), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, and other ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and Government-attached agencies. At provincial level, the responsibilities rest with Provincial-level People's Committees, District-level People's Committees, and Communelevel People's Committees. Key responsibilities are provided in Annex 2. Environmental Management structure is shown in Figure 2.1. Figure 2.1: Environmental Management Structure 26

32 CHAPTER 4. ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND 80. Given that the river basin approach is used to identify and prioritize investment subprojects, this chapter presents the environmental background and the natural disaster situation of the Central Region in the context of river basins, while more detailed information is provided in Annexes 3 and 4 and the river basin boundaries are shown in Figure 4.1. Figure 4.1. River basins and Provinces related to VN-Haz Project. 27

33 4.1. Environmental Background Natural features Geographic location 81. The Project area covers 10 provinces along the Central Coast of Vietnam (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Ninh Thuan) and involves 9 river basins: Ma (Thanh Hoa province), Ca (Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces), Ha Vang-Rac (Ha Tinh province), Gianh-Nhat Le (Quang Binh province), Thach Han (Quang Tri province), Vu Gia Thu Bon (Da Nang and Quang Nam provinces), Tra Khuc-Tra Bong (Quang Ngai province), Kone (Binh Dinh province); and Dinh (Ninh Thuan province). The area is bordered by the East with the South China Sea, the North with Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh and Son La provinces, the South with Lam Dong and Binh Thuan provinces, and the West with the Vietnamese Laotian border. Topography 82. The central coastal provinces form a strip of land between the Truong Son Mountain Range on the West and the South China Sea, stretching from Thanh Hoa to Ninh Thuan with a coastline of more than 1,000 kilometers (km). The Truong Son Mountain Range rises precipitously above the coast, its spurs jutting into the sea at several places, forming a steep typography and a thin lowland strip. The plain area is divided into three strips, the coastal strip including sand dunes, lagoons, coves and gulfs, the middle lowland areas, and the innermost alluvial plain. These typographic features exacerbate the impacts of natural disaster (especially floods). Floods will cause serious consequences, especially in cases of rapid on-set flooding (due to mountainous surface and short and steep rivers), slow withdrawal of floodwater (due to low and depressed areas in the middle and small and scattered drainage systems) and flash floods in the mountainous areas. Climate 83. The Project area lies within the tropical monsoon region, with an average temperature of 27 o C. The Central Region s climate is divided into two major patterns, the North Central and the South Central Coast. In the North Central area, in the winter, the monsoon winds usually blow from the northeast, picking up considerable moisture across the sea; consequently the whole area is influenced by cold and rainy weather, in contrast to the dry winter in the North of Vietnam. In the summer, the winds stop bringing moisture from the sea, while the Southwest winds blow from the opposite direction, causing hot and dry weather. During this season, daytime temperature can rise up to 40 o C while the air humidity is very low. In the South Central Coast area, the northeast monsoon winds are often weaker therefore, in the summer, strong southwest monsoon winds usually occur from the Gulf of Thailand resulting in dry and hot weather for the whole area. Key characteristic of the climate in the Central Regions are summarized as follows: From Thanh Hoa to Quang Tri: The season of maximum rainfall is from September to November, which makes up 80% of the total annual precipitation, therefore floods often occur on a large scale in this period of time. The dry season begins from July to the next August, coinciding with the hot and dry season associated with the Southwest winds, high rate of evaporation (960 1,200 mm/year), sand-bearing winds affect cultivating fields, resulting in soil degradation. 28

34 From Da Nang to Ninh Thuan: the rainy season begins towards the winter i.e. from September to late December. Ninh Thuan is the area most affected by El Nino, with a higher number of droughts affected months than other areas. Climate change has considerably reduced the flow of cold air over the area, and as a result, storms occur more often, and the sea level is rising, which has led to an increase of salinity intrusion in the whole area. Hydrographic conditions 84. The project area comprises a number of river networks, mostly of large and medium rivers such as Ma River in Thanh Hoa, Ca River in Nghe An, Gianh River and Nhat Le River in Quang Binh, Thach Han River in Quang Tri, Vu Gia-Thu Bon River in Da Nang and Quang Nam, and Tra Khuc-Tra Bong River in Quang Ngai. Most of the rivers are short and steep causing fast water flows and accumulation of sediment at the river mouths. They are originated within the territory of Vietnam, except Ca River system (Nghe An) originated from Lao People s Democratic Republic (PDR), and Ma River which originates in Vietnam flows through Lao PDR and comes back to Vietnam again. The hydrography of the rivers in the Central Region is largely determined by the South China Sea tides. In the area, there is a large number of important irrigation works and canal systems serving the purposes of water supply, irrigation and water transport for the area. The river water resources are being over-exploited resulting in decline of quantity (currently 50% of the flow is being exploited), especially in Ninh Thuan (79-80% of the flow is being exploited). Water scarcity in the dry season and floods in the rainy season are often the case in the whole area. 85. Ma River is short and steep, rapid concentration of flows. Ma River flow varies greatly, small flow in the dry season, and floods in rainy season. Ma River has one flood peak a year. Ca River is an international river, narrowing in the upstream, widening towards downstream, with two flood peaks a year, and frequent double floods. Vu Gia-Thu Bon flow has two separate seasons. The flood season often begins from half a month to a month later than the rainy season and often not stable. For Tra Khuc-Tra Bong Rivers, slope typography creates straight flows from the highlands to the lowlands, which can easily cause floods in the rainy season and drought in the dry season. Flow varies in different months with a big difference between the highest flow and lowest flow and a prolonged flood season. Climate change 86. Climate change is expected to alter the current runoff and rainfall regimes. MONRE has estimated an increased mean annual temperature for Vietnam from climate model simulations under a range of emissions scenarios. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report produced in 2007 provides the predictions for Viet Nam, for the period , assuming a medium emission scenario, based on the results of 21 Global Circulation Models (GCMs). 87. Most of the increase in average annual rainfall predicted by the GCM models is expected to occur in the already wet months of the year, with only a minor increase over the dry season. The result would be that the seasonal variation in river flows would increase, with a greater variation in runoff at the seasonal scale. The frequency of dry season water shortages may also increase, because of higher dry season evaporation rates. The higher temperatures will increase plant water requirements, increasing the dry season crop water demands. The other change expected is higher intensity of rainfall which will exaggerate the current issues in Vietnam regarding natural disasters in general, and some new risk issues in particular such as dam safety. River bank sedimentation and erosion 29

35 88. River bank and coastal erosion and river sedimentation happen in most of the rivers, resulting in a relatively high content of suspended solids in the rivers. Air quality 89. The air quality is generally good, except in some urban areas where levels of dust and noise are relatively high. Groundwater quality 90. Across the entire area, the groundwater is of relatively good quality and can be used for domestic water supply. However, the groundwater in some areas still contains high content of iron or manganese or salinity. Surface water quality 91. Under normal conditions, the quality of surface water is quite good, except the high content of suspended solids due to riverbank erosion. However, the water quality is often severely degraded during and after heavy rains or storms. Floodwater can also dissolves and/or spreads pollutants from waste dumping and treatment sites, broken sewage systems, faeces and wastes from toilets, etc. Disease-causing pollutants and microorganisms are largely spread by rainwater and floodwater. In the dry season, water level in rivers and lakes is lower and water flows become diminished, causing water pollution or salinity intrusion. Water quality of Ma River is relatively good, high suspended solids in the rainy season, deep salinity intrusion in the dry season, signs of pollution from domestic and industrial wastewater can be observed in some areas. Water quality of Ca River is at Grade B level appropriate for irrigation uses and has salinity intrusion in the dry season. Vu Gia-Thu Bon Rivers have most of the parameters that are below permissible limits for Grade A water (appropriate for domestic water supply purposes), except suspended solid and coliform bacteria. Tra Khuc-Tra Bong water quality is relatively good. In some monitoring locations, BOD and COD values exceed permissible limits for Grade A water. Soil quality 92. The soil quality of the region is generally good. However there are issues related to dioxin contamination at Da Nang airport where dioxin content in the soil exceeds 1,000 part per thousand (ppt) with a total contaminated area of up to 88,000 m 2. At Phu Cat Airport (Quy Nhon), the total area of dioxin-contaminated soil is about 4,000 m 2 and is concentrated in the airport area. Besides, there are areas contaminated by toxic chemicals during the war in Cam Lo, Dong Ha, Khe Sanh and Quang Tri. Other issues include land degradation due to destruction of watershed forests; desertification due to sand-bearing winds from Quang Binh to Binh Thuan; saline soil; reclaiming of wild lands; encroachment of seashores; destruction of mangrove forests for aquaculture farms and construction of salinity prevention dykes; and soil contamination due to agricultural chemicals. Mineral resources 93. The area has diversified mineral resources, which make up about 60% of iron ore reserves, 80% of tin reserves, 100% of Cronite reserves and 40% of lime reserves of the whole country Ecological features Terrestrial ecosystems 94. The terrestrial ecosystems of the region are mainly characterized by the natural and plantation forests within the Truong Son Mountain Range. In the past, due to inappropriate 30

36 exploitation of watershed forests, forests in some areas such as Dakrong (in Quang Tri province) have been severely affected; natural forest area has been reduced to 60%. Forests have been lost due to illegal logging, forest fires, Construction of hydro-electric power plants, encroachment on coastal protective forests to fully exploit mineral resources of titanium, clearing of forests for agriculture, etc. Marshlands, mangrove forests and coastal zones continue to be degraded due to improper aquaculture development. Aquatic ecosystems 95. The freshwater ecosystems found in the project area are not unique. Despite having about 670 km of coastline, 23 river mouths, many lagoons, a broad continental shelf with plentiful resources, abundant marine resources (with a reserve of about 620,000 tons of fish, 2,750 tons of shrimp and 5,000 tons of squid), the marine resources of the region are being over-exploited. National Parks and Reserves 96. In the area, many National Parks and Natural Resources Reserves of high biodiversity value have been established, such as: Ben En National Park (in Thanh Hoa provine), Pu Mat National Park (in Nghe An province), Vu Quang National Park (in Ha Tinh province), Khe Net National Reserve and Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park (in Quang Binh province), Cu Lao Cham Marine Reserve, Ba Na Nui Chua and Son Tra National Reserves (in Da Nang), etc. The establishment of many new reserves is being proposed at many sites such as Quy Nhon Marine Reserve, Nui Ba reserve (Binh Dinh), Vu Gia Thu Bon river basin reserve with the aim to protect the migration routes of Moi fish, Chinh bong fish, etc. Location of the National Parks and important natural habitats are identified on Map in Figure

37 Figure 4.2. Locations of national parks and important nature reserves 32

38 Socio economic features 97. The Central Region, with the concentration of major economic zones, possesses a lot of advantages as a strategic location, including human resources, 17 sea ports, 15 economic zones, 22 industrial zones, 2 export processing zones, 8 airports, 2 national highway, East- West Economic Corridor and projects of tens of billions USD worth. However, these potentials haven t been effectively tapped to boost the regional economy. In general, each province has its own advantages but lacks strategic planning, with small and scattered and spontaneous production still being common practice. Deep-water seaports of Chan May, Da Nang, Ky Ha and Dung Quat are not operating at full capacity. Industrial export processing zones lack attention and investment from national and international enterprises. In the Project area, the establishment of Dung Quat deep-water seaport and Industrial zone has formed a key economic zone spanning from Lien Chieu (Quang Nam - Da Nang) to Dung Quat (Quang Ngai), shaping an economic and tourism development axis along the Coastal areas, and connecting to a series of rising urban centers, including Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, Tam Ky, Quang Ngai, Quy Nhon and large economic zones such as Chan May Lang Co, Chu Lai, Dung Quat, and Nhon Hoi. In addition, Chan May deep water seaport and Industrial Commercial Service zone project and Nhon Hoi deep-water seaport and Economic zone project will lead to an expansion of the key economic region to the South to include Binh Dinh province. Locations of key Socio economic zones are identified on Map in Figure 4.3. Population 98. Vietnam has a young population age structure and high fertility, contributing to rapid population growth in many communities, exerting pressure on local resources and the environment. The people most directly affected by this are also the poorest who are least able to change livelihoods or lifestyles to cope with, or combat, local environmental decline. 99. Some impacts of strong population growth include: loss of arable agricultural land to development with marginal land use and increasing land degradation; clearance of native forests by farmers, loggers, and developers; increasing consumption of fossil fuels adding to climate change effects, etc The population in Project area is approximately 20 million people (according to 2006 Statistical Yearbook). In 2005, the population density of Vietnam was 242 people per km2, making it one of the most densely populated countries in Southeast Asia and in the world. Population densities of some main river basins in the Project area are shown in Figure 4.4. In the Project area, population densities of most of river basins are below the national average, except Tra Khuc and Kone river basins. All of the river basins have a rural population more than 70% of the total population. 33

39 Figure 4.3. Location of key socio economic zones Figure 4.4: Population density in the key river basins in the project area 34

40 Land use 101. Agricultural, forestry land and unused land areas are being reduced due to the shift of land use to construction of transportation networks, irrigation systems, hydro power plants, urban areas and factories. Infrastructure 102. In the urban areas, the infrastructure is quite good. In rural areas, the infrastructure is still poor, especially the rural road systems which haven t met the needs for transportation and rescue in heavy rains or floods. Smaller scale community projects at commune level are quite small and scattered. Economic situation and structure 103. The economy is growing at a fair rate, at 8.4%/year; while the growth rate of agriculture, forestry and aquaculture is at 5.29%/year. However, the regional economy is still in a difficult situation, with a high proportion of agriculture, forestry and aquaculture (37.8%), and 80% of the population working in agriculture. Rural labors are still suffering from lack of employment, low income and low living standards. Economic structure of the river basins is shown in Figure 4.5. Agriculture and Aquaculture 104. The main form of agriculture is rice cultivation and other edible crops, cultivation and catching of aquatic products which are heavily dependent on nature variables, therefore, poor crops and/or considerable damage often occur when there are floods and storms. Ethnic Minority Groups (EMGs) 105. The area is home of different EMGs, including Muong (in Thanh Hoa), Thai (in Thanh Hoa and Nghe An), Cham (in Ninh Thuan), H re (in Quang Ngai) and Kotu (in Quang Nam and Da Nang). EMGs are unevenly distributed from the East to the West. Kinh people reside mainly in the coastal lowlands. Figure 4.5. Economic structure of the key river basins in the project area Physical Cultural and Natural Heritages 106. There are some important physical cultural and natural heritages such as Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park the world heritage, and My Son temple complex, Hoi An Ancient Town. Locations of key cultural sites are identified on map in Figure 4.6. Community Health 35

41 107. Rural health services haven t been well-equipped in the provinces covered by the project area. Epidemics and environmental pollution often occur after floods due to a lack of sewage systems. During and after floods or storms, floodwater spreads waste from toilets, causing epidemics and environmental pollution. Since 2004, cattle and poultry disease epidemics have been happening nearly every year. Figure 4.6. Locations of key cultural sites 4.2 Natural Disaster Situation and Response Capacity 108. The Central area within the project coverage experiences most of the different types of natural disasters in Vietnam, of which the most frequent are floods, typhoons, heat waves, etc. Floods and inundations in the Central region usually occur on large scale, simultaneously in several provinces, sometimes cover the entire region (such as in 1999, 2003, 2009, 2010). Floods have been hitting the region more frequently and more fiercely, causing human casualties, property damage, and soil and water pollution. Flash floods occur from the river sources in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Da Nang, and Quang Ngai. Storms and tropical low pressures are happening more regularly and intensely. Data shows that in the period of 10 36