Planning and Implementation of the Dyke Systems in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Floods are a dangerous threat and an implicit risk for farming communities in rural floodplains of the Mekong Delta (MD). The Vietnamese government decided the dyke system construction to control floods and ensure safety for life and livelihood of flood affected communities. The case study of this dissertation refers to Can Tho city, an average floodplain community of the MD, covering also 9 districts. Here a comprehensive dyke system has been constructed to control flood risks. This thesis investigates the existing problems in the dyke system planning and its implementation, dyke impacts on the natural environment and socio-economic development as well as the adaptability of the flood affected farming communities in the protected floodplains. The study used both qualitative and quantitative research methods to collect information and data. Besides Global Positioning System (GPS) and a digital camera were used to identify the location of the most important samples in the field and during the fieldwork. Fieldwork itself was mainly based on the two rural communes of Thanh Thang and Thanh Phu, which are representative for the overall rural situation in Can Tho city and the MD. The study found that the Vietnamese government had made a basically correct decision concerning the necessity of flood risk control by the construction of a dyke system. Dykes have practically guaranteed safety for agricultural livelihoods of the flood affected farming communities and positively contributed to agricultural farming transformation from rice into integrated rice-fish production and rural road improvement. However, a centralized top down approach was strongly applied thus not considering the experiences and all expectations of public organizations and local people. The individuals and local organizations played a very weak role in the whole planning and implementation process. Dyke system construction consequently created conflicts between central planners and local people. In addition, the negative impacts of the dyke system have become a great threat for sustainable development in terms of water pollution, natural fish exhaustion, soil fertility reduction, erosion and in some instances, also due to increasing inundation of the fields. Thus, the dyke system construction and planning as well as implementation strategies need to be studied further to minimize the negative impacts of dyke systems and to ensure a stronger inclusion of local people and their knowledge in further planning approaches.