Cablegate: Vietnam - Support to Integrated Coastal Management

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000515

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND OES - MARSHA GOLDBERG
STATE PASS TO AID/ANE - TIM RESCH
STATE PASS TO NOAA - JONATHAN JUSTI AND ANNE WALTON
BANGKOK FOR USAID

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KSCA EAID SENV VM
SUBJECT: VIETNAM - SUPPORT TO INTEGRATED COASTAL MANAGEMENT
BY EMBASSY SCIENCE FELLOW

1. Summary. Anne Walton, a marine coordinator with the
National Marine Sanctuaries Program of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spent three weeks in
Vietnam as an Embassy Science Fellow in December 2004. She
focused on improving marine protected area management and
coastal zone management. Walton helped the GVN analyze the
STATE/AID/NOAA funded project on integrated coastal
management in the Tonkin Gulf in Quang Ninh Province
project. She compiled a strategic plan for integrated
coastal management in the Northern Tonkin Archipelago, which
will form the basis for the next phases of the project. The
strategy will be presented at the wrap-up session for Phase
I of the project to be held in Ha Long March 14-16 (to be
reported septel). The strategic plan provides a basis for
future proposals for public and private donor support in
marine protected area management and coastal management.
End Summary.

2. Anne Walton, a marine coordinator with the National
Marine Sanctuaries Program of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spent three weeks in
Vietnam as an Embassy Science Fellow in December 2004. She
met with the EST officer and US-AEP Representative to
describe her activities in Vietnam. Her focus was on
improving marine protected area management and coastal zone
management primarily through work on a two-year roughly USD
450,000 project to build capacity for integrated coastal
management in the Tonkin Gulf. The Department of State's
East Asia Pacific Environment Initiative (EAP-EI), USAID,
and NOAA are providing funding for this project. NOAA and
the World Conservation Union (IUCN) are carrying out the
project in partnership with Vietnam's Ministry of Fisheries
(MOFI), the Hai Phong Institute of Oceanography (HIO) and
the Ha Long Bay Management Authority (HLBMA). The first
phase of this three-phase project began in 2002 and will end
in March 2005. There is no funding for the second phase of
the project.

3. Walton helped conduct analysis and prepare final reports
for the first phase of the project. She also assisted IUCN
in coordinating a commune beach cleanup at Hon Mun Marine
Protected Area in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.
Compiling a strategic plan covering the project's second and
third phases as well as to extend the project area into
other areas of Vietnam as well as into southern China was
her main task. The plan addresses five resource management
issues: fishing activities, water quality, habitat loss,
tourism development, capacity building. The strategy will
be presented at the closing session of Phase I in Ha Long
City March 14-16 (to be reported septel) and will provide a
basis for future proposals for public and private donor
support.

4. Walton noted that integrated coastal management (ICM) was
appropriate for the long-term management and sustainable
development of the region's various resources. ICM attempts
to guide future development and to correct past
environmental mistakes, she observed. ICM allocates natural
resources effectively and limits ill-advised development,
but requires networking among all relevant government
activities, including national economic development
planning, communities and NGOs.

5. The first phase of the project focused on developing the
planning and managerial capacity for ICM among national- and
provincial-level officials, Walton said. This phase mainly
involved raising awareness of ICM for guiding decision-
making on coastal development, she noted. At the same time,
the project promoted ICM to enhance the strategic planning
process and analysis at the local and national level. The
project activities included training, technical assistance,
socioeconomic assessments, habitat surveys, community
education and outreach. Walton noted that project
activities illustrated the benefits of ICM to senior GVN
officials. Key officials involved included Vice Minister of
Fisheries Dr. Nguyen Viet Thang, Vice Minister of Science
and Technology Dr. Bui Manh Hai and Vice Chairman of Quang
Ninh Province People's Committee- Nguyen Duy Hung. Other
GVN officials, NGOS and corporate partners also attended.

6. According to Walton, the project's second phase will seek
to nurture the public-private partnerships initiated in the
first phase. These partnerships seek to address the policy,
managerial, community, economic and technical requirements
for the future growth and development in the region. Walton
said that the plan also forms the basis for a community-
based ICM plan for the area it covers. She also noted that
the plan identifies five priority resource management issues
and the appropriate activities in the first and second
phases to address those issues. The goal of the project is
to create a final plan to implement a system of marine
protected areas. Composed of stakeholders from communities,
local governments and NGOs, the NTA Protected Area
Coordination Council will be the primary vehicle to achieve
these objectives.

7. Walton went on to explain that the NTA protected Area
Coordination Council will meet at least three times during
Phase II to coordinate conservation and management of the
NTA. At the end of Phase II, the council will draft a plan
to address region-wide goals for marine and coastal resource
conservation, she added. Council members will have access
to historical and near real time geographically referenced
data sets and an analytical tool, developed in Phase I, for
making critical coastal resource management decisions for
the Halong Bay area, Walton noted. Another critical element
of Phase II will be to train and certify Vietnamese
officials to manage marine protected areas effectively.

MARINE

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