Abstract
Coastal protection measures and management play an important role in coping with coastal disasters and climate-induced sea-level rise. In this study, the success and failure of typical coastal protection works of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) are reported and documented from field observations over a study period of 10–15 years. The coastal protection structures evaluated include revetments, geotubes, t-shaped bamboo fences, Pile-rock breakwaters, Busadco's breakwaters, Semi-Circular breakwaters, and Hollow triangle breakwaters. This paper briefly reviews the current situation of coastline erosion problem and accretion in the VMD and illustrates the severity of the current erosion rate that threatens the safety of coastal communities. The paper then evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of various coastal management approaches currently in practice in the VMD to classify different types of possible measures for coastal management with the aim to find holistic measures for planning which require low construction investment. Integrated coastal management and planning are outlined at a regional scale followed by the lessons learned from the previous coastal protection works, and finally the multiple lines of defense (MLD) solution is proposed, which is a green infrastructure inspired nature-based solution. The MLD solution can improve biodiversity, facilitate mangrove forest restoration, and ensure sustainable livelihoods for local communities. Integrated coastal planning and management solutions that are based on the MLD principle are expected to withstand coastal disasters under future climate change, and sea-level rise on the VMD.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 106301 |
| Journal | Ocean and Coastal Management |
| Volume | 228 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 1 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work was partially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology ( MOST ) Vietnam in a national project (No. ĐTĐL.CN-07/17 ) “Research appropriate solutions and applicable technologies to prevent erosion, stabilize the coastline and estuaries of the Mekong River, from Tien Giang to Soc Trang” and the Southern Institute of Water Resources Research. Fulbright U.S. – ASIAN visiting scholar program (G-1-00005) funded for Dr. Duong Tran Anh to exchange research at University of South Florida, USA in summer 2021. The authors greatly appreciate the Editor and also deeply thank the four anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments to improve the manuscript. This work was partially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Vietnam in a national project (No. ĐTĐL.CN-07/17) “Research appropriate solutions and applicable technologies to prevent erosion, stabilize the coastline and estuaries of the Mekong River, from Tien Giang to Soc Trang” and the Southern Institute of Water Resources Research. Fulbright U.S. – ASIAN visiting scholar program (G-1-00005) funded for Dr. Duong Tran Anh to exchange research at University of South Florida, USA in summer 2021. The authors greatly appreciate the Editor and also deeply thank the four anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments to improve the manuscript.
Keywords
- Climate change
- Multiple lines of defense
- Nature-based solutions
- Sea level rise
- Vietnamese mekong delta
- integrated coastal management and planning
