34 SEPTEMBER 2015 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG cultivation after Quang Ninh (Nguyen and Do 2014). Rice cultivation and aquaculture are the major livelihoods of farmers in the province. Aquaculture takes advantage of about 10,000 km of a very dense river system. In addition, 82 km of coastline, including six outlets, brings favorable conditions for aquaculture and other commercial activities. Countering these favorable attributes, the central north coastal region from Thanh Hoa - Nghe An southwards usually faces 8 to 10 storms, floods and other natural disasters every year. This region has also been considered to be strongly impacted by climate change. With more than 15,000 ha of aquaculture farms, the province needs sustainable development strategies to efficiently maintain its production systems. Vulnerability is a measure of the extent to which a community, structure, service or geographical area is likely to be damaged or disrupted, on account of its nature or location, by the impact of a particular disaster hazard (UNFCCC 1997). Most methodologies for vulnerability assessment of aquaculture use indicators to measure vulnerability (UNFCCC 1997, Handisyde et al. 2006, Dwarakish et al. 2009). Despite drawbacks such as loss of heterogeneity, limitations with data availability and high complexity, indicators still provide one of the most effective ways of measuring vulnerability. Concern about the impacts of global climate change to Vietnam have been clearly expressed at a high level. The country participated in formulation of the Kyoto Protocols (1998), the First National Report on Climate Change in 2003 (SRV - MONRE 2003), the National Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (SRV 2004), the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 35/2005/TTg on strategic planning for sustainable development in Vietnam, and Decision No. 47/2007/ TTg on approval of the Kyoto Protocols’ implementation plan, among others. In parallel, research and studies by national and international organziations have drawn great attention to this burning issue for the country. The current and future economic impacts of climate change on fisheries in Vietnam is considered to be substantial, estimated to be US$1.5 billion in 2010 and US$25 billion in 2030 (Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2012). Recent research (DoF 2007, UNFCCC 2007, IMHEN 2010, ADB 2009) has demonstrated negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems in general and aquaculture systems in particular, calling for long-term strategies to cope with climate change. With a long coastline, direct impacts from natural disasters such as salinity intrusion, storms and typhoons, sea level rise, floods and heavy rains represent challenges to the aquaculture and fisheries sector. Among Vietnam’s northern coastal provinces, Nghe An is the province with the second largest area of aquaculture A Vulnerability Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change on Aquaculture in Nghe An Province, Vietnam Nguyen Huu Nghia and Do Minh Phuong TOP, FIGURE 1. Location map of Nghe An province. BOTTOM, FIGURE 2. Concept of vulnerability assessment.
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