Residential planning - architecture model in mangroves populated areas in Ca Mau for climate adaptation and sustainable development

Objectives

Reducing mangroves encroachment due to housing construction in 2 communes of Ca Mau through providing guidance on residential planning and house designing

Background

• Ca Mau is the southernmost province in Vietnam, famous for the second largest mangroves forest in the world

• Factors such as land use, rising sea level or climate change have been reducing the mangrove coverage

• The project aims to conserve the mangroves in accordance with local housing needs in Song Goc and U Minh districts

Target beneficiaries

• 35 employees in provincial, departmental bodies

• 10 employees in municipal bodies

• 100 households within the project site

Outputs

• Field survey on land use planning conducted in August 2014. Survey result shows that there is not a guideline on house construction. Mangroves branches were cut to build their houses. Policy, although take into consideration of climate change impacts, yet never pays attention to mangroves protection in Ca Mau
• Set of standards, indicators and drawing on residential planning drafted. Among many others, one standard is to cluster houses (which are now separately located) in order to reduce the fragmentation of mangroves areas due to spontaneous house buildings by the local communities
• 3 house designs appropriate for 3 groups (shrimp farmers, fishermen, horticulture farmers) drafted
• Local authority sent MFF Vietnam a letter of commitment to integrate the project results into the province’s policy on construction
• At the final workshop, three climate resilient house designs were presented. The Department of Construction and participants expressed the needs for building demonstration houses at the next phase. They would mobilize other resources to build and display these house designs 

Contributions to cross-cutting themes

• Gender equality

• Climate change

• Knowledge management and communications