Abstract
This chapter adopts a contextual vulnerability approach to examine the urbanizing Truong Yen commune in Trang An scenic landscape complex, a natural and cultural UNESCO World Heritage site in the Red River Delta of Vietnam. Trang An exemplifies the rise of ecotourism in Vietnam as a solution to the country’s need for both economic growth and environmental protection, while responding to climate change adaptation and mitigation challenges. Located in an area undergoing peri-urbanization, Trang An contributes to the fostering of a ‘greener’ urban development pattern while providing local communities with less climate-sensitive livelihoods. However, new vulnerabilities emerge from this transition as a result of redefined power relations and differential access to resources. Our critical approach provides a more nuanced picture of a project that is often represented as a success story. While pitfalls are inevitable in such a transformational project, the lived experience of local residents reveals the complex, elusive, and inefficient governance between the various stakeholders on the management level and begs troubling questions about environmental and social justice.
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Notes
- 1.
In Vietnam, cities are classified into several categories depending on their population, economic significance, and political role. They receive a different amount of financial support from the national authorities depending on their level. However, there is no strict threshold to shift from a level to another, and promotion to Level 1 is a governmental decision. Level 1 cities are major regional hubs (while Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have a ‘special class’ status).
- 2.
Decision no. 1266/QD-TTg, July 28, 2014.
- 3.
Republic of Vietnam, Government Portal, National Climate Change Strategy, http://chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/English/strategies/strategiesdetails?categoryId=30&articleId=10051283.
- 4.
Residents received a total of VND 3.2 million (USD 153) for 360 m2 for land that cultivates one crop per year, and VND 4.6 million (USD 220) for 360 m2 for land that cultivates two crops per year. 360 m2 is equivalent to one sao, the unit used for the redistribution of land after decollectivization in the late 1980s. As a general rule, each person received one sao of land in 1993.
- 5.
The provincial authorities are in charge of the expropriations, compensations, and conciliation in case of land conflicts.
- 6.
Doi Moi reforms are a set of open-door policies that marked the beginning of ‘a market economy with socialist orientation’ in Vietnam.
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Hoang, T., Pulliat, G. (2019). Green for Whom? Exploring Ecotourism as a Climate-Adaptation Strategy in Trang An, Vietnam. In: Daniere, A., Garschagen, M. (eds) Urban Climate Resilience in Southeast Asia. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98968-6_9
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