WELCOME MESSAGE

Danang is strategically located in the central coast of Vietnam, which provides a favorable condition for the development of trade and the service sectors. Danang is considered as one of the most important economic growth centers of the central region owing to its advanced industrial, commercial and tourism development. It is also becoming a center of science and technology as well as for culture and sports. The City’s urbanization has been very rapid in recent years. While the economic development opportunities are promising, the City is facing a string of environmental problems that impact not only on public health but also on the environment. Its coastal areas in particular have been subjected to multiple use conflicts. Their sustainable development is threatened by inadequate planning, increasing human activities, interagency conflicts and lack of coordinated management approach. There is a growing awareness that management measures must be stepped up to arrest or reverse the declining environmental conditions.

In 2000, Danang was selected as one of the national ICM demonstration sites of the Regional Programme on Building Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA). The ICM approach provides a broad policy and management framework and a planning and implementing process that integrates environmental concerns into economic development. It also provides the platform for stakeholders’ involvement and inter-agency and multi-sector coordination. The Danang ICM project has developed appropriate strategies and action programs that are important for addressing priority environmental issues and managing coastal use conflict. It has also provided a venue for stakeholders’ consultation especially in forging a shared vision for Danang’s coast and developing plans for the realization of this vision. After four years of implementation, the City is gaining a new reputation as the emerging pacesetter of ICM in Vietnam as it holds some of the proven successes of ICM. It is hoped that Danang’s success will serve as a good example for other coastal provinces and cities not only in Vietnam to follow but other coastal countries as well.

                                                                                              Dr. Nong Thi Ngoc Minh
                                                                                                     Ex - Chairperson
                                                                                        Project Coordinating Committee