SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

3. The research objectives, mission and scope. 3.1. The research objectives. The objectives of the study are applying the Multiple Perspective Tool to give multidimensional viewpoints relating to Climate change, equipping for students necessary skills in using this tool to analyse and assess not only this problem but also other ones especially environmental pollution and sustainable development. 3.2. The research mission This thesis focused on addressing the following missions: • Gain and choose data, documents; examine the geographical, historical and cultural – social characteristics of Thai Binh. • Analyse and integrate the evidence, reasons, impacts and adaptive solutions to climate change in Thai Binh. • Based on the previous results, the author used the Multiple Perspective Tool to assess Climate change in Thai Binh 3.3. The research scope. About the content: After analysing the characteristics of nature, economy, society , history and cultural diversity in Thai Binh, the author applied the Multiple Perspective Tool to appraise climate change under 8 perspectives of this tool. About territory: the study was done in Thai Binh. About methods: there are several methods used such as: quantitative, map and chart, field trip, comparative, especially using the Multiple Perspective Tool in assessing climate change in Thai Binh. About time: The series of climatic data was gathered in the period from 1961 to 2011, and the socio economic data was gained from 2005 to 2011.

To all the members of staff at Hydro - Meteorological Centre, Department ofLabour, War invalids and Social Affairs, Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism

in Thai Binh province as well as Thai Binh’s people who were very willing to provideneeded information and important data in the conduct of this thesis

Finally, my lecturers at Faculty of Geography, Hanoi National University ofEducation for supporting and concerning in the best way they can and my parents, myfriends always care and help me conquer difficulties in my life to study and finish thisthesis

Hanoi, 22thMarch, 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 9

1 Rationale 9

2 History of research 9

3 The research objectives, mission and scope 10

N3.1 The research objectives 10

3.2 The research mission 10

3.3 The research scope 11

4 The research viewpoint and method 11

4.1 The research viewpoint 11

4.2 The research method 12

5 Thesis structure 15

CHAPE I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 16

1 Climate change and adaptation 16

1.1 Climate change 16

1.2 Climate change adaptation 17

CHAPE II: THE NATURAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THAI BINH 23

1 The natural condition 23

1.1 The geography location and territory 23

1.2 Geology and minerals 23

1.3 Land topography 24

1.4 Climate 26

1.5 Hydrology regime 27

1.6 Marine regime 28

1.7 Soil 29

1.8 Biology resource 30

2 Socio – economic conditions 32

2.1 Population and society 32

2.2 Economic development situation 35

2.3 Infrastructure 36

CHAPE III APLICATION OF THE MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVE TOOL IN ASSESSING CLIMATE CHANGE IN THAI BINH 38

1 Values perspective 38

2 Geographic perspective 40

2.1 The impacts on natural resource 40

2.2 The impacts on socio – economic activities 43

3 Historical perspective 52

4 Cultural diversity perspective 53

5 Human rights perspective 55

6 Gender equality perspective 59

7 Scientific perspective 62

7.1 Climate change evidence in Thai Binh……….……… ……68

7.2 The cause of climate change 64

8 Sustainable perspective 66

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 70

REFERENCES 72

DIST District

ESD Education for Sustainable Development

GDP Gross Domestic Product

IPPC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

NAPAs National Adaptation Programmes of Action

NGOs Non-governmental organizations

MPT Multiple Perspective Tool

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural OrganizationWCED World Commission on Environment and Development

LIST OF TABLE Table 1: Thai Binh’s hydro - meteorological parameters

Table 2: The number of population by administrative units Table 3: The monthly

average income per capita at current prices in the period from 2008 – 2012 in theentire province, urban and rural areas

Table 4: The number of school divided by the levels of education from 2008 to 2013 Table 5: The rate of poverty in Thai Binh from 2008 to 2012

Table 6: GDP at compare prices by economic sectors from 2005 to 2010

Table 7: The damage from natural disasters in Thai Binh in the period from 1980

-2011

Table 8: Difficulties for households having migrating members in Nam Phu

commune, Tien Hai district

Table 9: The rate of poverty household in Thai Binh in the period from 2008 to 2012 Table 10: The monthly average income per capita at current prices in Thai Binh, Red

River Delta and nation from 2008 - 2010

Table 11: The proportion of female being students divided by school levels from 2008

to 2003

Table 12: The unemployment rate by gender

LIST OF MAP AND CHARTS Figure 1: The general diagram about eight perspectives of Multiple Perspective Tool Figure 2: Thai Binh administration map in 2012.

Figure 3: The chart about the current state of land using structure

in the period from 2008 – 2012

Figure 4: The population and the rate of natural increase through years in Thai Binh Figure 5: The number of health staff and hospital beds in Thai Binh from 2008 to

2012

Figure 6: The variability over years and the linear trend of area was inundated by

saltwater spilling into in the period from 1980-2011

Figure 7: The hard clam farming ponds in Nam Thinh commune, Tien Hai dist, Thai

Binh has been threatened by climate change

Figure 8: Ecological shrimp production model.

Figure 9: The situation of labour force and employment in Nam Phu commune, Tien

Hai district from 2005 to 2009

Figure 10: The effects of climate change and sea-level rise to migration in Nam Phu

commune, Tien Hai district

Figure 11: Vo Nhiem Maria Square – Trung Dong Parish –Tien Hai district

Figure 12: Residents in Cao Binh fishing village – Kien Xuong district

Figure 13: The year to year variability and linear trend of January, July and annual

temperature in the period from 1961-2011 of Thai Binh meteorological station

Figure 14: The year-to-year variability and linear trend of the amount of rainfall in

Thai Binh meteorological station from 1961 – 2011

Figure 15: The year-to-year variability and linear trend of the number of dry and

drought months in Thai Binh meteorological station from 1961 – 2011

Figure 16: Son Tinh storm (in 2012) – the storm having the strangest movement in

the last 40 years

Figure 17: Smog column of Shengli Vietnam special steel company, Cau Nghin

Industrial park, Quynh Phu district

Figure 18: Local people use Dang day method to catch fry.

Figure 19: The area of mangrove forest is planted at the end of 2013 in Nam Thinh

commune, Tien Hai district, Thai Binh

ABSTRACT

Nowadays climate change is the biggest problem of the human being It isalready happening and represents one of the greatest environmental, social andeconomic threats facing the planet The warming of the climate system is unequivocal,

as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and oceantemperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level

Because all regions over the world will fairly suffer on climate change,adapting to this issue is very imperative With the slogan “Thinking globally, actinglocally”, the author would like to contribute to equipping students with new and

effective tool in climate change education in Thai Binh province It is Multiple

Perspective Tool

After collecting and analysing basically natural and socio-economic conditions

of Thai Binh province, the author used this tool to assess reasons, impacts and proposesome solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change There are somefollowing conclusions:

- Cultural values of Thai Binh are either favourable conditions or barriers forclimate change education Ancestor’s experiences in the fighting againstnatural disasters can be applied for this moment

- Gender equality movement achieved several positive results, but maledominated ideology still is deep-rooted in local As a result, women’s lifebecomes more and more unstable in the context of climate change

- The old and children are vulnerable easily by climate change, so the mostimportant solution for adapting is to raise awareness of protectingthemselves to natural disasters, and training necessary skills to mitigateimpacts of this phenomenon etc

In the process of doing this research, the author used some methods such as:quantitative, map and chart, field trip, comparative, especially using the MultiplePerspective Tool in assessing climate change in Thai Binh Along with those, Mapinfoversion 10.0, PowerPoint, Excel software, proved their effective influences indesigning maps, charts and linear functions

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, Climate change is one of the hottest topics around The tropicalstorms have become stronger and more extra – ordinary (anomaly) in the movementwith the destroy ability have never seen before There are the increase in the frequencyand intensity of extreme weather; melting icebergs, glaciers and permafrost; sea-level

rise; and changes in the timing and amount of precipitation All of them lead to seriousresults, threaten the environment and ecosystems and put human life in danger.Therefore, this problem has been researched largely from global to local

Thai Binh is a coastal province, located in the South East of Red River Delta.From my research named “Assessment of the changes of some climatic factors in ThaiBinh”, author can conclude that: climate in Thai Binh has been changing in the last 50years and causing bad effects to the sustainable development in local One of the mosteffective methods to adapt to climate change is educating the young generation havingthe multidimensional view about this problem, also having the ability to adapt toclimate change However, we still lack tools to equip students for understandingdeeply about climate change, ensure for ESD (Education for SustainableDevelopment) in the future For the above reasons, I did this research with high hopingthat I can contribute to the sustainable development of Thai Binh province throughequipping the Multiple Perspective Tool (MPT) for students in adapting to climatechange problem effectively

2 History of research

Climate change is one of the most striking concerns of the world at thismoment In Vietnam, there are numerous documents and researches which wereconstructed and published such as:

- “Một số điều cần biết về biến đổi khí hậu”, Truong Quang Hoc and Nguyen Duc

Ngu, 2009

- “Giáo dục ứng phó với biến đổi khí hậu tại các trung tâm giáo dục thường xuyên”,

Ministry of Education and Training, 2012

- “Nghiên cứu biến đổi khí hậu vùng Đồng bằng sông Hồng thời kì 1961 – 2002”,

Master Thesis, Nguyen Quyet Chien, 2002

- “Kịch bản biến đổi khí hậu và nước biền dâng cho Việt Nam” Ministry of Natural

Resources and Environment, 2012

Etc…

However, researches about climate change in Thai Binh are still limited Some typicalresearches such as:

- “Nghiên cứu, đánh giá tác động của biến đổi khí hậu tới tỉnh Thái Bình, đề xuất

các giải pháp thích ứng, giảm thiểu thiệt hại” Dr A/ Prof Nguyen Van Hoang –

Geology Institute – Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 2010 – 2011

- Thesis “Nghiên cứu sự biến đổi của nhu cầu tiêu và biện pháp tiêu cho hệ thống

thủy nông Nam Thái Bình có xét đến ảnh hưởng của biến đổi khí hậu toàn cầu”,

PhD candidate Bui Nam Sach, Water Resources University

- “Assessment the changes of some climatic factors in Thai Binh province” PhD

Phan Thi Thanh Hang, Institute of Geography, Vietnam Academy of Science andTechnology and Phan Thi Loan, Faculty of Geography, Hanoi National University ofEducation

Previous research about the application Multiple Perspective Tool in ESD wasdone about clean water in some countries such as: Zambia, Tunisia, Thailand,

Scientific report “The Multiple Perspectives Approach as a framework to analyse

social systems in a developing country context” was done by author groups: Marita

Turpin, Pretoria University; Jackie Phahlamohlaka, Defence, Peace, Safety andSecurity, CSIR and Mario Marais – Meraka Institute, CSIR, South Africa… However,

at this moment, there is no research about application MPT in Climate change

3 The research objectives, mission and scope.

3.1 The research objectives.

The objectives of the study are applying the Multiple Perspective Tool to givemulti-dimensional viewpoints relating to Climate change, equipping for studentsnecessary skills in using this tool to analyse and assess not only this problem but alsoother ones especially environmental pollution and sustainable development

3.2 The research mission

This thesis focused on addressing the following missions:

 Gain and choose data, documents; examine the geographical, historical andcultural – social characteristics of Thai Binh

 Analyse and integrate the evidence, reasons, impacts and adaptive solutions toclimate change in Thai Binh

 Based on the previous results, the author used the Multiple Perspective Tool toassess Climate change in Thai Binh

3.3 The research scope.

- About the content: After analysing the characteristics of nature, economy, society ,history and cultural diversity in Thai Binh, the author applied the MultiplePerspective Tool to appraise climate change under 8 perspectives of this tool

- About territory: the study was done in Thai Binh

- About methods: there are several methods used such as: quantitative, map andchart, field trip, comparative, especially using the Multiple Perspective Tool inassessing climate change in Thai Binh

- About time: The series of climatic data was gathered in the period from 1961 to

2011, and the socio - economic data was gained from 2005 to 2011

4 The research viewpoint and method

4.1 The research viewpoint

4.1.1 Territorial viewpoint

A research region always sticks to a concrete space In each region areincluding not only the internal difference but also the intimate relationship withother areas about natural conditions and socio-economic characteristics Hence, thisthesis analysed both climate change in Thai Binh and specified that the climatechange in Thai Binh is a part and impacted by this phenomenon in the global scale

4.1.2 Synthetic viewpoint

This is a typical viewpoint of modern Geography with the crucial role inguiding sense method and approaching to research objects Following thisviewpoint, each territory is a unified and fully-constituted entity, also there areseveral components having the intimate relationship together As a result, this studyexamined the climate change in Thai Binh in overall relationship with the generalchange of global climate, also with other aspects: economy, culture, society,ecology and so on

Presently, this viewpoint is becoming more popular and applied largely in all ofnational economic activities, especially in exploiting and using the naturalresources The concept about sustainable development extracted from WorldCommission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1978 is “Sustainabledevelopment is development that meets the needs of the present withoutcompromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

To illustrate, when exploiting any territories for sake of profit, the sustainabledevelopment principles have to dominate all activities and policies The fact hasshown that, in some cases, the socio-economic development is unmatched withsustainability leading to several terrible and long term consequences onenvironment, followed by the degradation of natural resources In addition, theamount of money for reducing or restoring the environment is many times higherthan profit gaining from exploiting natural resources without sustainability Also,Climate change is one of 15 contents of ESD of UNESCO, so when author did thisresearch, every solution was recommended was based on this viewpoint

4.2 The research method.

4.2.1 Quantitative method.

Author gained necessary data, then choosing, analysing and integrating to putout conclusions based on 8 perspectives of MPT about climate change in Thai Binh

4.2.2 Field trip method

This is traditional method and has the origin from Geography Thanks to usingthis method, author can gain exact and important information about manifestation andimpacts of climate change in local During the research time, author carried thefollowing field trip:

- Author started from Tan De Bridge (Vu Thu district), went along national road 10,39B, 221A and stopped at Con Vanh beach (Tien Hai district) In that, there are somestop points, to specify:

 Tien Hai nature reserve area is located in Nam Hung, Nam Phu and Nam Thinhcommunes

 Ba Lat estuary (Nam Phu commune, Tien Hai district)

4.2.3 Interview method.

Along with field trips are interviews between author and local people aboutclimate change, particularly the impacts and solutions to adapt to this issue

4.2.4 Map and chart method.

It is necessary for applying some software such as Excel and MapInfo 10.0 tobuild trend charts and maps to increase visualization and express the relation betweenobjectives and phenomena obviously and systematically, to specify:

- To build Thai Binh administration map, author used MapInfo 10.0 software

- To analyse the fluctuation and provide forecast about the change trend of climaticfactors in province, author used statistic method to handle data and put out essentialconclusions

1

1

21

x

12

The climatic factors like temperature, rainfall have the certain fluctuationthrough years Hence, author used regression method to analyse the linear of theclimate change with variable t: x = f(t) In the simplest case, when f(t) is a linearfunction, we can define about linear change trend In that, the linear trend lines willhave the following form:

y(t) = at + b (*)

In that, a and b are regression coefficients and are defined as follows:

n

t

t x

t x t x

t x

a

2 2

1

and bx  a t , x = 



n t t

t

n 1

1

From equation ( * ) we can identify the change trends of data chains

(temperature , rainfall ) through analysing a coefficient When a> 0 , the factors tend

to increase over time (t ) ; whereas when a < 0 the ones tend to decrease over time The absolute value of a shows the increase or decrease trend of the data series

4.2.5 Multiple Perspective method

This method which was compiled for the first time by PhD Claudia Bowers, Kent State University (USA) was applied for ESD in 2011 Then, thismethod was officially published in 2012 based on the results of pilot testing of theMultiple Perspective tool through UNESCO Hanoi, UNESCO Kingston and UNESCOWindhoek For sake of proving an effective equipment not only in ESD but also inenvironment issues, MPT helps students to learn about sustainable development from avariety of knowledge; identify and act for sustainable development; understand theviewpoint of ourselves and others; as a result, propose decisions for complex problemswhich effects seriously to the welfare of the individual, community and global Theadvantages of this method are to provide a helpful method of critical andcomprehensive thinking for complicate issues based on eight aspects:

Khourey-Figure 1 The general diagram about eight perspectives of Multiple Perspective

Tool.

This method covers the entire study, is presented in analysing and evaluatingabout climate change in Thai Binh based on 8 perspectives, also identifies and showsauthor’s opinions on aspects of economy, society, culture, history, environment andothers about climate change

Chape 2 Natural and socio – economic conditions of Thai Binh.

Chape 3 Applying Multiple Perspective Tool in assessing climate change in Thai

Binh

CHAPE I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1 Climate change and adaptation.

1.1 Climate change

Weather is a specific event or condition that happens over a period of hours or

days For example, a thunderstorm, a snowstorm, and today's temperature all describethe weather [15]

Climate refers to the average weather conditions in a place over many years

(usually at least 30 years) For example, the climate in Vietnam is monsoon tropicalclimate, while Miami's climate is temperate one The average climate around the world

is called global climate

Weather conditions can change from one year to the next For example,Vietnam might have a warm winter one year and a much colder winter the next Thiskind of change is normal But when the average pattern over many years changes, itcould be a sign of climate change

Climate change (CC) means a change of climate which is attributed directly orindirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere andwhich is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periods (the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate change in 1992 page

3)

Sea level is defined as the height of the sea surface above an equipotential

surface, called the geoid The geoid is where the sea surface would come to rest in theabsence of tides, water density variations, currents, and atmospheric effects If theoceans did not move and there were no tides or wind, the sea surface and geoid would

be the same surface Because of tidal and wind-driven changes, sea level is constantlyfluctuating Therefore, it is important to calculate the mean sea level, which is theaverage sea level at a given location over several years

Global changes in the mean sea level, which are due to other factors than thosediscussed above, are known as eustatic sea level changes Over the twentieth century,global sea level has risen on the average of 2.0 millimetres (0.08 inches) per year for atotal of 10 to 25 centimetres (3.9 to 9.8 inches) According to a recent EnvironmentalProtection Agency study, it is expected to rise at least another 20 centimetres (7.8

inches) by 2100 (the Water Encyclopaedia http://www.waterencyclopedia.com)

1.2 Climate change adaptation.

Climate change adaptation (Response/Coping) is the adjustment in natural orhuman systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects,which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities Various types of adaptationcan be distinguished, including anticipatory, autonomous and planned adaptation

(IPCC AR4 Glossary 2007)

Responses to CC have been grouped into two main categories: mitigation(addressing causes) and adaptation (addressing effects), with the former receivingmost of the attention until recently As the potential significance of the resultingchanges and the links with human causes has become clearer, demands for assistance

for the most vulnerable/least resilient have become louder (Nelson et al 2007) leading

to adaptation moving up the agenda The previously overlooked interactions betweenmitigation and adaptation are also receiving greater attention, because of the potential

synergies and trade-offs implied for policy decisions (IPCC, 2007)

Adaptation to climate change can be spontaneous or planned The latter –whether seen as a normative goal, or as a process of policy changes or practical actions

- is rising up the international development agenda From an initial focus on top-downanalyses of CC impacts, attention has shifted to vulnerability assessments (againconducted in a top-down manner) and more recently to both top-down and bottom-upadaptation planning (e.g National Adaptation Programmes of Action or NAPAs12)

2 Sustainable development and Multiple Perspective Tool

Sustainable development was defined by the Brundtland report in 1987 that:

“development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability

of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED, p 43)

Sustainable development includes three factors that are social, environmentaland economic Behind them is the culture which is seen as an internal factor At theJohannesburg Summit, again these elements were confirmed as a set of tripod of

sustainable development, contributing to the form and content of Education forSustainable Development.

“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”Nelson Mandela said The United Nations Decade of Education for SustainableDevelopment (DESD) signalled a new purpose for education This purpose, articulated

in the Bonn Declaration, is that “education should be of a quality that provides thevalues, knowledge, skills and competencies for sustainable living and participation insociety and decent work” (UNESCO, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, &German Commission for UNESCO, 2009, p 118) Sustainable development addressesthe interdependencies between social, economic, cultural and environmentaldimensions of life

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is education, which promotes

the balancing of economic growth, environmental conservation, cultural diversity andsocial well-being in a way that is inclusive of marginalized populations and attends togender issues (UNESCO, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, & GermanCommission for UNESCO, 2009)

The ability of educational institutions to respond to the complex expectationsembedded in ESD can be enhanced through a multiple-perspective approach toteaching and learning A multiple-perspective approach promotes interdisciplinary andintercultural competencies as it addresses challenges to local or planetarysustainability Interdisciplinary thinking, in which concepts and knowledge fromdifferent academic traditions are used to analyse situations or solve problems, allowsstudents to use knowledge in new and creative ways "Intercultural dialoguecontributes to sustainable development by facilitating knowledge exchange -traditional, local, and scientific Through combining all these valuable forms ofknowledge, more sustainable practices can be developed and better resolutions tocurrent issues may be achieved" (Tilbury & Mulaf, 2009, p 7)

Multiple-Perspective Tool is designed to help students of today to understand

and work with complexity when the world becomes more and more complex.Although the world has advanced tremendously in the last half century intechnological terms and in the creation of wealth, many inequities and problemspersist and in some cases are getting worse For example, ecosystems are eroding andthe gap between the “haves” and the “have not” is growing The decline in some casesseems unstoppable using current knowledge-base and proposed solutions The task of

creating a more sustainable world characterized by environmental integrity, socialequity, cultural diversity and economic justice is immense Such a future will requirethe citizens and leaders of today and tomorrow to be able to understand complexityand work with complexity

In addition, the Multiple-Perspective Tool is designed to help students to work

in multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective teams In the work world of today (e.g ingovernments, NGOs, international agencies and corporations) the tendency is to formteams of people to work on large projects, complex problems and seeminglyintractable situations As one examines the composition of these teams, the multi-disciplinary nature becomes evident For example, engineers work with cognitivescientists and physiologists to design an instrument panel for an aircraft In aninternational agency, it is typical to have a political scientist, an educator, aneconomist, a biologist, a communication specialist, an anthropologist and a genderspecialist working on a community development project Each member of these teamsbrings not only disciplinary knowledge to the team, but also brings the perspectivesand insights that come with the study and the practice of a discipline Moreimportantly, each team member asks questions that stem from their differentdisciplines Also each team member collects different information about the centraltopic and analyses it The results of these types of multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective teams are impressive (e.g new technologies are designed and long-standing community problems resolved) Team members report that their success isgreatly based on the complementary knowledge and skills of the entire team

In order to develop sustainably, there are numerous methods and toolsproposed In that, although MPT is a new one, it proves its efficiency in someenvironment issues and promises to show the efficiency in CC Teaching throughmultiple perspective approach provides an efficient method to guide the thinking bothgeneral and specific for students about complex systems, especially on environmentalissues such as climate change, clean water systems Students are guided toaccumulate knowledge based on eight perspectives:

- Scientific perspective: science is a systematic and logical way of knowing

about the world around us The scientific perspective is understood internationally; it

is also a process that formulates and answers “testable” questions The resultinganswers must be repeatable (e.g the results of an experiment done at one time andplace, can be duplicated at another time or place) Science is also a body of knowledge

that can be logically and rationally explained Science for many students is based ondeveloping and using basic science process skills (e.g observing, measuring, inferring,classifying, predicting and communicating) as well as integrative science process skills(e.g formulating hypotheses, identifying variable, designing investigations,experimenting, analysing data, and formulating models) Science helps students learn

to think in logical ways that are internationally accepted within the scientific andacademic communities Science helps student to recognize personal biases and to learn

to step away from cultural, local and personal contexts to assume a more remote and

“objective” position or point of view

- Historical perspective: history records the changes in the world over time; it

examines the past to inform actions of today and the future A historical perspectiveconsiders past events as resulting from interactions of humans (i.e individuals andgroups) History is often studied in specific time periods (e.g Middle Ages orcontemporary)

History often involves elements of other disciplines such as geography andincludes the context of the place (e.g terrain and natural resources) History studiesboth the decisions of rulers and governments and the strategies and institutions ofordinary people coping with life

- Geographic perspective: Geography is a broad discipline that bridges the

natural and social sciences For the Multiple-Perspective Tool, geography contributesanalysis of spatial distribution Geographers often use maps of different scales to studyphenomenon on local to global levels This practice is called multiple-scale analysis; it

is also carried out on time scales The geographic perspective is concerned with spatialand temporal relationships between events and processes (McKeown-Ice & Dendinger,2008) Spatial relationships exist between local conditions and the global phenomenathat drive or cause them The temporal perspective is a systems-thinking view, whichrecognizes that phenomena occur across multiple time scales, some events occurring in

a matter of seconds or minutes, while other events occur over millions of years (Kok,Patel, Rothman, & Quaranta, 2006)

- Human rights perspective: human rights are basic rights and freedoms to

which all people are entitled regardless of nationality, sex, age, national or ethnicorigin, race, religion, language, or other status Human rights are universal andegalitarian, with all people having equal rights by virtue of being human TheUniversal Declaration of Human Rights unequivocally states that all humans are to be

afforded certain rights including, but not limited to, life, liberty and security of person

as well as the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being ofhimself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care, andnecessary social services

- Gender equality perspective: Gender equality acknowledges the important

role that gender plays in many societies While women/girls and men/boys playdifferent roles, they should be valued equally Both women and men should be treatedwith respect and dignity Gender equity implies that opportunities for education, workand contributions to society should be determined by the person's attributes, not bygender

- Values perspective: Values are an internal or cultural reference for what is

good, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, constructive, etc The values thatindividuals, cultures and countries hold influence decisions on a personal level and on

a national level United Nations history carries with it a host of values related tohuman dignity, as well as rights, equity and care for the environment Sustainabledevelopment takes these values a step further and extends them between generations.Understanding one’s own values, the values of the society in which one lives, and thevalues of others around the world is a central part of educating for a sustainable future.Understanding values is an essential part of understanding an individual’s ownworldview and that of other people Each nation, cultural group and individual mustlearn the skills of recognizing their own values and assessing these values in thecontext of sustainability (UNESCO, 2005c)

- Cultural diversity perspective: Culture is a set of distinctive spiritual, material,

intellectual and emotional features of a society or a social group, and … encompass, inadditional arts and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems,traditions and beliefs Each person brings worldviews and cultural traditions that helpbind the individual to a specific cultural group In a world where mobility isincreasingly common and easy, people of different cultures are crossing paths andliving closely together

Cultures evolve over time; especially as once distant cultures come in contactwith one another Such contact regenerates cultures across time and space Withglobalization and accelerated cultural change, there is a concern that cultural diversitywill diminish and languages, which are central to worldview and culture, will be lost

Cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature.There is increasing awareness of the “inextricable link between biological and culturaldiversity, and the recognition of the crucial role that it plays in sustainabledevelopment and human well-being worldwide” (UNESCO, 2007, p7)

- Sustainability perspective: Sustainability balances environmental, social, and

economic concerns, and focuses on the future to assure the well-being of upcominggenerations It is future oriented while being informed by lessons of the past and bytraditional knowledge For all societies, wise use and equitable access of resources arecritical to maintaining current standards of living and to ensuring a high quality of lifefor future generations

The sustainability perspective involves thoughtful use of natural resources aswell as social equity, cultural diversity and economic justice Thoughtful use of naturalresources includes ensuring that rates of human use of natural resources are within thelimits of natural systems for cyclic replenishment, regeneration or recharge (e.g.cutting forests no faster than the trees can grow or pumping water from an aquifer nofaster than it can recharge) The sustainability perspective also includes addressing themany social inequities in our societies associated with gender, race, ethnicity, etc aswell as the growing economic gap between the poor and the rich (e.g approximately1.2 billion people live on less than US$1 per day) In adopting a sustainabilityperspective, students engage in: (1) critical thinking skills of analysis, synthesis andevaluation as they interpret data, (2) consider social and cultural practices and values,and (3) assess economic impact as they evaluate existing or proposed solutions orcreate new solutions to problems

The sustainability perspective helps students to analyse complex problems withroots in environmental, social, cultural and economic realms It helps students analyseproposed solutions and evaluate their potential outcomes and impacts – both positiveand negative It also helps students to create and evaluate solutions of their own

The first application of MPT is in the field of clean water in some regions, inthis research the author is going to do the application of this tool for ESD in anotherfield being Climate change in Thai Binh

CHAPE II THE NATURAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THAI BINH

1 The natural condition

1.1 The geography location and territory

Thai Binh is the coastal plain province which is located in the North-eastern ofsea-coast About administrative boundary, Thai Binh is bounded by Nam Dinh and HaNam province in the Southwest, by Hung Yen, Hai Phong and Hai Duong in the Northand overlooks the Gulf of Tokin in the east – a fully potential sea of the whole country.This province has an area of 1570 square kilometres and the population is 1786thousand people in 2010 About geographic coordinate, Thai Binh lies completelyabout 20017’ - 20044’North latitudes and 106006’ - 106039’ East longitudes

Presently, Thai Binh comprises 7 districts (Tien Hai, Thai Thuy, Vu Thu,Quynh Phu, Kien Xuong, Hung Ha, Dong Hung) and 1 city (Thai Binh city) ThaiBinh marine region is located in the Gulf of Tokin This is a shallow sea area with thedeepest place being lower than 200 meters Annually, there are a number of millionalluvium tons transported into Ba Lat estuary, Thai Binh estuary and Tra Linh drain,extends alluvial plain about 80 to 100 meters per year

1.2 Geology and minerals.

Thai Binh geology is quite simple The deepest boreholes in Thai Binh showthat the oldest rocks were formed about 57,8 million years ago According togeological documents, Thai Binh has the stratigraphic structure with 2 mainformations: Tertiary Period and Quaternary Period

The resource of natural gas with geological reserves being 7 billion cubicmeters has been exploited in Tien Hai since 1986 The annual production reaches totens of natural gases cubic meters, is contributed to production of porcelain, glass,marble, white cement… at Tien Hai industrial park Besides, in Tien Hai district, thereare some mineral water mines, at the depth of 450 meters having the reserve of 12million cubic meters They have been exploited since 1992 with the ultimateproduction being 9,5 million litters per year Some famous brands are Vital and TienHai mineral water Recent time, at Duyen Hai commune some mines of hotgroundwater are discovered with 57oC and lie at the depth of 178 meters These minesare exploited for sake of tourism and curing diseases

Furthermore, in the ground of Thai Binh, there is a large amount of semibituminous coal, belonging to Red River Delta Basin, is evaluated that having a greatreserve but distributing at the depth of 600 – 1000 meters so to exploit is far from easy.

1.3 Land topography

Lying in Red River Delta, Thai Binh is one of few plain provinces withoutmountain Topography of Thai Binh is relatively flat with the slope being less than 1%and altitude variability being from 1 – 2 meters From north to southeast, the elevation

of topography decreases gradually; Thai Binh’s topography is divided into 2 sections:

 The Northern section of Tra Ly River is formed soon and affected by the drain

of Thai Binh River alluvium The topography is complicatedly scattered and is arelatively high section except in Dong Hung district

 The Southern section of Tra Ly River is comparatively flat and the elevation islower than that of the Northern one This is a typical alluvial plain drained by ThaiBinh River

Sea, Thai Binh is under the monsoon influence The cold and dry north – eastmonsoons are from November to April The hot and humid south-west monsoonscausing a lot of rain are from May to October

Temperature regime: The seasonal differentiation of temperature is quite clear.

The annual temperature is 23,4oC, there is no month in which the temperature is under

16oC The total temperature are from 8400 – 8500oC January is the coldest month withthe average temperature being 16,8oC, meanwhile July is the hottest month with theaverage temperature being 29,2oC

Table 1: Thai Binh’s hydro - meteorological parameters.

Parameters Temperatur

e

(0C)

Humidit y

(mm)

Rainfall

(mm)

Arid index

(Source: Thai Binh Centre of Meteorology and Hydrology)

Humidity: The annual humidity gains 87% March and April are the moistest

months with the monthly average humidity being from 91 - 92% November andDecember are the driest period with the monthly average humidity being about 82 -83%

Arid index (a) is the ratio between the evaporation and the precipitation in the

same period (if a > 1 is sorted of the arid period and if a < is sorted of the humid

period) Reviewing the monthly average arid index, we can realize a cleardifferentiation among the periods in year The period of water shortage prolongs 5months from November to March (Table 1).

Sunshine hours: the total amount of sunshine hours is 1492 hours May and

June have the most sunshine hours with about 181,6 – 184,3 hours By contrast,

February and March have the least sunshine hours with about 37,5 - 42,7 hours.

Evaporation: the total amount of evaporation is 846,2 mm November has the

highest evaporation and reveals about 88mm February has the least evaporation with41,4 mm

Rain regime: The annual rainfall fluctuates between 1111 and 2145 mm.

However, rain regime divides into two seasons The rainy season starts from May toOctober with the amount of precipitation occupying about 70% that figure all year.The number of rainy days is about 150 days per year

Wind regime and storm: the prevailing wind in the summer is South – East

monsoon and in the winter is North – East According to the statistical data, stormseason starts in May – November, at most in July, August and September Thestrongest wind speed in storm reaches 40 – 45 m/s

1.5 Hydrology regime.

River nets of Thai Binh are tributaries of Red River system and Thai Binh Riverone The river density is thick with about 2,54 km/ km2, contributes to draining thefertile and alluvial plain, which benefits for agriculture

There are 4 river systems lying in Thai Binh province scale:

• In the South and Southwest (from Luoc River confluence to Ba Lat estuary) isRed River with 77 km, this is the main source providing water and alluvium for local

• In the North and Northwest is dominated by Luoc River (a tributary of RedRiver) with 53km, this is water source for Quynh Phu and Hung Ha district

• In the North and Northeast is Hoa River that flows into Thai Binh tributary andextends 38 km

• At the middle of Thai Binh province is Tra Ly River (another Red Rivertributary) that divided this province into 2 sections: Northern and Southern section

Thai Binh lies in the downstream of Red River – Thai Binh River system Flowregime is very complex, mainly affected by headwater regime River regime is dividedinto 2 clear periods: flood and dry period Flood season (June - October) makes up 80– 85% discharge of stream, while the dry season prolongs 7 months and accounts for

15 – 20% discharge of stream

In Thai Binh, the regulation of Red River – Thai Binh river system showsclearly Annually, via Luoc and Duong River, Thai Binh River is provided from RedRiver system about one third the amount of water

1.6 Marine regime

Thai Binh has 5 estuaries that flow into the Gulf of Tokin, so they are affecteddirectly by tidal regime of this Gulf With the diurnal tide regime, there are a flood tideand an ebb tide, the highest of tide attains 3,4 – 4 meters Duration of flood lasts 11hours and that of fall prolongs 13 hours Duration between a neap tide and a springtide period is 15 days The highest water of spring tide is at the beginning of dryseason (October) and the lowest one is at the ending of dry season (March) In the time

of spring tide, the flow of Red River at downstream is influenced by the tide of theGulf of Tokin Crest tide wave runs into inland about 150km in the dry season and 50– 100 km in the flood season

About the saltiness, the mean salinity of the offshore East Sea is 31,5‰ - 34‰.However, because there are many foreshores, the salinity depends on topography Inthat, coastal salinity fluctuates between 11‰ and 30‰ Besides, the variation ofsaltiness depends on the time and foreshore position In the winter, the mean salinity is

28 - 30‰, meanwhile, in the summer, that figure is 20 - 27‰ The interval of salineintrusion into 10 km is 1‰ and 5 km is 4‰

The pH which depends on the amount of fresh – water, brine and hydro genicanimal activities varies slightly from 8,0 to 8,4 The pH in November is higher thanthat on May and June about 0,05 - 0,1

1.7 Soil

Thai Binh’s soil is formed by the coastal deposition process and theacumination of Red River and Thai Binh River alluvium There are 4 main kinds ofsoil:

- Sandy soil: including coastal old and new sandy soil that allocate in thehigher topography place With coarse-grained, low absorb capacity, sandy soil has

weak coherence and low humus content Also, river sand is quite popular because ofthe influence of broken dike Digging into the depth of 2 – 3m we can find coastalsediment layer

- Salt affected soil: In view of substance, this is alluvial soil but over time issalty; the soil composition is from heavy to very heavy

- Alkaline soil: this is normally known as alkaline pockets, when observingsoil profiles we can see that Jarosite floor has straw yellow - white colour, likes theslag and lies at the depth of 25-26 cm; the pHkcl fluctuates between 2.8 and 3.5 andthe cations including Fe 2 +; Al3 + are highly mobile to form active alum

- Alluvial soil: Including outside dike soil which is often accreted and insidedike soil which is not accreted frequently and changes toward gley soil Due to thedeposition of the Red River and Thai Binh River system or overlaid each other, theyare divided into several categories in which alluvial soil is the most popular one

In the land use structure, most of land is used for agricultural purpose whichaccounts for 60% and tends to narrow Meanwhile, the land for resident andspecialized purposes increases with about 18.1% and 8.2% in 2012, respectively.Mangrove forest land accounting for 0.9% in the number of total land area slightlyincreases Notably, other lands (including unused land, lakes and rivers) make up asignificant proportion of 13.3%

Figure 3: The chart about the current state of land using structure

in the period from 2008 – 2012

(Source: Thai Binh Statistical Yearbook in 2012)

1.8 Biology resource

1.8.1 Plant

Because topography is mostly plain, wild plants of Thai Binh are very poor andalmost of plants are cultivated ones The largest wild plant biome is mangrove whichdistributes mainly in Thai Thuy and Tien Hai district

* Wild plant cover:

- Mangrove forest: There are 6 maritime plants out of 51 typical mangrovespecies in Vietnam living in Thai Binh; they are: Kandelia obovata, Aegicerascorniculatum, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Sonneratia caseolaris, Hibiscus tiliaceus andAcanthus illicifolius

Currently, Thai Binh has a mangrove forest area of 11750 ha in which there areover 500 ha of primitive forest and 7000 ha of cultivated forest

* Cultivated plant cover and aquatic biome:

- Cultivated plant cover is divided into 8 kinds: cultivated biome in residentarea, perennial biome, rice biome, cultivated Sedge and Casuarina, vegetable biome,cultivated mangrove biome

- Aquatic biome includes algae, water – fern, seaweed…

Thai Binh possesses 2 out of 5 world biodiversity reserve areas of Vietnamwhich are Red River Delta and Thai Binh coastal world biosphere reserve areas Thisfirst area lies in 3 provinces: Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh having the highlightvalue in the world about biodiversity, landscape value The second one includes 2parts located at estuary and adjacent areas with Hai Phong and Nam Dinh province

* Birds: according to statistic data, there are 149 species of bird and they live mostly inmangrove Especially, scientist found two local birds having the global meaning; theybelong to Thai Thuy and Tien Hai bird region.

* Reptiles: the typical reptiles in Thai Binh are snake, lizard, Trionychid turtle andturtle

* Fish:

+ Marine fish: In Thai Binh, there are 94 species, 65 genuses, 41 family and they make

up 10 % of the total number of fish species in the Gulf of Tonkin The great number offish families is white goby (13 species), anchovy (7 species), mullets (6 species) ,flounder (5 species)

+ Freshwater fish: The area of ponds, lakes, rivers and ditches is up to thousands ofhectares This is good condition for irrigation, water supply, as well as fishingactivities

- Shrimp: Like fish, there are two shrimp types: marine shrimp and freshwater prawn

- Insects: There are both types of beneficial insects and pests

2 Socio – economic condition

2.1 Population and society

According to the 2012 census, in 2012 Thai Binh population was 1787.4thousand people, ranked 4/10 provinces in the Red River Delta region The populationdensity is 1139 people/km2 and higher 3.5 times than that of Vietnam and 1.2 timesthan that of the Red River Delta region The rate of natural increase which decreasedfrom 0.93% in 2005 to 0.9% in 2008 rose to 0.94% in 2009, followed by a slight dropinto 0.87% in 2012 This ratio when compared to that of the Red River Delta regionand country is quite low

Table 2: The number of population by administrative units (Unit: thousand)

Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Kien Xuong

212,1 212,3

(Source: Thai Binh statistics Yearbook in 2010 and 2012)

Figure 4: The population and the rate of natural increase through years in Thai Binh

(Source: Thai Binh statistics Yearbook in 2010 and 2012)

The living standard of people is gradually improved In 2012, the monthly average income per capita at current prices in 2012 gained 1,7 million VND and doubled from 2008 to 2012

Table 3: The monthly average income per capita at current prices in the period from

2008 – 2012 in the entire province, urban and rural areas.

(Source: Thai Binh statistics Yearbook in 2010 and 2012)

- Education: Thai Binh is one of the provinces which have the most dynamiceducation and training activities In 2012, the rate of general education attained99,96%, in that, female reach 99,92% and gradually rise over time

In 2012, the rate of high school graduation gained 99,89% and slightly went upthrough years Notably, in Kindergarten education, the number of public schoolincreased significantly; meanwhile, the number of private school went down overtime In 2011 – 2012 school year witnessed this transformation clearly

Table 4: The number of school divided by the levels of education from 2008 to 2013 School year Kindergarden Schools

Public Private Total Primar

y school Secondar y school High school

(Source: Thai Binh statistics Yearbook in 2010 and 2012)

- Health service: Presently, in Thai Binh, there are 24 hospitals, 286 communeclinics with the rate of having doctor clinics is 64,68% Besides, the rate of clinicsattained the national standard is 33,65% in 2012

Figure 5: The number of health staff and hospital beds in Thai Binh from 2008 to 2012

(Source: Thai Binh statistics Yearbook in 2010 and 2012)

The general poverty rate of Thai Binh decreased from 9,8 % in 2008 to 7,6% in

2012 In 2010, this rate increased suddenly, which is the result of the regulation ofpoverty standard in the period from 2010-2015; however this rate shows that the rate

of near poverty is quite high

Table 5: The rate of poverty in Thai Binh from 2008 to 2012

(Source: Thai Binh statistics Yearbook in 2010 and 2012)

2.2 Economic development situation

In 2010, Thai Binh’s gross domestic product at current prices gained 58145billion VND The average gross domestic product growth rate in the period from 2006– 2010 was 12,04% per year and different by sectors:

Table 6: GDP at compare prices by economic sectors from 2005 to 2010

The growth rate - %

(Source: Thai Binh statistics Yearbook in 2010 and 2012)

Along with the high and stable growth rate, the structure of economy by sectorshas been changing toward industrialization – modernization trend The proportion ofGDP at current prices of primary sector went down from 38,16% in 2008 to 32,8% in

2012 By comparison, that of secondary sector went up from 28,4% to 33,57% and thepercentage of tertiary one stayed unchanged at 30-33% during the same time

In each sector, the changes have happened clearly Firstly, in primary sector, adecrease trend has been seen in agriculture, whereas the opposite tendency has beentrue for fishing In agriculture, planting has witnessed a significant drop; meanwhilelivestock has an increase in the proportion Then, in secondary sector, the percentage

of manufacturing has a gradual rise while that of building and construction has aslightly decrease This is a reasonable trend to meet the need of market and attract theinvestment

2.3 Infrastructure

2.3.1 Irrigation system

Thai Binh’s irrigation system has the origin of river system and was improvedover time, especially in years (1930 - 1940) and (1972-1978); for sake of irrigating anddraining off the water, the river flood and sea tide have been exploited All of themcontribute to forming the fertized soil area for producing rice, and reach the top inrice’s productivity and the yield of the whole nation

Irrigation system has been built soildly Thanks to national budget and the tens

of billion VND of people, the tens of sewers and kilometers of dike have beenconstructed Up to now, Thai Binh has the irrigation system with 584 km of dike, 244sewers, 90 embankments, 1936km leading rivers, 1953 infield sewers, 1194 electricpumping stations with the total capacity of 280m3/s and over 14220 km of field surface