Assessing the Vulnerability of Agricultural Production Activities in the Coastal Area of Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam by GIS Analysis Tools

Abstract

Using Geography Information System (GIS) tools and remote sensing data in assessing the level of vulnerability of agricultural production activities in the coastal area has become more efficient in the recent years. This research has identified the sensitivity index (S) (including the traffic access index; the impact of residential areas; the impacts of industrial zones; the community dependence level), exposure index (E) (the sea level rises to 2100; the temperature change to 2100), the adaptable capacity index (AC) (slope; morphology), thereby synthesizing the vulnerability index (V). Based on the indexes to calculate vulnerability, the high to very high vulnerability area is 37,081.44 ha, accounting for 68.09%; the average vulnerability level is 15,286.49 ha, accounting for 28.07%; the low to very low vulnerability level with an area is 2087.82 ha, accounting for 3.84% of the total area. With a high and very high vulnerability accounting for 68.09%, there will be great influences on the lives of resident in the area, especially agricultural production.

Current Soil Degradation Assessment in the Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam, by Multi-Criteria Analysis and GIS Technology

“…This is one of the bases for the authors to conduct field surveys to collect typical soil profiles representing ten soil groups and land use types. (2) Thematic maps, such as the map of mechanical composition and soil thickness, are extracted from the results of analysis of typical soil profiles for ten main soil groups of the study area; vegetation map (edited from 2017 forest map of the Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam), current land use map, and bio-climatic map. (3) The physical, chemical, and biological degradation characteristics and signs detected in the field and the laboratory are considered to arrive at the current soil degradation map.…”

“…The worst situation is in Africa, where up to 73% of arable land has already been exhausted, and up to 66% of the continent is either desert or arid. About 800 million people living in arid regions suffer from hunger [2]. The above problems show that land degradation contribute to a 40-75% reduction in agricultural land productivity in the world.…”

“…Soil degradation in drylands is often referred to as desertification [4]. Soil degradation occurs due to many reasons, such as human impact and related physical and chemical environmental factors, but mainly due to human misuse of land as an essential leading factor [5]. In addition, due to the pressure of population explosion, the urbanization process's negative impacts have caused the agricultural production area to be increasingly narrowed, and land resources have been fully exploited without good fostering.…”

“…As a result, the soil will become increasingly degraded in terms of physical, chemical, and biological properties if there are no reasonable and timely interventions. In [2], a study on Soil Degradation Assessment and Livestock Perception in the Borana Area of Southern Ethiopia, soil degradation was defined as: a loss of vegetation cover leading to the soil surface being quickly exposed to the wind, increasing the process of soil erosion and leaching the organic components that bring vitality to the growth of plants [6]. In the work of [7] on the Analysis of Herbaceous Flora in Lohi Bher Wildlife Park under changing environmental pressures, it is also confirmed that soil degradation is the retreat (degradation) of the vegetation cover [7].…”

Assessing the level of vulerability due to climate change in extremely poor coastal communes in Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue provinces, Vietnam

“…Morphology: The morphology shows that the lower the morphology indicator is, the higher the lesion level is, and vice versa. The generation of morphological variation through information retrieval from the vegetation cover map in the study area (Son et al 2019a).…”