The focus of the research project is the Thị Vải river landscape and the Cần Giờ Mangrove Forest in South Vietnam. The selected survey sites are situated in three provinces: Hồ Chí Minh City, Đồng Nai and Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu

The catchment area of the Thị Vải covers app. 500 km² and overcomes nearly 90 km before it enters the South China Sea. There are about 80 companies, mostly situated in industrial areas along the river, which are discharging 34.000 m³ wastewater (from various areas and different origins) per day, mainly without effective treatment. Due to the numerous discharges, the river has been considered ecologically dead since about 1995.

This situation affects also the 760 km2 large Cần Giờ mangrove forest, adjacent to the Thị Vải River basin, which has been designated as a biosphere reserve in 2000. In recent years, the reserve was substantially damaged by erosion, sedimentation along the coastal region, fish farms, sewage and oil pollution. As a result of reduced land-based freshwater inflow, the seaside saltwater intrusion and the increasing evaporation, the forest soil is subject to chemical alteration.

The overall objective of the research project is the development, supply, and the use of water and environmental technologies and service tools in the framework of a management system. The system offers the user the capability of sustainable improvement of the environmental and living conditions of the designated coastal zone in South Vietnam. The project takes into account the anthropogenic influences, as well as the natural climate variability and future climate change.

In addition, the project aims to the transferability of the EWATEC COAST concept in the target country and other countries on capacity building, as well as the economic valuation of the management strategy.