ENVIRONMENT VS POPULATION: WHICH DEVELOPMENT? A GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE LAND USE PLANNING IN THAI NGUYED (VIETNAM)
T.Bouix, S. Darracq
French Institute of Pondicherry
P.B. 33, 11 Saint Louis street
Pondicherry, 605 001 India
The Thai Nguyen province, located in the northern part of Vietnam, is representative of the ecological and social conditions of the whole country: the forested areas are quickly decreasing and the population is steeply increasing due to the natural growth and migrations of people from cities to the countryside. Presently, the forests are located either on steep slopes or preserved areas (like the Tam Dao mountain Reserve). The Geographical Information System built for this province allows us to describe the state of these forests, to know where the population is located and to display and map these information very simply for the decision makers at the national and provincial levels. According to the environmental national policy, the decision makers would be able to simulate and map some of their land use planning choices, like:
Should they completely forbid the use of these forested lands (if yes, what would the settlers do?
Would it be better to teach the settlers how to right cultivate these areas (by building terraces, for example), in which case where and how should they preserve some forest areas?
Now it is for the decision makers to act. The GIS coupled with their own experience can allow them to take good decisions for a sustainable rural development at the provincial level.