Development Investment: Domestic and Foreign Investment Sources

The average annual humidity is maintained between 82 – 83%. The highest humidity can reach 100% and the lowest is 35 – 40%.

From May to November, the prevailing wind direction in this area is southwest, with an average wind speed of 3 m/s, carrying a lot of moisture and causing rain. From December to April, there is an northeast wind, with an average wind speed of about 2 m/s. Storms hardly affect Tram Chim and therefore, high-speed winds during rainstorms have never occurred.

Rainfall is clearly distributed seasonally, averaging about 1,650 mm/year. The rainy season is concentrated from May to November, with more than 90% of the rainfall concentrated in this period. Meanwhile, January, February, March and April are the driest months, with almost no rain. The average number of rainy days measured at Tram Chim Ramsar Site is about 110 - 160 days/year.

The Tram Chim Ramsar Site is hydrologically influenced by the Mekong Delta, receiving water directly from the Mekong River through the irrigation canal system (Hong Ngu - Long An, Dong Tien, An Hoa and Phu Hiep canals) that overflow into the fields and are flooded annually from August to December. The Tram Chim Ramsar Site is divided into 5 different management areas (A1 - A5), each area is surrounded by a system of canals and dykes with a total length of up to 60 km. The water level inside the Ramsar Site is regulated through a system of sluices and discharge gates located on the surrounding embankments.

The natural river network in the Tram Chim Ramsar Site and surrounding areas is quite dense, with a large flow rate. In the absence of any dykes, the Tram Chim Ramsar Site is supplied with water mainly by large source canals from

Mekong River such as: Dong Tien Canal, Hong Ngu - Long An, An Hoa, Phu Hiep. The direct water source to the Ramsar Tram Chim area goes through two main water routes: Dong Tien Canal, An Hoa and Phu Hiep. The influence of the East Sea tide follows the semi-diurnal tide regime and is greatest in the dry season. However, the largest amplitude of water level fluctuation is also within the range of less than 0.5 m. This amplitude gradually decreases until the flood peak appears.

The average depth of flooding in deep areas of the region is 2.5 to 3 m in years of heavy flooding. The flooding period is 4 to 5 months. Due to the development and expansion of the canal network, the current flooding period is one month shorter than before. The deepest and longest flooded areas are still the areas with lakes and lowlands.

The Tram Chim area is located in an inland depression with an average elevation of 01 m above sea level. The hydrological regime is the main driving force controlling the ecosystem of the original Dong Thap Muoi region. During the rainy season, water from the Mekong River on the Cambodian side slowly overflows the banks and the local rainfall will flood the depression with a water depth of about 2 - 3 m.

The flood peak occurs annually between mid-September and November. Floodwaters maintain high water levels for a period of over five months. As the floodwaters recede, the low-lying areas are low in water and the wetlands dry out due to evaporation, vegetation and natural drainage during the dry season. At the end of the dry season, some areas are still flooded, while in others the surface water is below the ground, but the soil is still moist due to capillary action. Only the high sand dunes dry out completely. The high humidity during the dry season prevents oxidation of the acid sulfate soils into potential acid sulfate soils, which are characteristic of the area, into active acid sulfate soils over a wide area.

Today, to reduce the risk of fire during the dry season, water levels within the Ramsar Site are maintained at levels higher than those experienced in the past. Vegetation composition, distribution and growth rates have been affected by these impacts.

c. Flora and fauna ecosystem

- Flora

+ The diversity of the wetland ecosystem in Tram Chim is reflected in the diversity of plant communities. Plant communities live on different terrain and soil conditions and are completely suitable for the environmental conditions in which they live. The composition of the vegetation has been counted as 198 species, an increase of 68 species compared to the survey results in 1998.

+ Seasonally flooded grasslands, flooded for about 5 - 6 months/year and are susceptible to fire in the dry season. Seasonally flooded grasslands are often distributed right after the forest belt. Previously, in Tram Chim Ramsar Site, this type of habitat had the largest area, but now due to inappropriate water management, the area has decreased. The vegetation composition of grasslands today often includes many types of herbs living together.

- Fauna

+ Research of the project on conservation and sustainable use of Mekong wetlands (Nguyen Phuc Bao Hoa et al. 2006) shows that Ramsar Tram Chim Area has 231 bird species, including 32 rare bird species at different levels (from 1998 to 2006, the total number of species increased to 33 species, in 1998, the number of rare bird species recorded was only 16 species). Of the 32 rare species, 16 species are listed in the IUCN Red Book at levels (EN, VU, R, T, V, E), 14 species are listed in the Vietnam Red Book, 6 species are listed in Decree 32 of Vietnam in 2006; 14 species are listed in the CITES Convention.

+ Thus, Tram Chim is the Ramsar site with the largest number of bird species compared to other special-use forests in the Mekong Delta. In terms of habitat, 42% of species use freshwater swamps, 10% use grasslands, 8% use flooded forests, 2% use canals with shrubs and trees, and the remaining 38% use a combination of the above habitats.

+ Regarding aquatic products, compared to other regions in Dong Thap Muoi in particular and the Mekong Delta in general, Tram Chim still has aquatic resources from neighboring regions. Fish species have

High economic value fish in Tram Chim are Channa straita, Channa lucius, Notopterus notopterus, Clarias macrocephalus Clarias batrachus, Anabas testudineus, eel (Monopterus albus) and other river fish (white fish).

+ Fish is an important source of protein and nutrition in the daily diet of local people. Fishing is an important source of livelihood for communities living around the Tram Chim Ramsar Site, especially for the poor during the flood season. Fishing in water areas outside the core zone is not prohibited. However, poor households with low incomes living around the Ramsar Site often enter to exploit aquatic products during the flood season from August to November (Duong Van Ni et al. 1999, TTK Dinh 2004).

+ Tram Chim has 231 bird species, 191 plant species, 131 fish species (1/4 of the Mekong Delta) (WWF fish survey), with 07 bird species depending on the habitat inside Tram Chim, where the most Lua Ma remains, of great importance to maintain the biodiversity of the Dong Thap Muoi region.

+ Every year during the 6 months of the dry season (from January to June every year), Tram Chim has red-crowned cranes that often come to find food and live.

+ Tram Chim has 50,000 individuals of water birds. However, there is currently not enough funding to carry out a statistical program and accurate data to prove this.

According to a survey by the Mekong Wetlands Biodiversity Program (MWBP), Tram Chim Ramsar Site has thousands of hectares of green Melaleuca forests, with more than 130 native plants, more than 130 species of freshwater fish, accounting for 30% of the fish species of the Mekong River; nearly 40 species of amphibians and reptiles and 231 species of waterfowl. Of these, there are 32 species of birds of conservation value, 16 rare species, 12 species in the Red Book such as: White-winged Duck, Golden-rumped Dragon, Crested Kite, Red Kite, Brown-backed Owl, Black Eagle, Red-rumped Magpie...

2.1.4. Development investment: Domestic and foreign investment sources

a. Central capital

Mainly support for investment in technical infrastructure in key tourist areas and spots of the province from the National Target Program on Culture and Tourism. The total estimated cost is 180,219 billion VND, of which:

- Capital source of the National Target Program on culture: 92,809 billion VND;

- Capital source of the National Target Program on tourism: 87.41 billion VND

b. Provincial budget capital

Investing in upgrading the transport system; electricity, water supply and drainage systems; embellishing the landscape, maintaining existing works; preserving and promoting the value of historical and cultural relics and investing in building material and technical facilities for tourism in key tourist areas; tourism promotion; training and developing human resources.

The total estimated cost is 273,868 billion VND, of which

- Investment capital to upgrade the traffic system is 222,384 billion VND,

- Investment capital for electricity, water supply and drainage systems is 6.3 billion VND;

- Investment capital for maintenance of works, preservation, restoration and promotion of the value of historical - cultural relics and technical facilities is 39.94 billion VND;

- Capital to support tourism promotion is 4,078 billion VND;

- Capital to support human resource training is 1,166 billion VND.

c. Socialized capital

Total estimated cost: 1,405,947 billion VND. Of which:

- Socialized capital for some construction items at Go Thap Relic Site and Tram Chim Ramsar Site: 69,142 billion VND;

- Socialized capital for human resource training (contribution from tourism enterprises): 0.805 billion VND;

- Investment capital for tourism development of projects: 1,336 billion VND