Case study: Huong Khe district, Ha Tinh province, Viet Nam. Characterising agro-ecological zones with local knowledge

Local knowledge and active participation in research is increasingly encouraged, not the least for
identifying sustainable adaptation options. However, despite that participatory mapping has advanced
from sketches to informing digitalised maps since the 1990s this type of local knowledge is rarely
included in agroecological zones (AEZ) mapping. For a new project on climate-smart agriculture and
forestry local knowledge was incorporated to characterise agroecological zones in Huong Lien
commune, Ha Tinh province, northcentral Viet Nam. The purpose was to determine adaptation
options associated with particular agroecological zones. A GIS spatial database with land use,
topography, NDVI was generated to derive an agroecological zones map and ground-truthed with the
participation of local villagers through transect walks and SWOT analyses by land use type.
The study shows that local participation is vital for ground-truthing maps, to fill in gaps when time
series data is available and for marking out natural hazard areas. In this particular case, local
perceptions of strengths and potential adaptation options associated with particular agroecozones was
useful for revealing adaptation gaps. The classification rules for the AEZ need careful consideration,
especially when the mapped areas are small, to make the maps useful beyond the study area. This may
require more careful transect walks to identify nuances in forest quality for determining forest
management. Methodology for inclusive local knowledge needs to be further developed.