CONSTRUCTING A COMMUNITY- BASED WATER QUALITY MONITORING PROGRAM VIA THE ABCD (ASSET – BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT) APPROACHIN CAM THANH COMMUNE, HOI AN CITY, QUANG NAM PROVINCE

Abstract

Cam Thanh commune is located at the river mouth along the shore of Quang Nam province and the ecological buffer zone of nipa trees, which plays a vital role as an ecological tourist area of Hoi An in particular and Quang Nam in general. However, this is one of the downstream areas of the watershed of the rivers Vu Gia and Thu Bon under the complicated influence of upstream activities for socio-economic development, especially hydropower construction causing the riskof beach erosionand salt-marh invasion due to downstream climate change. This article presents our study on the construction of a community-based program to monitor the surface water quality based on the ABCD (Asset- Based Community Development) principle. This article focuses on clarifying the ABCD approach in making the aqua-culture community grow intoa key group and presents some of the findings that serve as a basis for the construction of a community-based monitoring program in Cam Thanh salt-marsh forest, including results from a survey to determine the key community group, pilot results of the monitoring program and a community-based model for supervising the quality of the water environment in Cam Thanh commune, Hoi An city.