Urban wetland in ho chi minh: an investigation of plant diversity and implications for sustainable urban development

Abstract

Urban wetland has played an important role in creating a live well environment for people and creatures. The rapid urbanization was considered to be the main cause of narrowing wetland area instead of impervious surfaces and construction areas. Thu Thiem is an only remaining wetland in Ho Chi Minh metropolitan where is facing a series of urban problems such as urban heat island, air pollution episodes and flooding. This research aims at investigating plant diversity in the entire Thu Thiem wetland area covering various landuse. The findings show that plant species of Thu Thiem is considered to be diverse with 137 species of tracheophyta plants of 121 genera, 58 families with dominant species. The Shannon diversity index is 3.36, 3.6 and 4.11 for wetland located in forest land-cover, agriculture land-cover, and bare soil respectively. The simultaneous existence of both brackish and freshwater plant species was also found in this research area. In addition, water quality in 75 investigation points of Thu Thiem wetland was analysed based on modern physicochemical method. Water quality index shows that this area has been organically polluted. Based on these findings and ecological function of an urban wetland, various suggestions have been proposed for sustainable development strategies, design and planning which aim at mitigating the various urban problems e.g. water pollution, flooding, ecological landscape and urban life in the metropolitan of Ho Chi Minh.