The “Imola Project” (Integrated Management of Lagoon Activities) is a project executed by the Food and Agricolture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, jointly funded by the italian and Vietnamese governments. The project provided support to people dependent to the Tam Giang – Cau Hai lagoon ecosystem, in Thua Thien Hue province (Viet Nam). The aim of this project is to improve their livelihoods by promoting a participatory sustainable management of the hydro-biological resources in the lagoons, which are the largest in Southeast Asia, in accordance with the socio-economical needs of the population and wiith a particular emphasis on the gender roles, the achievement of food security and the alleviatiation of poverty. A special attention was focused on assessing the impact of human activities on the ecosystem of the lake, on the strategies for the mitigation of recurrent natural disasters and on the conservation and prevention of physiografic changes of the lagoon (erosion during the floods, alteration of the coastline). An important part of the project was the implementation of methodologies for the data management of all the informations concerning natural, social and economical aspects of the lagoon.

The CGT collaboration’s results were:

• production of Land Use Maps;
• multitemporal Study (1980-2000) of Land Use Maps based on satellite images;
• development of a Monitoring System based on Satellite Detection to catch real-time changes in Land Use Maps;
• development of a GIS, for managing the informations concerning the project;
• production of Thematic Maps and the creation of the project website;
• training offered to vietnamese students and staff in the field of Spatial Information Systems and Remote Sensing, with related educational activities carried out both in Italy and in Vietnam.