Vietnam covers approx. 1700 km from North to South and is shaped like the letter "S". Vietnam is Traditionally an agricultural society with a recent over-proportional economic growth of the industry. The main earnings come from the export of rice and crude oil. The strong economic growth is concentrated in the densely populated urban regions in the South. Since the early Nineties, the country has lived through a transition (doi moi) from being a planned economy to become a „socialist market economy“. Over the last years, the gross national product has grown by 4–6% per year. In the Nineties, the Vietnam government undertook many actions to stop the destruction of the country’s environment.

Coastal region
The Vietnamese coast spreads from China in the North to Cambodia in the South. The deltas of the big rivers Hong Song (the Red River) in the North and the Mekong in the South as well as many smaller rivers define the form of the coastal region. The requirements of agriculture with intense watering and the interests of coastal protection have to be considered all at the same time. Fishing the rivers and the sea are very important businesses. Industrial prawn cultivation is getting more and more important all along the coast. As in other countries, large mangrove forests are sacrificed. Ponds are cultivated on former forestland close to the coast. Vietnam frequently suffers from typhoons that cause devastating floods.