Soc Trang Water Resources Division The Strengthening Climate Resilience in the Lower Mekong (SCR) project seeks to strengthen the resilience of communities living along the Mekong River and tributaries to impacts of climate change. This project builds upon Oxfam and partners’ existing work on transboundary governance of the Mekong and Salween rivers focusing on social inclusion in policy and governance processes of these rivers.

Vietnam is highly vulnerable to disasters including floods, drought, typhoon, storms, and landslides, as well as compounding climate change impacts such as coastal erosion, sea level rise and saline intrusion. Vietnam’s extensive coastline of 3,260km experiences five to six typhoons each year11 with the northern parts of the country susceptible to landslides and flash floods during heavy rain and storm events and the Mekong Delta, the most populous area in the country and responsible for 50% of agricultural GDP– experiencing significant fluctuations in regional weather patterns and the impact of rising sea levels12. This vulnerability threatens Vietnam’s economy and the security and safety of much of the population. Vietnam is considered one of the countries hardest hit by adverse impacts of changing climate, ranking sixth of the countries globally most affected by extreme climate events from the past two decades and losing an estimated 1-1.5% of GDP annually over the past three decades to disasters.

Climate change is predicted to exacerbate the impacts and frequency of hydro-meteorological hazards, making them more unpredictable and destructive. Intense rainfall changes, changes in storm patterns, and prolonged periods of drought extending over several months are among the challenges that could be witnessed over the upcoming decades. By 2100, the sea level could rise by 75 cm to 1 m compared to the 1980-1999 period, thus rendering many of the coastal cities and agricultural production areas inhospitable in years to come without adaptation and mitigation actions. This includes an estimated 40% of the Mekong Delta area. Approximately 70% of the 95 million population live in low-lyingdeltaic zones that are highly exposed to hydrometeorological hazards such as flooding and storm surges.

Vietnam has well-developedDRM structures with the Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (CCNDPC) serving as the apex policy formulation and decision-making body at the national level. It is steered by the Vietnam National Disaster Management Authority (VNDMA) operating from within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
The next tier of the country’s DRM governance comprises the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC) under MARD, responsible for the coordination of DRM and risk reduction activities across various agencies. Similarly, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) implements the national Community Based DRM strategy. At the sub-national level, key bodies for DRM governance are the Provincial Committee for Flood and Storm Control (PCFSC) and the district and commune equivalents (DCFSC and CCFSC respectively). The chair of the Commune People’s Committee also assumes the role of the Head of the DRM Board that also liaises with mass movement organisations such as the Women’s and Farmer’s Union and non-government organisations.
Vietnam has invested in DRM including a national EWS system for storms, floods, tsunamis, and seismic events andhas a national Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) strategy. However, at the local levels, disseminating early warnings remains a challenge requiring a combination of modern approaches such as mobile SMS alerts and community approaches through radio,door to door messaging, and community announcements particularly for ‘last-mile’ communities.
Although national policies promote integrated and mainstreamed DRM and CCA at the national level, implementation at the local level remains a challenge due to human resource/capacity and resource constraints. Integration into subnational development planning remains a challenge and requires more horizontal and vertical coordination between key agencies and bodies. As with other countries throughout the region, there is a need to balance economic growth and environmental protection.
10 Much of this section unless otherwise referenced is derived from Viet Nam-25.01.2021.indd (reliefweb.int)
11 The mountain ranges running roughly parallel to the coastline partly shield Lao PDR and Cambodia from these typhoons
12 Rising sea levels are compounded by upstream management of the Mekong River - see Bad news for Vietnam’s Mekong Delta | The Interpreter (lowyinstitute.org)
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These issues are particularly relevant in the rural regions with a strong need to improve the resilience of the agricultural sector against the cycle of annual hazards as well as climate change. There is a need to identify locally effective and driven solutions in areas where vulnerability characterizes the lives of subsistence farmers and others reliant on annual hydro-meteorological cycles. It is essential that disaster risk data is collected and made available to all relevant stakeholders particularly at the local level to inform development and DRM activities. This will require a harmonised approach with government, NGOs, local leaders, and communities.
Gender: Women are considered a vulnerable group that suffer disproportionate impacts of disaster hazards compared to men. Due to social, economic, and political barriers, women are considered to have less capacity to cope with, adapt to, and recover from disaster and climate impact. This is because women are more likely to be engaged in informal sectors, work in lower paid jobs in the agriculture sector that are vulnerable to hydro-meteorological hazards; and more likely to be engaged in unpaid care work, household management and other responsibilities that contribute to higher time poverty. Women and girls bear the primary responsibility to manage household water access, sanitation, childcare and care for sick family members as well as contribute to householdincome including on and off farm activities. They are therefore exposed to the impacts of climate change at the household and community levels and are also a key resource for DRM given their holistic view of these issues and their reliable presence in thehome and community.
Vietnam has been relatively proactive in recognising and promoting gender equality and women’s leadership within DRM and climate change through a 2013 government decree that provides an official space for the Women’s Union in decision-making boards of the Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control. This approach is replicated within provincial, district and commune CFSCs. The effectiveness of the inclusion and role of women in the process however varies considerably between locations and integration of gender into policy at the sectoral level is inconsistent. Sectoral policy documents such as for climate change in agriculture explicitly mention gender but lack specific gender equality targets or measures identified to address women’s vulnerabilities or lack of agency in climate change. In climate-related policies for water management and renewable energy sectors, gender is not mentioned and is considered an add-on component. Guidelines on gender mainstreaming and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of gender integration are absent and need to be developed.13 In general there is a lack of understanding on the inter-linkages between climate change impact and gender equality with many practitioners guided by assumptionsand generalizations and are unable to assess climate vulnerabilities in a sex-disaggregated manner. The absence of data, evidence, and analysis on gender-related aspects limit their ability to include and consider gender equality in the institutional andpolicy frameworks of climate change, as well as in climate action design and implementation.