Project Assessing effects of and responses to climate change on environment and socio-economic development in mid- Central Vietnam

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1 Project Assessing effects of and responses to climate change on environment and socio-economic development in mid- Central Vietnam

2 + Proposing Institution: Institute of Geography, Vietnam Acadamy of Sience and Technology (VAST) Project leader: Dr. Mai Trong Thong + Danish Parties to the project: The Department of Society & Globalisation, Center for International Development Studies (main Danish co-ordinating partner) and the Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Changes, both of Roskilde University DBL-Centre for Health Research and Development, Department of Disease Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen

3 Background and hypothesis Research within the broad field of Climate Change is still generally rather limited and in particular in Vietnam, although the apparently increasing global incidences of natural hazards and debates over emissions and global warming have spurred a tremendous amount of research. The complexities involved in addition to very different political stands internationally have all contributed to this field being one of the most debated and controversial issues, although a certain consensus based on the reporting from the UNFCCC tends to see the associated problems, now and in the future, as overwhelmingly connected to human activity. The knowledge about effects as well as causes of changing climatic conditions is still rather limited at the contextual level, and in spite of sporadic efforts in climate screening activities at country levels, the need is still enormous for creating locally the knowledge basis and the data needed for more appropriate, relevant and facts-based planning and strategy formulation.

4 Background and hypothesis (cont) The need for reaching a better in-depth understanding of climate change issues at decentralized levels seems also underpinned by other Danida funded projects and programs in Vietnam, in particular the support provided to studies in two provinces (where the one is identical to one of the present project provinces) intended to feed into the still pending Vietnamese national programming and planning cycle, as well as the sequencing of subsequent remedial efforts, viewed as both pertinent and crucial for effective remedial action. The present project seeks to address this shortcoming in the selected districts in the southern part of Central Vietnam and reflects the perceptions and experience of the Vietnamese partner institution as to the need of addressing climate change issues at the decentralized, local planning level, including informing decision makers at relevant policy levels.

5 The objectives: The overall objective: Overall objective to contribute to poverty reduction and safeguarding the environment and community livelihoods, including health, in coastal zones of mid-central Vietnam through studies of climate change, natural extreme events and their impacts as well as response needs.

6 The Immediate Objectives: To identify and assess the relationships between climate change and natural disasters with respect to frequency and severity of flooding, landslides, drought, sea level rise, flood tide, and salt water intrusion through a retrospective study covering the period ; To establish the relationships between climate changes and variations over time of selected environmental and socio-economic determinants of health; To identify geographical areas within the study area at risk of adverse impacts of climate change on the natural environment, socio-economic conditions and human wellbeing; To develop regional and provincial response mechanisms through contributions to action plans, addressing adaptation and mitigation measures in the short, medium and longer term.

7 Activity 1: Research Modeling the relationships between climate change factors and the occurrence of natural disasters Meteorological, hydrological and agro-ecological studies, seeking to establish interrelationships; Bio-physical impact studies; Use of GIS-technology as methodological means, related to the above;

8 Activity 1: Research Assessing impact of climate change on the environment and socio-economic factors, including health Studies on agro-ecology; Livelihoods and resource endowments and entitlements; Production structure, diversity and economic viability; and Health related issues;

9 Activity 1: Research Governance and strategic planning Output will be inputs proposed to regional and district officials, possibly to be incorporated into plans and strategies, awareness campaigns, etc.

10 Activity 2: Education, Teaching and Training The project will provide funding for 2 MSc. (staff members from the Institute of Geography) who will be sought to enroll in a relevant program at AIT ( Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok Thailand)

11 Activity 3: Provision of Technology and Equipment Based on demand and needs for research and field work as expressed by Vietnamese partners, the project will where relevant provide certain equipments, including a 4 wheel-drive car, and both hardware and software, primarily related to data handling and analysis.

12 Activity 4: Workshops and Conferences In view of the need for the research partners to interact more closely and establish good working relationships more workshops are proposed than normally would be expected. Most of these workshops are limited in number of participants, and they are held locally in connection with field work and thus relatively cost-effective. Two main conferences are held, one at the very beginning of the project for participants in the projects, and another one terminating the project towards the end of 2011, with the participants of stakeholders, such as Vietnamese research colleagues, administrative staff and donors.

13 Outputs The project is aimed at providing an improved understanding of actual current climate change impacts as well as the existing knowledge, coping and adaptation strategies in local communities. Through publication of research reports and presentation of these at workshops with invited government planners, the results of the research are more likely to contribute directly to the provincial climate adaptation planning process. The capacity building aim of the project will provide new and improved methodologies, framed in an interdisciplinary setup, to the IG, with resulting improved knowledge generation directly applicable in government planning due to the IG's status as a sectorial research department under the Government.

14 Project s effect The project will, through an interdisciplinary applied research approach, focus on issues of immediate relevance to national, provincial and district planning. By providing improved information on the objectives described, the effect can be significant in the form of input into the provincial climate change adapatation plans that is currently being inititiated. The project's interdisicplinary orientation, thus potentially will provide timely input into a complicated and precarious multisectorial and multilevel planning process

15 Innovative values of the research The project contains innovative elements in several areas. The projects seeks, through analysis of availabel data from the last three decades, to provide a timely understanding of current effetcs of climate change, if any. Focus on local level existing coping and adaptation strategies as responses to stress factors, be that related to climate change or not, will provide the necessary knowledge to formulate realistic and relevant support intitiaves for local communities to better withstand potential changes due to climate variability. Taking on a broad livelihood approach will avoid the pitfall of reducing local communities to primarily agrculturally based economies, when in fact they increasingly embark on a diversified portfolio of economic activities, all potentially affected by climate change. Interdisciplinary research is innovative for the Vietnamese partner institution, being heavily oriented towards the natural sciences. Incorporating socioeconomic, governance, health, and policy oriented issues, may significantly improve the partners' capability to provide knowledge and recommendations reflecting the full complexity of local communities.

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18 Thank you very much