Project Description

Strategic Mainstreaming of Ecosystem-based Adaptation in Vietnam

Donor / Partner: GIZ    |    Duration: 2015-2016   |    Location: Viet Nam

About: Vietnam is a biodiversity hotspot. Large forests and local and migrating wildlife contribute to Vietnam’s healthy ecosystems. However, land use change, climate change, and population growth can have negative impacts on the biodiversity that maintains these healthy ecosystems.

The Government of Vietnam has set clear objectives to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity stand as pillars in that strategy. As ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) approaches gain greater traction in these efforts, they make their way from traditional forest conservation into more mainstream methods of climate change adaptation.

The project Strategic mainstreaming of ecosystem-based adaptation in Viet Nam is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and implemented by GIZ. Lead executing agency is the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and its Institute of Strategy and Politics of Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE).

Under this project, ICEM has been contracted by GiZ to conduct vulnerability assessment for EbA in the two pilot provinces of Quang Binh and Ha Tinh in north central Vietnam. This project aims to support the development of practical EbA solutions, which would be integrated into provincial land-use, socio-economic development planning and other relevant sector planning such as water resources, agriculture and/or forestry. The project intends to contribute to disaster risk reduction and livelihood security as well as to the long-term safeguarding of ecosystems as the socio-economic foundation in a region dependent on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.

The main deliverables associated with the vulnerability assessment for EbA project fall under two categories:

  • Macro-scale Top-down Assessment
  • Climate change impact and vulnerability assessment of social-ecological systems at the provincial scale (including identification of hotspots)
  • Development and prioritisation of provincial scale EbA responses
  • Developing guidance for integration of EbA responses into provincial development planning
  • Micro-scale Bottom-up Assessment
  • Research design review and finalisation
  • Climate change impact and vulnerability assessment of social-ecological systems in hotspot areas
  • Development and prioritisation of community-scale EbA responses
  • Developing guidance for integration of EbA responses into commune/ community development