Project Description

Supporting the preparation of the Green Infrastructure for Ethnic Minorities Project

Client: Asian Development Bank   |   Duration:  August 2021 – July 2022  |   Location: Northern Vietnam

The northern mountainous region of Vietnam annually experiences various types of natural hazards and extreme weather events. The impacts of natural hazards will become more severe, especially with climate change projected to intensify rainfall, temperature, flood and drought conditions.  Impacts are more severe in areas that are remote or inaccessible, poorer, environmentally degraded and less developed in terms of infrastructure, services and livelihoods. The Governments of Son La and Yen Bai provinces aim to invest in climate-resilient rural infrastructure with a focus on locations where there are high ethnic minority populations, to ensure rural development continues and is safeguarded from the impacts of natural hazards and climate change.

Rural infrastructure, including roads and bridges, irrigation schemes, and river embankments, are particularly sensitive to damage or disruption from natural hazards such as floods, landslides, drought and erosion. Conventional grey infrastructure in many cases may provide effective solutions, but is characterized by high construction and maintenance costs, high carbon footprints, and unsustainable reliance on natural resources. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and green infrastructure on the other hand, use natural processes and elements in a designed or engineered way, to create resilient structures and environments.

The ADB SC 116782 VIE: Support the Preparation of the Green Infrastructure for Ethnic Minorities’ technical assistance (TA) was undertaken to support Son La and Yen Bai provincial governments in the design of the upcoming Green Infrastructure for Ethnic Minorities (GIFEM) project. The TA was funded by the Climate Change Fund (CFF), and commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The outputs are being used to inform the development of a project concept paper which the ADB will use to further promote spatial and area planning.

Description of services provided in the assignment:

The TA had two interrelated outputs: i) a Hazard and Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (HCVA) for both Son La and Yen Bai, and ii) an Adaptation Planning report for both Son La and Yen Bai.

Activities for the HCVA component (output 1) comprised:

  • Comprehensive HCVA done for both provinces;
  • Three types of hotspots identified across Son La and Yen Bai provinces:

      1. Hazards-with-climate-change hotspots;
      2. Vulnerability hotspots; and
      3. Hazard and climate change vulnerability hotspots.

  • HCVA and Adaptation Planning Missions to Son La and Yen Bai held to build capacity and facilitate participatory HCVA and adaptation planning with local government stakeholders;
  • Endorsement by Government partners of the HCVA results, with suggestions for improvement;
  • All 16 subprojects proposed by Son La and Yen Bai provincial governments screened by matching their location with the HCVA hotspots and analysis.

Activities for the Adaptation Planning component (output 2) comprised:

  • Adaptation Planning Report for both provinces, applying two approaches to defining adaptation options: area-based adaptation and asset-based adaptation. Report includes a longlist of adaptation options as potential responses to the identified hazards and climate vulnerability issues, promoting NBS;
  • Area-based adaption measures for four groups of communes in two provinces completed, covering Thuan Chau and Bac Yen districts, Son La and Yen Binh and Bac Yen districts, Yen Bai;
  • Asset-based adaptation measures for four subprojects in two provinces completed: SL04 (stream embankment) and SL05 (flood control tunnel) in Son La, and YB01 (irrigation systems for rice cultivation) and YB06 (inter-commune road) in Yen Bai;
  • Cost-benefit analysis conducted for two subprojects, SL04 (stream embankment) and YB06 (inter-commune road) (both hybrid and grey project designs to allow an initial comparison of the economic performance);
  • Cost-benefit analysis working sessions held in Hanoi to facilitate capacity building and in-depth consultations on selected subprojects for the CBA.

 

 

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Cover photo: River and Rice paddies, Son La, Vietnam, Adam Cohn on Flickr.com