The Complexities of Water Disaster Adaptation (original) (raw)
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2015
The study addresses resilience and vulnerability in relation to natural disaster. It is mainly an empirical study which draws on experience from the process of coping and recovery from the 1999 flood disaster in central Vietnam. As the conditions for coping and recovery varies between geographical and socio-economic contexts, the study looks at five villages in two districts, covering low land, hill land and mountain areas. Interviews and discussions with households and representatives of local organisations and local government have been conducted in the two districts of Hai Lang and A Luoi from 2000 to 2004. The study is multidisciplinary drawing on several disciplines from the social sciences. The Vietnamese context provides an example of a high level of social resilience. The concept is used to signify the capacity of households and communities to ‘bounce back ’ after a shock, and also the capacity to adapt in order to be more resilient in anticipation of future shocks. The stud...
Vulnerability to Natural Disasters: The Case of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta
Vulnerability in a Mobile World, 2019
In late 2015, the El Nĩno phenomenon induced Vietnam’s worst drought in 60 years, which lasted until mid-2016 and intensified the most expansive saline intrusion in 90 years. The combination of the two hazards resulted in a large-scale disaster, which has led 18 provinces of Vietnam, most of them from the Mekong Delta, to water shortage, insanitation, human and animal diseases, food emergency need and a considerable disruption in local communities’ livelihoods. These devastating effects raise the question of what makes local households vulnerable to drought and saline intrusion. The chapter argues that vulnerability to the natural disaster is not something resulted from external threats, but rather, is derived from the interplay between social structures residing deeply inside the socio-economic systems and agency’s conditions presenting at the household level. Social structures are rules and procedures that constrain and/or enable human actions in agricultural production, risk taking and adaptation. Agency refers to the capacities of disaster-affected households in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta who cultivated third rice crop and suffered heavily from the 2015–2016 disaster. In addition to households’ lack of planning and coping capacities, the constitution of vulnerability to drought and saline intrusion can be attributed to the interaction between farmers’ choice of extra rice crops and the state’s policies and directions in agricultural and irrigation development since 1990s to date.
2017
The Red River Delta (RRD) of Vietnam, one of the world's most densely populated deltas, is already vulnerable to flooding events, and climate change forecasts project increased exposure to flood risk in coming decades due to changes in rainfall, storm intensity and frequency, and sea level rise. However, there is a relative neglect of this region in the literature on natural hazards and climate change, particularly on how floods in the RRD might affect poor people and different livelihood sectors, how flood risk is understood and acted on, and how flood impacts experienced by households influence local adaptation choices. This article presents research undertaken in 2009- 2010 to understand the impacts of flooding in a typical rural zone (Thai Binh province) of the RRD to assess overall vulnerability, particularly the relationship between poverty, livelihoods, and flood impacts, as well as to assess the range of adaptation and flood risk reduction options currently used. Our findings indicate that while poor households do not appear to be more exposed to floods than others, their incomes are more sensitive to relative impacts from floods. Yet poverty alone did not explain flood vulnerability, as age of household and livelihood sector involvement showed stronger relationships to flood impacts. Flood risk perceptions were also uneven, but poor people did not seem to take less proactive flood risk reduction measures than others. There are few long-term adaptation actions to flooding being taken by households of any income class, and there is a need for better community and government aid after flood events to help households cope with increased flood risks in the RRD, rather than relying on improvements in hard infrastructure, as is currently the dominant approach in the region, particularly given future forecasts of increased rainfall for northern Vietnam under climate change.
Analyzing flood risk and related impacts to urban communities in central Vietnam
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2014
ABSTRACT This study aims at understanding flood risks and their impact on a community, in order to enhance communities’ resilience and adaptive capacity to these threats. It also investigates the possibility of looking at and handling risk from a resilience point of view. Therefore, while a conventional risk management process is employed in this study, social, physical, economic, and institutional dimensions of resilience are also included in order to grasp the extent of risks and the ways in which communities face, cope with, and recover from flooding. Findings showed that there was no significant difference in the perception of flood risk among household heads educated up to secondary school level, suggesting that they believe floods are purely natural events. Those with a higher level of education (high school and above) (82.7 % of respondents) were aware that flood disasters are the result of hazard and vulnerability combined. In addition, social dynamics were apparently strengthened by such disasters, which resulted in cohesion and mutual help following floods in some wards. Also, households with more sources of income and more savings appear to recover faster than others after a flooding event. With regard to governance and networks, greater efforts have to be made by local institutions to ensure basic functioning during and after disaster events and to invest more into risk reduction activities. However, further studies need to be conducted to clarify the understanding of the impact flood disasters have on the environment and community lives and livelihoods in general, as traditional coping strategies, although still practical, no longer suffice in the face of changes in climate and environment.
Climate change adaptation in disaster-prone communities in Cambodia and Fiji
APN Science Bulletin, 2020
This article examines how rural communities living in flood-prone river basins of Cambodia and Fiji have responded to increasing variability of floods and other natural hazards under the influence of climate change and other risk factors. Particular emphasis is placed on risk perceptions and adaptive strategies of households and communities with regard to regular and catastrophic floods and how the livelihoods of vulnerable groups are affected by floods and other climate-induced disasters. Our research approach integrates the food, water and energy security nexus with the rural livelihood framework. The study aims at identifying the spatial extent and dynamics of flood events and determining the factors that enhance adaptive capacities of flood-affected communities and households. Our study finds that access to resources as well as local socio-cultural contexts are important determinants of coping and adaptation practices at the community and household level in the two countries. Fi...
Adaptive Capacity of Households and Institutions in Dealing with Floods in Chiang Mai, Thailand
"Climate change is a modern day concern of serious proportions. Reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts may be viewed either in terms of risk reduction or improvement in adaptive capacity, or both. At the community and household levels, lessening the risk of climate change might be impossible in some instances. Therefore, reducing vulnerability can be done only by enhancing the adaptive capacity of the affected households and communities. In Thailand, flooding is a major climate change impact. This study, carried out in Thailand, set out to determine the indicators of adaptive capacity and measure the adaptation gaps between past adaptation measures and alternative adaptation possibilities. Adaptation possibilities were not restricted to new methods of adaptation, but included improvements to previous adaptation actions in terms of level and timing. Chiang Mai Province was chosen as the study area since it had a long history of flooding. Studying how the people adapted to the floods here, regardless of whether they were climate-change induced or not, would provide valuable information on adaptation capacities and strategies of both households and local institutions. At the institutional level, it was found that the flood mitigation plans of the local authorities focused narrowly on structural measures and were carried out sporadically at different jurisdictions while development planning did not take into account flood adaptation/mitigation needs. This sometimes resulted in negative externalities such as worsening floods in downstream areas. The study also found that social considerations are just as important as technical ones in the early stages of flood mitigation. The flood early warning system in Chiang Mai Province was well-developed and the flood risk map was very useful. At the household level, most past adaptation strategies were autonomous and individual in nature. Households in the rural area, which faced recurrent floods every year, were more prepared for adaptation than households in the urban area which rarely experienced floods. The latter did not believe the early warnings because they did not think that such big floods would occur in their area. Increasing public awareness and knowledge about flood preparedness was essential. The evidence in both rural and urban sites showed that the poor suffered from the floods more than the rich, for example, flood damage costs accounted for 54.2% of the household income of the poor, but only 9.7% of the rich households in the urban area. Finally, barriers to adaptation possibilities were not confined to financial constraints but also comprised non-financial constraints like knowing about the floods too late to harvest crops or perceptions that flood mitigation was the government’s responsibility. The over-reliance on public flood protection measures may also deter households from taking precautionary action on their own."
The International Journal of Business & Management, 2020
Organization points out that each year natural disasters kill approximately 90000 people and affect nearly 160 million people worldwide (WHO, nd). In fact, global losses from disasters have almost quadrupled in the past few decades, from an average of 50billionayearinthe1980stonearly50 billion a year in the 1980s to nearly 50billionayearinthe1980stonearly200 billion a year in recent years (World Bank, 2016a). A new report from the GFDRR shows that the impact of extreme disasters is equivalent to global losses of $520 billion in annual consumption and puts about 26 million people in poverty every year (World Bank, 2016b). Recognizing the importance of studying natural disasters to livelihood outcomes, many scholars around the world have studied this issue. Masozera et al. (2007) finds Hurricane Katrina to cause serious damage to households in New Orleans and surrounding areas in terms of income, promotion and other social factors. Meanwhile, Baez and Santos (2008) estimate that two strong earthquakes in El Salvador reduced a third of household income there. In addition, Mottaleb et al. (2013) show the onset of the Aila storm on coastal Bangladesh in 2009, leads to more spending for children attending school by households in the region than households which are not affected. The impact of natural disasters on households depends on the level of recovery of households and communities on natural disasters (Shah et al., 2020). Households with better adaptive capacity may suffer less damage (Arouri et al., 2015) than households with low adaptive capacity. However, research on adaptive capacity tends to focus on transnational and macroeconomic research (Canon, 2008; Briguglio et al., 2009). At the household level, assets, livelihood strategies, public transfers, and credits are important factors to enhance resilience to shocks (Bruneau et al., 2003; Davies, 2013).
Jurnal Ekonomi & Studi Pembangunan, 2020
This research is to identify the impacts of natural disaster risk on households of local residents and to identify the adaptation of households with natural disaster risk in Giao Thien commune, Giao Thuy district, Nam Dinh province, Vietnam. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are applied in this study to assess the overall impact of disasters on the livelihood strategies of households in response to natural disaster. The findings show that the risks of natural disasters affecting the livelihood of the local population in the study area are typhoons, floods, coastal erosion/ sea level rise, and saltwater intrusion. Currently, people in the researching area are not merely affected by one disaster but usually 2-3 or even 4 types of disasters in a short period of time. Therefore, this leads to economic losses, in the form of assets of the households. There are 6 solutions to cope with disaster risks that people often used to reduce the damage include: (1) regularly monitor information; (2) Change season calendar; (3) Change crop varieties; (4) Buy insurance; (5) Save of fertilizer and pesticide inputs; (6) Save seed production.
Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 2016
The Vietnamese government, along with country-based non-government organisations, are well aware of the vulnerability of Vietnam's coastal and low-lying areas to extreme weather events. Yet scant attention has been paid to extreme weather hazards affecting Vietnam's northern mountainous regions and the livelihoods of ethnic minority farmers residing there. Building on conceptual tools from vulnerability, food security and sustainable livelihoods literatures, we examine the impacts of extreme weather, namely drought and severe cold spells, in Vietnam's northern uplands. We explore the degree to which these events impact the livelihood portfolios and food security of ethnic minority farmers, and examine the coping strategies households initiate, based on their ecological knowledge as well as recent market integration initiatives. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with ethnic minority Hmong and Yao semi-subsistence households undertaken yearly from 2012 to 2014, we demonstrate that financial capitalnow more central to households' livelihoods than ever before due to state-sponsored agricultural intensificationis an important means for farmers to cope with extreme weather events. Yet concurrently, longstanding culturally rooted social capital, networks and ties remain critical. Nonetheless, short-and long-term adaptation is not widespread, leading us to investigate possible explanations.
Environment and Ecology Research, 2023
Floods are the most dreaded danger for household livelihoods, particularly those in coastal and estuary regions, due to their tremendous destruction. Proper assessment of the livelihood vulnerability of these communities thus becomes imperative for prioritizing policies. Applying the LVI-IPCC framework, this study investigates the flood-induced vulnerability of two coastal communities in Hai Duong and Vinh Hien communes of Thua Thien Hue province, Central Vietnam, and their vulnerable index’s determinants. Data were obtained through three focus group discussions, twelve key-informant interviews, and a cross-sectional survey of 360 households between September and December 2021. The results disclosed that coastal fishery communities are highly vulnerable to flood risks due to their high exposure and sensitivity. Further analysis revealed that floods are an extra burden to impoverished fishermen and have sealed the poor into endless poverty traps and thus could reverse the poverty reduction efforts. Therefore, poverty alleviation should be integrated and prioritized in capacity-building programs to adapt to flood risks. Attention to issues that assist the resilience of poor populations, specifically allocating resources to vulnerable groups, strengthening access to information for hard-to-reach households, and well cognizance of the floods-relative poverty and inequality nexuses should be future priorities.