Vietnam Climate-Smart Coastal Communities

This project aims to improve resilience to climate change of vulnerable coastal communities particularly women and enrich marine and coastal biodiversity in Vietnam. It supports the coastal provinces of Thua Thien Hue (North-Central) Binh Dinh (South-Central) and Soc Trang (Mekong Delta). They are highly vulnerable to climate change specifically from natural disasters. They are experiencing biodiversity loss due to land transformation overexploitation climate change and pollution. Project activities include: (1) installing hydro-meteorological monitoring and early warning systems to provide climate and disaster risk information to selected communes; (2) creating start-up grants to support nature-positive business initiatives; and (3) planting and rehabilitating mangroves and coral reefs to protect and restore biodiversity enhance the adaptive capacity of ecosystems and increase carbon sequestration. The project aims to reach 20 000 direct beneficiaries (75% women) engaged in and significantly depend on natural resources provided by coastal and marine ecosystems. It also intends to reach 200 000 indirect beneficiaries (50 000 households) in 17 communes including villages and hamlets. The project seeks to rehabilitate 50 000 hectares of marine and coastal areas which has the potential to affect neighbouring communities positively.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) enhanced performance of government and Vietnam coastal communities particularly women to apply gender-responsive climate information and risk-informed planning for climate change adaptation; (2) enhanced performance and leadership of women-led organizations and women to initiate nature-based solutions for sustainable ocean economy and livelihoods; and (3) enhanced performance of government and nature-dependent communities particularly women-led organizations in protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services.