Evaluating capacity for climate change adaptation in the health and water sectors in Vietnam: constraints and opportunities

Quynh Anh Nguyen, Fiona Miller*, Kathryn Bowen, Bach Tan Sinh

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    12 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The capacity to anticipate and respond to climate change can critically shape vulnerability, influencing whether a country experiences harm from exposure to stresses or is able to cope, adapt and realize sustainable outcomes. This paper presents the results of a study that evaluates capacity in relation to the health and water sectors in Vietnam. The study presents informants’ views on the adequacy of financial resources, understanding of vulnerability and adaptation, training needs, information requirements and levels of cooperation as well as their priorities to address adaptation. The perceptions of respondents on challenges and obstacles faced in developing adaptation strategies are also examined. Training on vulnerability and increasing funds for adaptation were reported as the top priorities, indicating that the inadequacy of human and financial resources is the most significant challenge to effective adaptation in the study context. Difficult and weak cooperation was also widely considered to be a barrier. The paper concludes that there are significant interconnected constraints on adaptive capacity in Vietnam that are further exacerbated by governance issues, such as inadequate cooperation and transparency in sharing information and data. This paper identifies priorities for action to address the challenge of climate change adaptation.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)258-273
    Number of pages16
    JournalClimate and Development
    Volume9
    Issue number3
    Early online date30 May 2016
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Keywords

    • adaptation
    • capacity
    • climate change
    • governance
    • health sector
    • Vietnam
    • vulnerability
    • water sector

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Evaluating capacity for climate change adaptation in the health and water sectors in Vietnam: constraints and opportunities'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this