1. Background
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) is implementing a regional program titled “Urban Resilience to Climate Extremes (URCE) in Southeast Asia” under the aegis of the Vietnam National Disaster Management Authority (VNDMA). URCE program is supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). The overall objective is “to build the resilience of the urban systems and urban communities to the current and emerging climate extremes, disasters and emergencies that are anticipated in the deltaic and coastal cities in Southeast Asia”. URCE is a multi-year program (5 years) starting from November 2018. In Viet Nam, this program was initiated in the year 2021 after the necessary approval was obtained from the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Nam Dinh (Nam Dinh province) and Mỹ Tho (Tien Giang province) cities have been selected in Viet Nam to implement the program in the country.
2. Urban Resilience to Climate Extremes (URCE) in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asian countries are experiencing multiple drivers of urban risk which are rapidly accelerating. Risk levels are growing through a complex nexus of climate change, demographic changes, effects of socio-economic development forces, increased environmental degradation, urban poverty/inequality/ marginalization, corruption, conflict and through the interconnectedness with other forces. In the context of deltaic and coastal cities in Asian countries, these drivers and forces of urban risks are manifested through an unprecedented trend of climate extremes, disasters, and emergencies. The trends and patterns of natural hazards particularly due to climate change results in more severe, more intense, more frequent and often quite erratic disasters. The major floods (2010, 2011 and 2016) and extended droughts (2015 and 2016) in the Mekong river delta, devastating floods in the Chao Phraya Delta (2011), deadly tropical cyclones/typhoons in several Asian Deltas-coasts (Nargis 2008, Ketsana 2009, Haiyan 2013, Roanu 2015) show how the changing patterns of climate hazards cause major destruction in the major deltas of Southeast Asian countries threatening the significant development gains achieved.
ADPC is aiming to tackle these challenges by demonstrating practically how to build resilience to urban climate risks and extremes in the Southeast Asian countries. To deal with this situation, ADPC in collaboration with Norad has initiated this new 5-year program to build ‘resilient urban communities” against current and emerging climate extremes anticipated in Southeast Asia. The URCE program also contributes to the overall indicators of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, New Urban Agenda, The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Paris Agreement.
The URCE program will be implemented in Viet Nam and in the selected cities include Nam Dinh and Mỹ Tho cities. The program plans active promotion of regional learning and exchanges involving regional and national stakeholders from Asia and the Pacific region. The URCE program sets the following five outcomes through which a gradual effort would be undertaken to build urban climate resilience in various levels. These outcomes are:
- OUTCOME 1: Improved Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems and Risk Knowledge on climate extremes.
- OUTCOME 2: Strengthened urban community readiness and local preparedness.
- OUTCOME 3: Improved urban sectoral preparedness and emergency response.
- OUTCOME 4: Strengthened urban risk governance systems for dealing with emerging climate extremes & emergencies.
- OUTCOME 5: Knowledge exchanged and shared on building urban climate resilience for extremes through Regional and National events and forums.
3. Technical Consultative Meeting:
In order to introduce the URCE program to city and provincial stakeholders in Nam Dinh and Mỹ Tho cities and other stakeholders at national level in Viet Nam, a technical consultative meeting is planned on Friday, 12th November 2021 from 09:00hrs to 12:00 hrs (Hanoi Time). The consultative meeting will be held in hybrid mode (in person and online). We would like to request selected stakeholders based in Hanoi to join this meeting in person. The city and provincial stakeholders can join the meeting online, as the COVID-19 related travel restrictions are still in place. The program details, potential outcomes, and future issues for collaborations will be discussed in the meeting. The key objectives of this consultative meeting is to:
- Provide an overview about the program to the key stakeholders;
- Start up a consultative development and learning process;
- Receive feedback from the development partners on what are the key issues existing on the urban climate resilience in the context of Viet Nam and in particular to the two program target cities contexts in Viet Nam for future refinement of the program outcomes and work-plan;
- Design future collaborations and activities to be carried out through leveraging the current programs and other ongoing initiatives and activities on the ground; and
Discuss any other relevant issues for moving ahead with program implementation.
