Climate services for a resilient infrastructure in Vietnam´s Mekong Delta

The global IKI project “Improved Climate Services Infrastructure Investment (CSI)” is helping Vietnam to make its infrastructure more resilient to adverse climate change impacts. As a tool for climate risk analysis, CSI uses the PIEVC protocol for climate risk analysis of infrastructure. The Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) protocol was developed by Engineers Canada and offers an approach tailored to the needs of engineers. The approach will be piloted for the climate risk assessment of the Cai Lon – Cai Be sluice gate investment project, which is managed by MARD and due to start of construction by the end of 2019. The aim of the analysis is to identify the most important climate risks and to develop recommendations on how they can be managed in order to ensure the long-term functioning of the sluice system. The analysis is nearing completion and its results will feed into the final design of the sluice gate.

On 2 April, a consultation workshop took place with participants from the private sector, and scientific and political representatives from the field of water infrastructure. The workshop formed part of the climate risk analysis by providing a platform for stakeholders to discuss the potential of climate risk analysis for infrastructure planning in Vietnam. The aim was to find out how tools such as the PIEVC can be further adapted to the Vietnamese framework conditions and adapted to existing processes so as to form the basis for climate-resilient infrastructure planning in the future. Based on the results of the workshop and further consultations, an option paper will be developed in cooperation with MARD and MPI with recommendations on how to incorporate climate risks into sector planning.

Another important strand of action for sustainably anchoring climate risk management in infrastructure planning is the improvement of climate services. Strengthening the interface between users and providers of climate services is essential. This requires infrastructure users to have a better understanding of how they can make meaningful use of climate information and services for adaptation planning. In addition, providers need to provide information in user-friendly ways. In order to strengthen skills in this area, CSI conducted a training session on 29 March in cooperation with the Southern Hydro-Meteorological Service (under the Hydro-Meteorological Administration (HMA) at the Ministry of the Environment) for user-provider interaction. The training was part of Hydro-Meteorological Week, which brought together all the hydro-meteorological stations in southern Vietnam at a forum to discuss strategies to expand their service offerings.

Contact: Benjamin Hodick, GIZ