Studies and Planning Projects: Da Nang, Vietnam
Visual Climate Adaptation Platform
Da Nang is vulnerable to extreme weather events, particularly tropical cyclones, flash floods, and inundation. These are likely to become more frequent and severe in the context of a changing climate. This poses a grave threat to housing and infrastructure in the city.
CSIRO Australia has conducted a Demonstration Study of a Visual Climate Adaptation Platform (VCAP). VCAP is a GIS-based platform enabling users to assess impact, costs and benefits of adaptation options for housing or infrastructure subjected to natural hazards.
The pilot study, undertaken in collaboration with the Da Nang Climate Change Coordination Office, assessed the potential impact and damage costs from tropical cyclones to residential housing in two wards of Da Nang, namely Tho Quang and Hoa Hai. This study provided valuable insights into damage hotspots that need prioritized investment for adaptation. Da Nang is now planning to scale up the pilot study to investigate the vulnerability of housing stock to tropical storms in all 56 wards. The Climate Change Coordination Office would like to extend this work to simulate project risk and damage costs to future housing stock under 2050 climate change scenarios.
Investment/Partnership Opportunity:
Additional funding is needed to support the collection of historical damage data and development of a cadastral GIS for the whole city. Following data collection and analysis, technical expertise will be needed to expand the functionality of this tool to encompass future projections by digitizing future development plans of Da Nang and modelling future climate change scenarios.
Contact:
Mr. Dinh Quang Cuong, Da Nang Chief Resilience Officer and Director of the Climate Change Coordination Office
cuongdq@danang.gov.vn
Water Management Collaboration in the Vu Gia — Thu Bon river basin
Da Nang is the third largest city and the economic hub in central Vietnam. The Vu Gia — Thu Bon river basin is shared by Da Nang and Quang Nam provinces and drains to the ocean through the cities of Da Nang and Hoi An. Rapid urbanization and population densification along the rivers and in the coastal floodplains of both provinces are intensifying flooding issues in the basin, and particularly in the cities of Da Nang and Hoi An.
Da Nang has identified the need to coordinate flood management at the river basin scale as a critical measure to address flood challenges in both cities. This coordination has been initiated by creating multi-stakeholder steering committee and working groups, that include members from both Da Nang and Quang Nam Province, to develop hydraulic decision support tools. Additionally, Da Nang and Quang Nam recently signed a MOU as a formal mechanism to initiate interregional river basin planning, enhancing capacity for natural disaster forecasting and warning, and investing in hydro-meteorology monitoring and early warning for floods, flash floods and reservoir releases which were all identified as priority actions in Da Nang’s Resilience Strategy.
The localities of Da Nang and Quang Nam have agreed to broad collaboration plans that includes:
- Establishing a pilot inter-provincial platform for climate resilience planning
- Updating the Water Evaluation and Planning tool currently in use
- Conducting vulnerability and capacity assessments of communities at risk
- Assessing tradeoffs in different water management scenarios
- Adopting a regional climate resilience planning approach that be replicated and scaled
Investment/Partnership Opportunity:
There is an opportunity to support the development and testing of a Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model for the entire river basin. Key elements of the model include flood depth evaluation, low flow, river erosion, reservoir operation, land use and urban development. This will be followed by an interprovincial assessment of tradeoffs of flood risk reduction measures and water management in dry seasons.
If successful, this project may be scaled up to other river basins in Vietnam. The National Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) is planning to split the country into six water management units and require each unit to form a River Basin Organization to cooperatively manage their water resources. These units will need guidance on how to successfully implement the new regulations and plans issued by MONRE hence this pilot project is a valuable learning opportunity. Successes here will likely be incorporated into national policy.
Contact:
Mr. Dinh Quang Cuong, Da Nang Chief Resilience Officer and Director of the Climate Change Coordination Office
cuongdq@danang.gov.vn
