Strong roots, strong women

Empowering women for community and coastal ecosystem resilience in Central Vietnam

Floods, ecosystems, and the role of women

Environmental and climatic changes are projected to worsen with continued emissions of greenhouse gases, ecosystem degradation, population growth, urbanization and economic development. These changes magnify the risk of climate-driven disasters by increasing the frequency and intensity of hazards like floods, altering exposure patterns, and decreasing the coping capacities of particularly vulnerable societal groups in many regions.

The importance of ecosystem services as crucial linkage to/with all dimensions of human well-being is also increasingly highlighted in major international frameworks, such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Nature-based solutions, including ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR), have recently gained increased attention as no-regret alternatives that can complement, or even replace, grey infrastructure. Eco-DRR is typically considered as "the sustainable management, conservation and restoration of ecosystems to provide services that reduce disaster risk by mitigating hazards and by increasing livelihood resilience". Mangroves, for instance, not only reduce flood risks and coastal erosion but provide many co-benefits supporting local livelihoods.

Source and Credit:  IUCN  and  Save Our Mangroves Now! 

As Eco-DRR is more inclusive and accessible for vulnerable groups of society, and because ecosystems support the livelihoods of those directly depending on natural resources, it makes it a promising means to support and protect those who are more vulnerable to natural hazards and climate change.

A group that is commonly especially vulnerable to climate-related hazards like floods and environmental change are women in the Global South. Women often face disadvantages in social, cultural and political domains, as well as legal status and opportunities, affecting all resilience domains of resistance, recovery and anticipatory learning. At the same time, women are important managers of local natural resources and livelihoods and have the knowledge and capacity to build community resilience.

Women selling food at a local market in Hue (photo by René Arnold)

The urgent need to empower women in disaster risk management to reduce the societal burden from natural hazards is also highlighted by the Sendai Framework, which calls for an all-of-society engagement and partnership to reduce disaster risk, with an inclusive and accessible participation of people disproportionately affected by disasters.

Women and their participation are critical to effectively managing disaster risk and designing, resourcing and implementing gender-sensitive disaster risk reduction policies, plans and programmes (Sendai Framework)

© Munich Re Foundation

Strong roots, Strong women

Strong Roots, Strong Women, recipient of the  2021 RISK Award of the Munich Re Foundation  uses Eco-DRR to empower women for community and coastal ecosystem resilience in Central Vietnam. The RISK Award has been set up by Munich Re Foundation in collaboration with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) to help improve risk reduction and disaster management. Key activities supported by the 2021 RISK Award include the establishment of a community-run mangrove nursery as well as capacity building and awareness raising through lively theatre plays performed by members of the local Women’s Union.  

To empower women for community and ecosystem resilience jointly with provincial and local stakeholder in coastal Thua Thien Hue, the following activities shall be implemented over a period of two years. 

Establish a mangrove nursery at Tam Giang Lagoon

A first core activity is to set-up a community-run mangrove nursery jointly with the local Women's Union in coastal Hai Duong commune, Hue city, where the implementation team planted mangroves back in 2018.

Mangrove planting is an ecosystem-based flood resilience approach working well at the grassroots level. It also proved to be a promising means to empower women in disaster risk reduction. My Pham (CSRD).

The nursery is located in Hai Duong commune at the shores of the Tam Giang Lagoon.

The mangrove nursery will enable Hai Duong commune to meet their own request for enlarging the existing mangrove area, to generate a direct income from Eco-DRR supporting economic and social stability of women, and to enhance ecosystem resilience of the Tam Giang Lagoon.

The nursery is run by a community group of 30 community members, who receive continious training on how to set-up and run the mangrove nursery. The community group is supported by the main decision-making body at the communal level.

Jointly with the local agricultural cooperative, the location for the nursery was prepared, inlcuding small embankments and a water control system.

Thousand of pots were prepared by the community to plant seedlings and propagules of two different types of mangroves.

Frequent and heavy rainfall, storms and the pandemic challenged the implementation of activities.

All seedlings and propagules were planted into the pots the community had prepared.

After the seedlings had been kept on higher grounds to protect them from flooding, they were finally brought to the established nursery site.

In total, the community planted about 28.000 mangrove seedlings and propagules. This includes 7.000 rhizophora apiculata (3.5 rows) and 21.000 sonneratia caseolaris (8 rows).

The seedlings will be kept and grown in the nursery until they will be sold and planted by the commune in the lagoon providing direct income from Eco-DRR in economically challenging times and enhancing coastal ecosystem resilience.

The mangrove nursery in summer 2022

Strong roots...

Replicate and scale-up Women's Union Theater Plays

For capacity building, awareness-raising, and empowerment, we facilitated a series of theatre performances in coastal communities that were attended by more than 700 people, mostly women. The theatre plays were performed by members of the local Women’s Union and covered topics such as flood preparedness, gender, emergency response, and the role of ecosystems in disaster risk reduction.

Impressions from the theatre events in five local communities along the Tam Giang Lagoon

This activity also included the implementation of a theatre festival in the provincial capital Hue and the 1st Eco-DRR Theatre Award ceremony. The performances of the winning team was captured in film, that can be used by the Women's Union, the Disaster Management Centre and other interested organizations in their awareness raising and capacity building activities.

Recording of the winning team of the 1st Eco-DRR theatre award

Impact evalutation of activities

Evaluation of the mangrove nursery and ecosystems services provide by the mangroves and the mangrove nursery

We used a surveyed 100 residents in Hai Duong commune, to evaluate the effect of the mangrove nursery on flood risk perceptions and ecosystem services valuation, and its effectiveness in terms of enhancing economic and social stability.

In a first evaluation, we examined to what extent residents of Hai Duong support the nursery, what their expectations are and how they perceive the restoration activities. Results show that there is strong support for the mangrove nursery. Click the button below to access more detailed information in our flyer.

Evaluation of theatre performances as a risk communication tool

We also evaluated the effectiveness of the lay-women theatre plays to enhance societal resilience against climate-related hazards in coastal communes. During the performance of the theatre plays, 50% of the visitors were surveyed before the event, while 50% were surveyed afterwards. The assignment of respondents to these two groups, i.e. left and right side, is thus random. Our assumption is that both groups, i.e. left and right side, do not systematically differ.

Setup of the evaluation of the lay-women theatre plays

The brief survey handed out to visitors of the performances elicited risk perceptions of climate-related hazards and perceived importance of Eco-DRR. Moreover, the questionnaire elicit intentions to engage in community activities on disaster risk reduction, protection and restoration of ecosystems and preparedness behaviour as well as important factors that are known to be linked to such behaviours, including flood coping appraisals.

Results from independent-samples T-Tests (bootstrapped) showed that the group that was surveyed after the performances showed higher risk perceptions, considered ecosystems as more important for disaster risk reduction, had higher flood coping appraisals, and were more willing to contribute to community activities on disaster risk reduction and ecosystem protection. No effect was found for the amount of time respondents would spent for such activities and intentions to implement individual flood preparedness measures at the building level.

Results from independent-samples T-tests (bootstrapped) on the effectiveness of theatre plays as a risk communication tool

Facilitate cooperation

To link the topic of women in disaster risk management institutionally, the projects will facilitate cooperation between the Women's Union and the Disaster Management Centre, for instance, through joint capacity building and close cooperation throughout the project.

    Thua Thien Hue Province

    The project "Strong roots, strong women" focuses on coastal Thua Thien Hue province in Central Vietnam.

    The most important river in the province is the Huong (Perfume) River that flows into the Tam Giang Lagoon - South-East Asia's largest lagoon - and eventually drains into the Pacific.

    Almost 500,000 reside in 32 low-lying communes along the lagoon and the coast. Approximately 100,000 people rely directly on the Tam Giang Lagoon as fishing grounds and for water provisioning, while 200,000 rely indirectly on the ecosystem services provided, such as flood protection and coastal agriculture. The lagoon was partly declared a nature protection area in 2020.

    ... facing floods

    Between 1999 and 2018, Vietnam  ranked 6th  among the world’s top ten countries most affected by extreme weather events. The high exposure of Thua Thien Hue province to flooding was re-emphasized by the catastrophic floods occurring in October 2020. Due to some of the worst flooding in decades, 27 people died in Thua Thien Hue province, About 310 km² of land was reportedly flooded and 70,000 people were exposed to or near the flood zone ( UNITA R).

    Flooding in Thua Thien Hue Province beetween 13/10/2020 and 22/10/2020 ( Data set from UNITAR  collected through satellite detection of surface water)

    In addition to the chronic stress and major shocks caused by frequent flood hazards and resulting coastal erosion, a range of societal factors undermine the resilience of already vulnerable groups of society, such as poor and women. These groups have little human, social, and financial capital to resist external shocks, to quickly recover, and to proactively prepare for future events.

    In the future, resilience of coastal communities is expected to further deteriorate due to the projected effects of climate change on the frequency and intensity of storms and floods, as well as sea-level rise, if no additional, more sustainable, and equitable disaster risk management and adaptation approaches are adopted. 


    Previous activities

    Strong roots, strong women builds upon previously completed activities that successfully linked Eco-DRR and women’s empowerment in the proposed project area. The previous project was carried out by the implementation team as part of the Global Resilience Partnership Water Window in 2017 and 2018.

    More than 12,000 seedlings planted

    jointly with local communities, the Disaster Management Committee (DMC) and the Women’s Union in two coastal communes. 

    Provided capacity building

    to members of the WU on flood resilience and the importance of ecosystems for enhancing flood and community resilience. 

    Implemented lively awareness raising events

    carried out by the WU in coastal communities, comprising a theatre performance and karaoke of flood-related songs. 

    Carried out a survey among 505 coastal households

    that showed that women and poorer respondents indeed valued coastal ecosystem services higher than men and richer respondents, strongly supporting the notion that Eco-DRR benefits the most vulnerable

    Produced the documentary „All in the same boat“

    capturing the experiences with and perspectives on floods and ecosystems of three women in Thua Thien Hue province.  

    Carried out key-informant interviews with local policy makers

    to understand the barriers to implement Eco-DRR measures

    Puplication of a summary report

     jointly with the German Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction (DKKV).


      

    Further Resources

    Project-related publications

    German Committee for Disaster Risk Reduction (DKKV) (Ed., 2019):  Strong roots, Strong women - Women and ecosystem-based adaptation to flood risk in Central Vietnam . DKKV-Schriftenreihe Nr. 61, Bonn.

    Hagedoorn, L. C., Koetse, M. J., van Beukering, P. J., & Brander, L. M. (2021). Reducing the finance gap for nature-based solutions with time contributions. Ecosystem Services52, 101371.

    Hagedoorn L.C., Bubeck, P., Hudson, P., Brander, L.M., Pham, M., Lasage, R. (2021):  Preferences of vulnerable social groups for ecosystem-based adaptation to flood risk in Central Vietnam . World Development, 148, 105650.

    Hudson, P., Pham, M., & Bubeck, P. (2019).  An evaluation and monetary assessment of the impact of flooding on subjective well-being across genders in Vietnam . Climate and Development, 11(7), 623-637.

    Wolf, S., Pham, M., Matthews, N., & Bubeck, P. (2021).  Understanding the implementation gap: policy-makers’ perceptions of ecosystem-based adaptation in Central Vietnam . Climate and Development, 13(1), 81-94.

    Wolf, S., Pham, M., Matthews, N., & Bubeck, P. (2021).  Understanding the implementation gap: policy-makers’ perceptions of ecosystem-based adaptation in Central Vietnam . Climate and Development, 13(1), 81-94.

    Hagedoorn, L. C., Koetse, M. J., Van Beukering, P. J., & Brander, L. M. (2020).  Time equals money? Valuing ecosystem-based adaptation in a developing country context.  Environment and Development Economics, 25(5), 482-508.

    Hudson, P., Pham, M., Hagedoorn, L., Thieken, A., Lasage, R., & Bubeck, P. (2021).  Self‐stated recovery from flooding: Empirical results from a survey in Central Vietnam . Journal of Flood Risk Management, 14(1), e12680.

    Hudson, P., Liselotte, H., & Bubeck, P. (2020).  Potential linkages between social capital, flood risk perceptions, and self-efficacy . International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 11(3), 251-262.

    Pham, T.D.M., Lam, T.T.S (2016):  Gender needs and roles in building climate resilience in Hue City, Vietnam . Asian Cities Climate Resilience - Working Paper Series 33.

    Additional Resources

    United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR, 2021):  Nature-based solutions for disaster risk reduction. Words into action . Geneva.

    Editorial and contact

    Editorial Story Map

    Clémentine Harel, Philip Bubeck

    Content

    Project team

    Contact

    My Pham (dieumy.csrd@gmail.com); Philip Bubeck (bubeck@uni-potsdam.de)

    Funding

    Strong roots, strong women currently receives funding from the 2021RISK Award of the Munich Re Foundation in collaboration with UNDRR

    Source and Credit:  IUCN  and  Save Our Mangroves Now! 

    Women selling food at a local market in Hue (photo by René Arnold)

    © Munich Re Foundation

    Setup of the evaluation of the lay-women theatre plays

    Results from independent-samples T-tests (bootstrapped) on the effectiveness of theatre plays as a risk communication tool