Engaging with excluded groups for climate adaptation: experience of working with ethnic minorities in Vietnam

1. www.dfa.ie | @dfatirl | dfatireland
Engaging with excluded groups for climate
adaptation: experience of working with ethnic
minorities in Vietnam
• Ngoc Anh, Irish Embassy Hanoi

2. Ethnic Minorities in Vietnam
Vietnam population: 92
million
Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups.
Kinh is the majority, accounts
for 86%
Ethnic minority: 14% (13
million) of whom more than
70% poor
Extreme poverty remains in
ethnic minorities, despite the
rapid national poverty
reduction
Increasing diversity of ethnic
minority poverty: widened
gap between minority and
majority, and amongst ethnic
minorities 2

3. Climate risks for Ethnic minorities
Ethnic minority groups in Vietnam are most climate vulnerable
because of underdevelopment and challenging social, natural and
living conditions:
Weather and climate patterns impacts:
Flash flooding and landslides
Drought & water stress
Temperature extremes
Risks:
Safety for humans and livestock
Damaged infrastructure; difficult access to services
Livelihoods: Crop loss and food/nutrition insecurity
Limited coping capacity
Burden on women (post disaster recovery, hygiene, community work)
3

4. Ireland’s approach
www.dfa.ie | @dfatirl | dfatireland
Government -Programme 135
Civil Society Partnerships
Ethnic Minority Working Group
Partnership with GoV

6. Key impacts
www.dfa.ie | @dfatirl | dfatireland
• 445 small scaled infrastructure projects constructed between 2011-2017 improving
resilience and accessibility for the most vulnerable ethnic minority communities in
Vietnam;
• Over 200 community groups empowered to manage their own development efforts
including construction and maintenance of infrasturucture, nutrition/food and livelihoods
improvements in remote parts of Vietnam;
• Over 3,000 poor households have improved nutrition/feed and livelihoods resilience in
rural Vietnam;
• 5 out of 20 partnerships established between Ireland and Vietnamese institutions
focusing climate change and food/agriculture

7. Lessons (1)
Valuing indigenous knowledge is important- and learn how to do it
effectively
www.dfa.ie | @dfatirl | dfatireland

8. Lessons (2)
Find ways to empower excluded groups so they can undertake their
own climate action: institutions, capacity to implement, accountability
mechanisms
www.dfa.ie | @dfatirl | dfatireland

9. Lessons (3)
www.dfa.ie | @dfatirl | dfatireland
Excluded groups often face unique climate vulnerabilities- invest in the
scientific capability to understand these threats, and learn how to build
resilience to them