[ ] 14 authorities to better understand climate change, how it manifests itself, what can be expected going forward, what people can do to mitigate the associated risks and how they can adapt to the rapid changes caused by it. For example, local authorities have been provided with a range of disaster risk reduction capacity interventions as well as material support in early warning systems and equipment for emergency and rescue teams. Teachers and students in rural primary and secondary schools have been enthusiastic participants in a range of extracurricular teaching and action-oriented practical activities (see ‘Children in focus’). And as for productive activities and livelihoods, adaptation interventions have primarily focused on protecting natural resources and restoring vital ecosystems. For example, project partners have worked with the fishery associations (FAs) in and around the Tam Giang-Cau Hai lagoon for many years, with some exceptional results (see ‘Protecting and restoring a critical ecosystem’). Since 2018, partners have also been working on a plan to establish an organic agriculture value chain, as a new growth industry for the province and the region. This is in response to an urgent need to protect natural resources, primarily soils and water resources, from the ever-increasing use and misuse of chemicals in all sub-sectors of agriculture, as well as to the rapidly increasing demand of safe and healthy food from the Vietnamese public. The partnership and its various projects have led to some unusual results. An external evaluation of the adaptation project scored the intervention in the highest quintile on all evaluation criteria from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. A randomized control trial (RCT) comparing project areas with similarly vulnerable non-project areas in another district, before and after interventions and over a five-year timeframe, found major differences in household incomes, as well as in coping capacity and damage in times of serious weather events.1 Some of the outcomes of the partnership have been classified by external evaluators as ‘power results’ — outcomes that go beyond what would normally be expected in any best-case scenario. An example is the revised Law on Fisheries passed in the National Assembly in 2017, which now holds the FAs responsible for the co-management of aquatic resources and activities (see ‘Protecting and restoring a critical ecosystem’). The Luxembourg-TT Hue climate partnership continues to this day, and larger interventions to be supported by international climate finance are being prepared. It has demonstrated what can be achieved in a relatively short time and shown that alignment with local policies and strategies, institutional set-up and support, and community-driven approaches are critical for sustainability in the long run. While there are likely major challenges for TT Hue and similar coastal provinces in Vietnam still to come, many early lessons can be learned from the province and applied elsewhere, to prepare, protect and support communities facing an uncertain future. Children in focus The burden of climate change is not spread equally, and some people are more vulnerable to its impacts than others. Children from poorer households are particularly affected, which is why the collaborative climate interventions in TT Hue have addressed their specific vulnerabilities and needs. Since 2013, in collaboration with the Vietnamese Department of Education, students at district schools participated in climate change and disaster risk reduction training, as well as extracurricular environmental classes. In primary schools, climate change painting competitions were organized, and thousands of children participated in swimming lessons to receive their basic certificates. This is particularly important as floods have become more frequent and severe in recent years, and drowning is the most common cause of death for children under 14 years old. In secondary schools, many climate change contests have been organized and 17 student action groups were formed to encourage sustainable initiatives in school communities. In Hue City, where conventional lighting in 54 schools was replaced with LED lighting, hundreds of science teachers received training on the role of energy efficiency in climate change. In addition, 33 student energy efficiency action groups were established to accelerate changes in behaviour to reduce energy use and the associated costs. It is very encouraging to see how positively young people in Vietnam have responded to learning about climate change. It also brings new hope, as they are not only the generation to take the burden of climate change, but they are also the ones that will soon be able to do something about it. Images: LuxDev A Bet ter Wor ld
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