Technical consultancy for urban resilience projects
The Program
2020 – 2023
Program location: Bac Kan, Ha Nam, Quang Tri, Hau Giang (Vietnam)
Funders: AFD
Partners: Berim, Espelia
Overview
In 2020 ISET joined a consortium with Berim and Espelia to provide consultancy to AFD to conduct technical feasibility studies in four cities: Bac Kan, Phu Ly, Dong Ha, and Nga Bay. The feasibility studies were for structural and non-structural components of resilience building programs proposed by the respective provincial governments, to be funded with official loans from AFD, local government matching funds, and technical support grants from the EU WARM facility.
What we deliver
For the project, ISET staff included key international and national experts in the areas of urban climate resilience, environmental and social impact assessment, employment, resettlement, and hydrological modeling. ISET staff also provided training to city stakeholders in climate change resilience. ISET’s unique set of expertise and insights from our rich experience in building climate resilience in the urban context were highly appreciated by the partners and funder.
Our findings and recommendations regarding climate vulnerability and risks, especially related to flooding risks, contributed to reconfiguration of the proposed infrastructure, and encouraged the cities to look more critically at their current development trajectory. Our analyses also highlighted key environmental and social issues with the proposed infrastructure and pointed to key capacity gaps that might hinder the effective implementation of the projects and more broadly, resilience building in the cities.
Key outcomes
- Increased awareness of city stakeholders that building climate resilience and reducing disaster risks require a reconsideration of the traditional approach — which focuses primarily on hard infrastructure and short-term goals — and that many more sustainable options exist.
- Better understanding of climate vulnerability and risks in the cities, especially related to flooding, and how this relates to proposed flood protection infrastructure and design, as well as to the cities’ urban master plans.
- Better understanding of how green and blue infrastructure work and their resilience building benefits.
- Modification to the plan and design of proposed infrastructure to strengthen urban resilience and reduce social and environmental impacts.
Outputs
- Training materials for city stakeholders on urban climate resilience
- Climate vulnerability and risk assessment (CVRA) reports for Bac Kan, Phu Ly, and Dong Ha Cities
- Flood risk assessment report for Nga Bay City
- Report on the Assessment of the Conformability between project proposed components and the Master Plan and Socio-Economic Development Plan of Bac Kan and Phu Ly Cities
- Blue and Green Infrastructure (BGI) analysis to support the design of blue grid for Nga Bay City