Climate Funds Central Vietnam

This project funded by the climate funds by the Federal Foreign Office, allows three young Vietnamese to realise their own climate change awareness raising projects. All three projects have a strong focus on the communication of climate change risks and try to reach out to a wide circle of people.

The young adults are deeply worried about climate change and its impacts and see a lack of awareness for climate change issues among Vietnamese people. At the same time, they have creative ideas with much potential. They are determined to tackle the issue, full of energy and ready to start.

UfU supports the three projects together with the local partners from Mientrung Institute for Scientific Research (MISR) but the project leaders are in charge for the organisation and implementation of their projects themselves. At a workshop at the end of October in Hue, Central Vietnam, the project leaders discuss the current state of their projects with other interested young people. UfU tracks the progress of the projects and pays visit to some of the project sites.

 

Project: Education on disaster risks related to climate change in Pho Tanh Commune (Quang Ngai Province)

Pho Tanh commune is located at the coast and particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to its location and other factors such as coastal pollution, destruction of underwater ecosystems due to fishing, coastal erosion, etc. This project wants to increase awareness for disaster risks connected to climate change and suggests climate change mitigation solutions. This project targets students, as young people are the decision-makers of the future and can function as multipliers, passing on their newly acquired knowledge to their families and relatives. The project team will hold workshops and other activities revolving around this topic at the local school to get students involved.

 

Project: Install solar panel on the house of a low-income family in Hue

The undertaking of this project is to fit the house of a low-income family in Hue with a solar panel. Solar energy is more climate-friendly than conventional sources of energy that are predominantly used in Vietnam. At the same time, there are immediate co-benefits for the household concerned. A private solar panel can increase energy security and help to significantly reduce energy costs. The installation of the panel will be demonstrated in public so that the neighbourhood has a chance to learn about the benefits of solar energy. The project wants to encourage households in the neighbourhood to install solar panels on their own houses and thereby contribute to a shift to cleaner, more climate-friendly energy supply.

 

Project: Public awareness cork planting to support the mangrove forest and its ecological protection against climate-related extreme weather events involving the local population in Tan Ninh Commune (Quang Binh Province)

Tan Ninh commune is located close to the sea and characterised by salt waters just outside the residential area. The waters are thinly populated with cork oaks (mangroves). The surface of the waters used to be much smaller. Local have enlarged the ponds significantly during the past decades for economic use as fish and shrimp ponds. The large size of the open water surface, however, poses a threat to the nearby residential area as it renders it even more vulnerable to climate-change related disasters. The land on which the waters are situated has recently been bought by a Buddhist monastery which seeks to restore the ecologic function of the area by planting mangrove trees. The project team of this projects wants to assist the monastery in their plans. They plan to plant mangrove seedlings in the area in the form of a public activity. Local people, university students, Buddhists and anyone interested are invited to help plant the seedlings and protect their immediate environment from the effects of climate change. The more people are involved, the more trees can be planted and the wider climate change awareness will be spread.