Strong Roots, Strong Women: a tale of climate resilience

Hue, a renowned ancient city in Central Vietnam, is acknowledged as one of the regions most affected by floods and other severe weather events due to its coastal location. Reports indicate that women in this area are more susceptible to the impacts of climate change compared to women in other parts of the country.

Nonetheless, a project titled "Strong Roots, Strong Women," initiated in 2019, has demonstrated that traditionally marginalised groups, including women, can proactively undertake initiatives to adapt to climate change leveraging their own capacities.

True to its name, the project harnesses the resilience of women to foster a more robust community. Its main objective is to strengthen women's abilities to restore coastal communities and ecosystems through the creation of community-managed mangrove nurseries and supplementary programmes like theatrical performances by local community members. The project then shares its performances and project outcomes across various social media channels.

The project is co-managed by the Center for Social Research and Development (CSRD), based in the Central Vietnam, and the University of Potsdam in Germany.

According to an internal CSRD report examined by FairPlanet, mangroves play a crucial role in mitigating the risks of floods and coastal erosion in coastal areas, offering various other benefits to local livelihoods.

After two years of implementation, the project has established a 3,000-square-meter mangrove nursery, completing three stages of incubation and planting a total of 47,000 seedlings. Addressing the goal of enhancing women's capacity to self-manage natural disasters, the Provincial Women's Union affirmed in the internal CSRD report:

"One of the biggest impacts of the 'Strong Roots, Resilient Women' Project is changing the mindset of women and men. Previously, emergency prevention and rescue work was mainly the responsibility of men.

"However, the project has demonstrated the important role of women in preventing and managing natural disasters, as well as strengthening the resilience of local communities. In this project, women participate in risk prevention and management through mangrove nursery activities and performing plays."

a Long-term plan

However, project coordinators raised concerns about sustainability. Beyond researching methods and techniques for mangrove reforestation, the project must also ensure long-term sustainability, they said, considering that support sources are only available for 2-3 years.

Nguyen Thi Nhat Anh, director of CSRD, told FairPlanet that in the project design phase, the team aimed to construct and launch complementary sub-projects in a sequential order. This strategy was intended to extend the time for afforestation and the implementation of satellite projects. The project also sought to enhance the involvement of both local governments and residents by changing the implementation approach of the programme.

The project deviated from conventional educational sessions, promoting instead engagement through innovative methods such as theater performances, storytelling and field trips.

"Awareness-building is of utmost importance," she added. The programme, she said, not only offers professional and technical assistance during the afforestation process but also utilses engaging plays about natural disasters and climate change as readily available tools.

"Even if the initiative ceases to exist, the people will still have benefited - not in terms of material things, but in terms of a shift in mindset," she shared. "Both the people and those in authority should continue working voluntarily and without regard to reward. While behavioural changes can still be observed, cognitive changes are exceedingly difficult to assess and can only be experienced by members of the community."

In addition to being impacted by powerful storms from the East Sea, this estuary zone also suffers from the global process of saltwater intrusion. According to the 2022 IPCC report, sea level rise is inevitable and will have cascading and compounding effects that will lead to the loss of coastal ecosystems and ecosystem services, the salinisation of groundwater, flooding and damage to coastal infrastructure.

These effects will eventually increase the risk to livelihoods, settlements, people's health and well-being, the security of food and water and cultural values, the report predicts. 

In October 2020, Hue city faced a historic flood caused by a series of tropical cyclones, inundating approximately 270 square kilometers of land and endangering around 100,000 people. Future flood risks are expected to escalate throughout the entire province due to the impacts of climate change, rising sea levels and continued human development and activities in coastal areas.

women speak out against climate change

The choice to plant mangrove forests along the Tam Giang lagoon was a community-driven decision, with active participation from local women.

According to statistics, there are roughly 500,000 people living in different low-lying communes along the Tam Giang lagoon, which is the largest in Southeast Asia. Of this population, an estimated 100,000 women directly depend on lagoon resources for their livelihoods, despite facing numerous challenges.

In Hue City, livelihoods are highly vulnerable to both human and natural events, with women experiencing heightened vulnerability due to their greater representation in jobs and roles heavily affected by the weather and environment.

Some of the particular vulnerabilities experienced by women in the region are added workloads from livelihood activities and family care responsibilities. Limited mobility and access to shelter, mostly as family caretakers, exacerbate challenges during natural disasters. Furthermore, issues related to security and income further impede women's recovery from such catastrophes.

Therefore, the approach shifts from a technical project focus to a long-term strategy centered on communication and the establishment of sustainable livelihoods. Mangrove nurseries not only address the necessity to expand mangrove forest areas but also aim to generate direct income by supplying seedlings to other communities, thereby enhancing the resilience of the Tam Giang lagoon's ecological system.

"Although it is more difficult during the flood season, it is not a major issue," Le Thi Xuan Lan, a participant of the project, told FairPlanet. "We are happy to see trees growing and developing into the bigger forest all over the lagoon. Furthermore, we believe that in the future, we will be able to use nurseries to breed shrimp or establish sustainable eco-tourism zones to serve tourists from other regions."

"At first, we had some mistaken gender stereotypes in the way people communicated, such as women being weak and not having leadership qualities," Nguyen Thi Nhat Anh, the project's representative, said. "But when I engage with the community, I discover that gender does not really matter; men and women are equally capable, and women exhibit leadership in day-to-day activities."

They will, for instance, take the initiative to prepare for and adapt to natural disasters and climate change," Nguyen added. "They will be very concerned before storms and floods, and they will also be thinking about how to rebuild the economy during and after storms and floods."

The Sendai Framework, the global blueprint for preventing and reducing disaster risk, also emphasised the importance of empowering women in disaster risk management to mitigate the impact of natural threats to society, highlighting that women possess the knowledge and capacity necessary to promote community resilience.

Women have historically been seen as "victims" of climate change who are less likely to take "proactive adaptation to climate change" measures. However, as mentioned in a press release by UNDP, women have been positively and significantly influencing climate change adaptation.

Nguyen concluded by sharing her experience of supporting various women's groups over the years: "This is a long process, but it allows women to rediscover their worth. Aside from leadership, there are many other intriguing characteristics to consider, such as assurance, dedication and hard effort."

Image by Vince GX.