Introduction
1.1 Cities and Climate
Climate change is already affecting millions of people worldwide. In urban areas, which are typically characterized by a significantly higher population density, climate change will exacerbate and compound existing vulnerabilities, especially for the urban poor. As a result of climate change, we expect that storm frequency and intensity will increase, flooding will become increasingly significant and droughts will affect food production in rural areas, which will result in damaging knock-on effects in urban areas. Coastal areas are threatened by inundation from sea-level rise, and other urban challenges, such as poor health and inadequate housing, to name two, will be substantially exacerbated by climate change impacts. As the main drivers of increased greenhouse gas emissions, cities must be the centre of actions both to mitigate the causes of climate change, and to adapt to their anticipated effects.
In Vietnamese cities, as in other cities globally, urban centres are often located in highly risk-prone areas, such as in the coastal zone, along rivers or among mountains. Major types of infrastructure, such as roads, hospitals and water supply networks, as well as basic services such as healthcare, are vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change. In coastal areas, storm surges and sea-level rise can affect food supply and settlements. In Viet Nam, it is projected that sea levels will rise by 57 to 73 millimetres by 2100. Without appropriate adaptation actions, this could result in the inundation of 39 per cent of the coastal land area in the Mekong Delta, 10 per cent of the Red River Delta and 2.5 per cent of the Central Coastal Region, causing severe impacts to infrastructure, economic activities and the population. Finally, the poorest are always the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, due to the fact that they have less access to infrastructure, basic services and social safety nets in the event of a disaster.
