Exposure to Floods, Climate Change, and Poverty in Vietnam
With 70 percent of its population living in coastal areas and low-lying deltas, Vietnam is exposed to many natural hazards, including river and coastal flooding. These hazards are expected to worsen due to climate change, and the impacts of any cha...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/07/26597551/exposure-floods-climate-change-poverty-vietnam http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24846 |
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okr-10986-248462021-04-23T14:04:27Z Exposure to Floods, Climate Change, and Poverty in Vietnam Bangalore, Mook Smith, Andrew Veldkamp, Ted flood risk poverty climate change With 70 percent of its population living in coastal areas and low-lying deltas, Vietnam is exposed to many natural hazards, including river and coastal flooding. These hazards are expected to worsen due to climate change, and the impacts of any change in hazard magnitude may be particularly acute in this region. This paper examines the exposure of the population and poor people in particular to current and future flooding at the country level, using new high-resolution flood hazard maps and spatial socioeconomic data. The paper also examines flood exposure and poverty at the local level within Ho Chi Minh City. The national-level analysis finds that a third (33 percent) of today’s population is already exposed to a flood, which occurs once every 25 years, assuming no protection. For the same return period flood under current socioeconomic conditions, climate change may increase the number exposed to 38 to 46 percent of the population. Climate change impacts can make frequent events as important as rare ones in terms of exposure: for instance, the estimates suggest a 25-year flood under future conditions can expose more people than a 200-year flood under current conditions. Although poor districts are not found to be more exposed to floods at the national level, the city-level analysis of Ho Chi Minh City provides evidence that slum areas are more exposed than other parts of the city. The results of this paper show the benefits of investing today in flood risk management, and can provide guidance as to where future investments may be targeted. Furthermore, while the main strategy in Vietnam today to manage flood risk is to reduce exposure, the increase in exposure estimated in this paper provides support that alternative strategies to reduce vulnerability (such as financing for floor-raising) or improve the ability-to-adapt of households (such as social safety nets) may warrant increased attention. 2016-08-09T20:38:20Z 2016-08-09T20:38:20Z 2016-07 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/07/26597551/exposure-floods-climate-change-poverty-vietnam http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24846 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7765 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper East Asia and Pacific Vietnam |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
flood risk poverty climate change |
| spellingShingle |
flood risk poverty climate change Bangalore, Mook Smith, Andrew Veldkamp, Ted Exposure to Floods, Climate Change, and Poverty in Vietnam |
| geographic_facet |
East Asia and Pacific Vietnam |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7765 |
| description |
With 70 percent of its population living
in coastal areas and low-lying deltas, Vietnam is exposed to
many natural hazards, including river and coastal flooding.
These hazards are expected to worsen due to climate change,
and the impacts of any change in hazard magnitude may be
particularly acute in this region. This paper examines the
exposure of the population and poor people in particular to
current and future flooding at the country level, using new
high-resolution flood hazard maps and spatial socioeconomic
data. The paper also examines flood exposure and poverty at
the local level within Ho Chi Minh City. The national-level
analysis finds that a third (33 percent) of today’s
population is already exposed to a flood, which occurs once
every 25 years, assuming no protection. For the same return
period flood under current socioeconomic conditions, climate
change may increase the number exposed to 38 to 46 percent
of the population. Climate change impacts can make frequent
events as important as rare ones in terms of exposure: for
instance, the estimates suggest a 25-year flood under future
conditions can expose more people than a 200-year flood
under current conditions. Although poor districts are not
found to be more exposed to floods at the national level,
the city-level analysis of Ho Chi Minh City provides
evidence that slum areas are more exposed than other parts
of the city. The results of this paper show the benefits of
investing today in flood risk management, and can provide
guidance as to where future investments may be targeted.
Furthermore, while the main strategy in Vietnam today to
manage flood risk is to reduce exposure, the increase in
exposure estimated in this paper provides support that
alternative strategies to reduce vulnerability (such as
financing for floor-raising) or improve the ability-to-adapt
of households (such as social safety nets) may warrant
increased attention. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Bangalore, Mook Smith, Andrew Veldkamp, Ted |
| author_facet |
Bangalore, Mook Smith, Andrew Veldkamp, Ted |
| author_sort |
Bangalore, Mook |
| title |
Exposure to Floods, Climate Change, and Poverty in Vietnam |
| title_short |
Exposure to Floods, Climate Change, and Poverty in Vietnam |
| title_full |
Exposure to Floods, Climate Change, and Poverty in Vietnam |
| title_fullStr |
Exposure to Floods, Climate Change, and Poverty in Vietnam |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Exposure to Floods, Climate Change, and Poverty in Vietnam |
| title_sort |
exposure to floods, climate change, and poverty in vietnam |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/07/26597551/exposure-floods-climate-change-poverty-vietnam http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24846 |
| _version_ |
1764457808078569472 |