News

A FloodAdaptVN delegation of Vietnamese stakeholders embarked on a poignant excursion to witness the aftermath of the devastating floods that struck the Ahrtal region in 2021. Led by Dr Michael Hagenlocher (UNU-VARMAP), the itinerary offered a comprehensive look at the landscape and economy of the valley, highlighting its vibrant vineyards and burgeoning tourism sector.

The journey began with a stop at the breathtaking viewpoint in Esch/Grafschaft, where the guests learned about the impact of the flood on the region. Moving on to Dernau, the group observed the role of bridges in flood management, noting the challenges posed by clogging during the disaster.

Continuing their exploration, the delegation visited the historic St. Nepomuk bridge in Rech, which was once deemed a cause of the flood and is now being removed amidst protests from citizens. A leisurely walk along the picturesque Rotweinwanderweg in Mayschoss provided an opportunity to observe natural floodplains, innovative nature-based solutions, and the resilience of the community in the face of adversity.
The journey continued with a ride to Bad Münstereifel and the Steinbachtalsperre, where the guests had the chance to visit the dam and gain insight into water management strategies in the region. Overall, the excursion provided valuable insights into the resilience and recovery efforts in the Ahrtal, fostering cross-cultural exchange and collaboration in disaster management and adaptation strategies.

Last week, stakeholders from the FloodAdaptVN project convened with German partners in Bonn (UNU) and Heidelberg (geomer) for productive discussions aimed at integrating research outcomes into Thua Thien Hue’s planning framework. The focus was on facilitating risk-informed planning to enhance flood management strategies.

During the meeting in Bonn at UNU, participants explored similarities between flood conditions and management practices in Vietnam and Germany. Of particular interest was the beta version of the FloodAdaptVN FRAME risk information system, with discussions centered around its design to effectively support risk-informed planning initiatives.

In Heidelberg, in the office of geomer GmbH, FloodAdaptVN stakeholders further dissected flood modeling approaches, examining past and present outcomes while outlining strategies for future flood scenarios. The collaborative discussions aimed to bolster the project’s effectiveness in addressing flood risks and enhancing resilience.

The collaborative efforts between FloodAdaptVN and its German partners promise to yield valuable insights and strategies for enhancing flood resilience and management in Thua Thien Hue and beyond.

During their visit to the Emschergenossenschaft/Lippeverband (EGLV) and the Hochwasserkompetenzcentrum (HKC e.v.), a Vietnamese delegation of FloodAdaptVN stakeholders (Thua Thien Hue Provincial Commanding Committee of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue - CCNDPC/SR) gained valuable insights into flood risk management, early warning and adaptation strategies in the region.

The EGLV and HKC e.v. are leading institutions in wastewater management and flood risk management, respectively. With over 90 years of experience, the EGLV represents the largest wastewater management company in Germany, leveraging synergy effects to achieve cost-effective solutions for the Emscher and Lippe rivers. The HKC e.v. focuses on promoting scientific research and education related to flood and heavy rain risk management. Factors such as precipitation patterns, urban density, and land subsidence significantly influence flood risk in the Emscher-Lippe region, highlighting the importance of effective risk management measures.

The visit also included an exploration of successful nature-based solutions for flood risk adaptation, providing practical examples of innovative approaches to mitigating flood hazards.

Overall, the visit offered a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and solutions related to flood risk management, fostering valuable exchange and collaboration between Vietnamese and German experts in the field.

We are thrilled to share exciting developments from our ongoing project! Based on the encouraging results achieved at the intermediate stage, the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) is pleased to announce the publication of informative media briefs highlighting the project’s significant outcomes.

• In the field with Eike Behre: reducing flood risk through ecosystem-based adaptation

• In the field with Dominic Sett: understanding flood impacts and local perception on flood risks and adaptation

• 5 Considerations for adapting to rising flood risks in urban regions

The FloodAdaptVN took active part at the German Vietnamese Science Day on April 27th in DaNang.

The German – Vietnamese Science Day (GVSD) is an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST). The GVSD aims to engage representatives from science, policy, industry, administration, associations and implementation organisations. The FloodAdaptVN team (see image below) participated actively in the panel discussions and took the chance for interesting discussions with stakeholders of different sectors.

On April 26th, under the esteemed umbrella of the German Vietnamese Science Day, the FloodAdaptVN team took the helm to chair an engaging and insightful workshop titled “Regional Cooperation on Flood Risk Adaptation.” The event served as a platform for diverse research projects and practitioners to come together and exchange valuable experiences and approaches concerning regional cooperation and knowledge exchange, with a focus on contributing to disaster and flood risk reduction.

The workshop’s primary objectives were as follows:

• Knowledge Exchange: Facilitate an open and collaborative environment for participants to share their research findings, experiences, and best practices in flood risk adaptation.

• Regional Cooperation: Encourage dialogue and cooperation among various stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, to explore innovative strategies for addressing flood risks on a regional scale.

• Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR): Promote evidence-based decision-making for effective DRR measures, with an emphasis on reducing the impact of floods on vulnerable communities.

We extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to all the passionate participants who contributed their time, expertise, and valuable insights to make this workshop a resounding success. Your active engagement and dedication have undoubtedly laid the groundwork for enhanced flood resilience in our regions.

The objectives and the agenda of the workshop. Our sincere thanks to all participants.

The FloodAdaptVN organized a Regional Networking Forum on April 25th with selected stakeholders of the Thua Thien Hue province and neighbouring provinces. The Regional Networking Forum on Climate Change Adaptation, Flood and Disaster Risk Reduction focused on the exchange of experiences of different provinces prior, during and after past flooding events. The event promoted the networking of different stakeholders from the Central Vietnamese provinces and supported the identification of fields for further cooperation and mutual learning in the region.

The FloodAdaptVN household survey that started on 28 March was successfully completed on 22 April. In total, insights from 606 households across various socio-economic groups were collected by the HUIS and HUSC enumerator teams. Initial findings suggest that floods are considered a major threat by Hue’s citizens and that future impacts are considered a significant challenge for the city. However, the survey data also indicates that many households have already engaged in preparedness actions to prevent future impacts and that early warning and response measures by local authorities, organizations, and informal groups have worked well in the past. As a next step, the survey data is now analyzed in detail to better understand patterns in risks, impacts, and adaptation measures, thereby guiding the development of risk management and adaptation options.

The FloodAdaptVN household survey started on 28 March 2023. Until mid/end April, the enumerator teams from HUSC and HUIS will visit around 600 households across 11 wards and communes in and around the city of Huế. They will collect data on past impacts, risk perceptions, adaptation strategies, and socio-economic information. This will help to assess differences across households and urban areas to inform the design of targeted adaptation options as next step of the FloodAdapt project.

To better understand specific impacts of floods on households in Huế as well as their adaptation strategies, the FloodAdaptVN project conducts a household survey in different wards and communes across the city. The survey is conducted by local enumerators affiliated with Huế University of Science (HUSC) and Huế University International School (HUIS). To best prepare the enumerators for the survey, an extensive training over two days has been offered by the FloodAdaptVN project consortium, led by UNU-EHS. A group of 18 enumerators participated in the sessions. This entailed an introduction to the project, including aims and expected outcomes of the survey, as well as training with tablets and the survey software, as the survey is conducted tablet-based.
After the training, the survey was tested by enumerators at 15 households. Experiences from this testing were shared with the FloodAdaptVN survey coordinator team in dedicated feedback sessions. These insights were used to adjust and fine-tune the questionnaire before the actual survey start.

The first in-person Co-Development Workshop of the FloodAdaptVN R&D Phase took place on 27th July 2022. The progress and the ongoing activities were presented to the attending stakeholders. The Vice President of Hue University Assoc. Prof. Huynh Van Chuong and the Chair of the Thua Thien Hue Provincial Commanding Committee of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue introduced the event with keynote speeches.

From July 25th to August 4th, the FloodAdaptVN consortium visited TTHue for the first time since the start of Covid-19. We are grateful that we were able to maintain such good communication with all project participants during the last 2 years of the pandemic. Under the guidance of our partners of the Hue University and the Thua Thien Hue Provincial Commanding Committee of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue, we visited flood prone sites, existing flood protection measures, as well as several hydropower reservoirs. We conducted a Co-Development workshop with multiple stakeholders, hydrological measurements, a workshop in “Risk Drivers and Impacts” (led by UNU), a workshop on “Scenarios” (led by LMU) and had bilateral meetings with partners and stakeholders. The importance and potential impact of our project was highlighted in all meetings and the commitment of the stakeholders to support our activities was motivating us further.

The Sustainable Development of Urban Regions (»SURE«) funding priority successfully conducted its Status Seminar 2022. This was the first time all involved German reaearch organizations and SME of the collaborative SURE projects exchanged research insights face-to-face.

“Stakeholder Dialogue between Sustainability Science and Society “– this was the topic of the third synergy workshop organised by the SURE Facilitation and Synthesis Research Project on 2nd December 2021. SURE is a funding priority of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which focuses on research for sustainability (FONA strategy). The funded SURE collaborative projects have set themselves the task of developing concepts and solutions for sustainable urban and regional development in Southeast Asia and China. Around 45 SURE researchers from Germany and the Asian partner countries took part in the online workshop.
To kick off the event, Dr Franziska Ehnert and Martin Krekeler gave lectures on best practice examples and current concepts of stakeholder participation. Scientific and practical perspectives on how to shape stakeholder dialogues between science and society as “co-creation” processes were presented and discussed.
The second part of the workshop focused on dialogue opportunities on two fronts. The projects intensively exchanged on stakeholder involvement design, methods and approaches. Then it was followed by a storytelling session where participants shared real-life stakeholder involvement experiences accumulated within the SURE projects. There is no doubt that the Covid 19 pandemic has presented obstacles to working with stakeholders in Southeast Asia and China. Nevertheless, a number of success stories were shared at the workshop which point out the methodological resourcefulness and agile management of the SURE projects. Thanks to the digital orientation of real labs, workshops and trainings, stakeholder networks could even be further expanded despite the pandemic-related restrictions. The stakeholder dialogues made a particular contribution to building trust for a sustainable partnership. The participants, however, now hope for the possibility of personal exchanges in the near future. This is essential for the development of reliable partnership relations.

The University of Tuebingen team presented results of their research on urban heat effects in Vietnamese metropolitan areas at the 11th International Forum on Green Technology and Management (IFGTM 2021), Can Tho, Viet Nam.

Heavy rain in Central Europe triggered severe flash floods on July 15th and the following days. In Germany, the Rhineland, North-Rhine Westphalia and parts of Bavaria were the most affected regions with more than 160 casualties and enourmous devastation of infrastructure.

The events show the importance of adaptation to climate change and that the added value of bilateral experience and exchange in research projects such as FloodAdaptVN brings benefits to all participants. Ecosystem-based measures are important components when adapting to climate change in Vietnam, Germany and other regions. FloodAdaptVN will further contribute to the improvement of flood risk management concepts and the assessment of locally adapted measures.

We thank again all participants that attended the FloodAdaptVN Research and Development phase (R&D) Kick-Off event on June 15th 2021. The Kick-Off took place as hybrid event. During the Definition phase (08/2019-03/2021), the modular FloodAdaptVN approach was developed and successfully tested in pilot applications.
Assoc. Prof. Huynh Van Chuong, the Vice President Hue University and Dr. Heike Bauer of the German DLR project management agency held the opening speeches. Mr. Le Dien Minh of the Provincial Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CFSC) provided an informative presentation of the floods in autumn 2020. The FloodAdaptVN team presented the experiences and results of the 21-month Definition phase and provided an outlook on the collaborative activities of the Research and Development phase (next 4 years). The Kick-Off ended with a fruitful and active discussion of the FloodAdaptVN participants and stakeholders.

• Kick-Off program

In the international BMBF measure “SURE”, ten projects (including FloodAdaptVN) in Southeast Asia & China are researching locally adapted solutions for the sustainable development of urban regions to improve ecological factors and increase the resilience of cities.
An online kickoff meeting will launch the research and development phase of SURE on April 29, 2021. This was preceded by an 18-24 month definition phase, during which the projects and objectives were concretized together with partners from the Southeast Asia and China regions.

We are pleased to announce the approval of the FloodAdaptVN Research and Development phase (R&D) by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).
The next phase will start on April 1st, 2021. More details will follow soon…. stay tuned.

The flood extent of October 10th could be delineated utilizing radar satellite images (Sentinel-2, ESA-Copernicus).

From October 6th, the central region of Vietnam - including Hue - has experienced prolonged and heavy rains that have caused severe and widespread flooding and landslides. As of October 18th, more than 100 people have been killed and about 140,000 houses have been flooded. The next storm (SAUDEL) is expected to hit the region on October 25.

The FloodAdaptVN consortium wishes the affected people safety and health. Our thoughts are with you!

The impressions of the flood in Hue in the gallery were provided by our collegaues in Hue (Tran Thien and Ho Viet Hoang)

Further information on the flood:
NEWS

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FloodAdaptVN cooperation and co-development continues online until the situation allows again travel and field-work.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
We wish good health to everyone!

The networking meeting of the BMBF-funded projects in Vietnam took place on March 5th 2020 in Bonn, Germany. Dr Felix Bachofer presented the FloodAdaptVN approach and discussed with researchers from various sectors about synergies and future cooperation.

The German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) organized the “Zukunftsstadt Konferenz” (Future City Conference). The conference is a platform for the transfer of research and innovations into measures and concepts for sustainable urban development and a meeting place for actors from local government, politics, science, business and society. Within the framework of this concept, FloodAdaptVN also presented itself with contributions and discussed with the experts present.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Garschagen (LMU) was one of the invited keynote speakers and presented on the climate change adaptation challenges of urban regions.

For the official Kick-Off event, FloodAdaptVN could consider itself fortunate to be able to welcome high level representatives of local authorities, civil society, science and the German project management agency DLR. Assoc. Prof. Huynh Van Chuong, Vice President of the Huê University started the event with a warm welcome speech. Chairman Nguyen Van Phuong of the People’s Committee Huê informed the audience of the relevance of the project and the support of the local authorities. Mr Le Dien Minh of the Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CFSC) reported on the flood risk for the province. Dr. Heike Bauer (PT-DLR), who represented the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on this event, explained about the context and the objectives of the funding initiative that support FloodAdaptVN. Prof. Dr. Nguyen, Hoang Khanh Linh and Dr. Felix Bachofer (DLR) provided a detailed overview on the objectives, methods and expected outcome of FloodAdaptVN. We consider us very happy to start with such a strong commitment of all partners and stakeholders into this phase of the project.

Local media reported favourably off the event:
NEWS1
NEWS2

FloodAdaptVN attended the 3rd German Science Day in Hanoi, Vietnam. Among others, exemplary bilateral projects in the fields of water and environmental technologies, sustainable urban development, bioeconomics and health research were presented. In addition, both ministries and other German funding institutions presented funding opportunities for new joint project ideas. Dr. Guido Hildner (German Ambassador in Vietnam), Prof. Dr. Buy The Duy (Vice-Minister MOST, Vietnam) and Kathrin Meyer (BMBF) opened the event.

In the week of 28.10.-01.11.2019, the FloodAdaptVN partners had several fruitful workshops and meetings with our local stakeholders and partners: People’s Committee of the Province, Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DoNRE), Department of Construction (DoC), Department of Planning and Investment (DPI), Provincial Committee for Flood and Storm Control (PCFSC) and the Hydro-Meteorology Center of Thua Thien Province.
In addition, we had a field visit to potential study sites for testing of the FloodAdaptVN approach.

The Definition phase of FloodAdaptVN officially started on 01.08.2019. The research is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This 18-month phase will last from 01.08.2019 to 31.01.2020. The overall aim of the FloodAdaptVN Definition phase is to test the initial approach and to co-develop and refine it with our local partners and stakeholders. The outcome and experiences of the definition phase will be used to co-design the subsequent Research & Development phase of four years.

With our notification letter, we inform our partners and stakeholder about the current status of the FloodAdaptVN project:

• PDF of the FloodAdaptVN notification Letter 2019-02

Subsequent to the workshop in Hue in December 2017, the FloodAdaptVN consortium gladly integrated the contributions, ideas and research questions that were developed by the participants of the workshop into a proposal for funding that was submitted to the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
After a thorough review in a competitive process, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has recently signalized that our project will be funded and enter the so called Definition Phase (starting in mid-2019). During this phase of the research project, the objectives can still be adjusted in order to better meet the needs in a way that it is most relevant to decision-makers, planners, and practitioners in Central Vietnam.

FloodAdaptVN aims to close knowledge gaps concerning a detailed understanding of the root causes, drivers, hotspots and dynamics of flood risk affecting social-ecological systems (SES) of rapidly growing cities and their hinterlands. The overall aim of FloodAdaptVN is to generate an improved understanding of vulnerability and risk dynamics affecting social-ecological systems in urban coastal regions in Central Vietnam and their hinterlands in the context of global change, and to provide novel methods for decision support in the realm of sustainable risk reduction and adaptation, including conventional, but also ecosystem-based and hybrid measures.
Hence, we are thankful for the fruitful discussion with more than 60 participants on challenges and needs related to flood risk management in urban regions of Central-Vietnam during the FloodAdaptVN Workshop on December 12th 2017. The objectives of the scoping workshop were:
a) to present you of the FloodAdaptVN project
b) to discuss current and future flood-related challenges and needs with representatives of stakeholders working in the fields of flood risk analysis, risk reduction, adaptation and spatial planning
c) to initiate a network of scientists and practitioners in Central Vietnam to work jointly on adaptive and sustainable urban development.

The Preparation Phase proposal of FloodAdaptVN was approved by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This 6-month phase will last from 01.10.2017 to 31.03.2018. The overall aim of the preparation phase is to set up a frame and communication opportunities for the co-design in order to further specify the project idea, and to identify additional relevant partners for the co-production of the proposal for the Definition Phase.