Mekong - U.S. Partnership
At a ceremony on June 27, 2014, the People’s Provincial Committee of Thua Thien Hue Province gave final approval for the Climate Resilience Action Plan for Hue City. The Action Plan was developed under USAID's Mekong – Building Climate Resilience in Asian Cities (M-BRACE) program, which is implemented by the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition and Vietnam National Institute for Science and Technology Policy and Strategy Studies.
The Action Plan identifies 24 actions to be carried out between now and 2020 that will help Hue City build resilience to floods and other natural disasters in the face of rapid urbanization and climate change. For each action, the Action Plan identifies the target area, key sources of funding (including local, national, and donor funding), and the stakeholders and ministries that will be involved in implementation.
One of the priority projects within the Action Plan is the Community-Based Flood Monitoring System that pulls together a network of 110 gauges throughout the city that are monitored by community members, and allows users to get real-time data about flood conditions both online and through SMS text messaging, which was presented to the Provincial Committee for Flood and Storm Control at the same ceremony.
Participants also reviewed a scenario planning and decision support tool that has been developed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that will provide guidance to the implementation of the Action Plan. Mr. Phan Ngoc Tho, Vice-Chair of the Provincial People’s Committee, noted that the “M-BRACE project is having a great impact on urban development in Hue City and throughout the province.” With the approval of the Action Plan ministries and stakeholders in Hue have the formal approval and guidance begin working on actions that will contribute to improved urban climate resilience in Hue.
Source: USAID/RDMA Regional Environment Office Weekly Update
