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Climate Vulnerability and Capacity of Ethnic Minorities in the Northern Mountainous Region of Vietnam

Vietnam’s ethnic minorities in the northern mountainous region are substantially poorer than Vietnam’s ethnic majority Kinh. Although there are important socioeconomic differences among the 53 ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, including distinct cultural and linguistic groups, a Vietnamese person belonging to an ethnic minority group is more likely to be born poor than their Kinh countrymen and women. While national poverty rates in Vietnam have decreased dramatically in recent decades, the poverty rate among ethnic minorities remains high and the gap between them has increased.

CARE takes a holistic approach to understanding vulnerability to climate change and recognizes that there are multiple factors that shape people’s vulnerability and capacity to adapt. Exposure to climate hazards and changing climatic conditions such as temperature and rainfall are only part of the picture – socio economic factors are also critical.

This report explores the vulnerability to climate change of ethnic minority groups in the northern region of Vietnam and their capacity to adapt. This report is a synthesis of the analysis conducted using the Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA) Handbook. The CVCA Handbook is organised around CARE’s framework for community-based adaptation (CBA). This report draws on several sources including baseline data; draft district CVCA reports and original field visit notes.