Vietnam: Drought-ADAPT to combat El Niño-related droughts in the Central Highlands

The Central Highlands in Vietnam is one of the most important agricultural regions in the country and also an area with a great deal of biological diversity. However, climate change is causing extreme weather events to occur more and more frequently, including increased periods of drought in the wake of El Niño, which has a negative impact on agricultural production and ecosystems. For this reason, effective adaptation is needed to counteract these developments.

The aim of the Drought-ADAPT project is to develop innovative solutions to support short, medium and long-term planning and adaptation measures to droughts and their effects in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The extent of the drought effects in the Central Highlands is closely related to local context – for example local climate, water availability, land use systems, financial and social conditions. These must be taken into account in any adaptation action.

The project is active on two levels in order to achieve its goals:

• Local: innovative technical solutions at the farm or village level to help local communities secure their investments and high agricultural productivity,
• Regional: innovative climate services to support provincial authorities in adapting to the effects of climate change and preventing environmental damage.

As part of the overall project, adelphi is creating recommendations for the integration of ecosystem-based adaptation and is responsible for improving framework conditions for climate adaptation in relation to water management and agriculture. In addition, adelphi has been commissioned to develop a prototype climate service.