VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT OF AQUACULTURE TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE NORTHERN COAST OF VIETNAM

Abstract

Climate change is a major global concern that greatly affects people, including their source of living. It was reported that Vietnam, a country with 70 percent of total population lives along coastal areas and in islands, is one of the five countries most severely affected by climate change. Aquaculture may be vulnerable to variations in climate in multiple ways in such countries with the long coastline as Vietnam. In this study, the vulnerability of aquaculture to climate change in the northern coast of Vietnam was assessed at the local scale based on the concept of vulnerability as a function of sensitivity to climate change, exposure to climate change and adaptive capacity. A total of 15 detailed indicators were used to calculate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. It was found that the vulnerability of the northern coastal area was mainly at medium level, however, the high level of vulnerability was detected in districts and cities with long coastline. No areas were also detected at very low and very high levels of climate change vulnerability. These results suggest adaptation strategies to these high levels of vulnerability of aquaculture areas can help to increase society's resilience to climate change.