Vietnam: How the people of Vietnam live with climate change and what communication can do

Abstract

Climate Asia is the world’s largest study of people’s everyday experience of climate change. The project surveyed 33,500 people across 7 Asian countries, including a nationally representative survey of 3,486 households, 16 focus groups with men and women from different social backgrounds across six locations in the country and an evaluation of current and past communication on these subjects. In addition, a workshop with experts and opinion formers from media, business and civil society was held in Hanoi and practitioners and media experts were interviewed. The research was conducted from April 2012 to August 2012. This report (in English and Vietnamese) presents the findings from Vietnam. The first section highlights how development has improved people’s lives but has come hand-inhand with new concerns about the environment, health and changes in climate. Section 2 contains statistics on people’s perceptions of changes in climate, including temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events as well as their knowledge and understanding of climate change. This is followed by more detailed information on the impacts people feel as a result of the changes they’ve noticed and explains how people are responding to change (section 3). Section 4 then examines factors that enable and constrain response – including the impact people perceive, how informed they feel and the extent to which they are engaged in their community. It also highlights how different actors can use these insights to craft communication that supports people to respond to changes in climate. Section 5 details existing attempts to communicate climate change in Vietnam, noting where these have been successful. It highlights opportunities for improvement by focusing on people’s preferences for particular types of information, the formats in which it is presented and channels of delivery. Section 6 contains new statistics on Vietnamese people’s use of different media. Sections 7 and 8 provide guidance for stakeholders looking to communicate with Vietnamese people. Analysis of Climate Asia data allowed researchers to segment the people surveyed into groups. These segments help us to understand people’s needs, as well as to identify communication opportunities to enable effective action. Section 8 also identifies three priority audiences: farmers, urban youth and residents of the Central Coast area. The specific communication needs of these audiences are then highlighted by using the segments and other Climate Asia data. The report concludes by highlighting how the information, insight and tools generated by the Climate Asia project can be used to communicate with other audiences