4. Conclusions and Recommendations

Evolution of vulnerability and changing role of local institutions

Vulnerability is changing in the following fronts:

• Community involvement in dyke and infrastructure maintenance. Historically, thousands of trained water professionals and millions of labourers have worked annually to maintain the flood infrastructure. Economic pressure on government and alternating economic opportunities for labourers are increasingly making this level of human resource commitment difficult. For example, only a few decades ago, people protected by the dykes were required to donate 20 workdays per year to maintain the dykes. In 1993, the commitment had fallen to only 10 days, and is likely to fall again in future. There is a need to understand this trend and redefine the role of local institutions, with appropriate financial mechanism to maintain the dykes.

• Changing cropping pattern and practices. The main reason for the reduction in crop losses in the lowlands in 1999 is due to the shift in the cropping calendar. The summer-autumn harvest is now well timed, and the entire harvest is done before the onset of the flood season in September. However, the stocks of rice are kept at homes and the floods like 1999 either carried away the stored rice or damaged it beyond human consumption. Hence, food security for the community till the harvest of the winter-spring crop in May-June 2000 was a serious concern. Farmers were reluctant to dispose of surplus stock due to falling prices. Local institutions, based on the 1999 flood management experiences, could devise appropriate mechanisms to either store the surplus stock in safe areas or devise suitable financial incentives for marketing surplus stocks.

  In mountainous areas, the recent practice of cultivating food crops like cassava on riverbanks instead of hilly slopes rendered cassava vulnerable to floods. There is a need to revert back to a traditional crop growing practice.

• House construction practices. Fifteen years ago, typical villages in Central Vietnam were a cluster of houses with thatched roofs, a pole or bamboo frame, and bamboo mat walls. Most, if not a1,1 of the materials came from the locality, and many of these materials could be gathered. Capital investment in the home was very low and few inputs were monetary, even though families have always set social importance on getting, if they could, a good timber roof frame. Although many houses were frail and easily destroyed by typhoons, recovery could be achieved at relatively low cost and depended significantly on family and neighbour support. Once the immediate effects of a typhoon had subsided, village reconstruction took place quickly.

  By the mid 1980’s families began improving their homes. New and purchased materials, such as cement, fired bricks and roof sheets, came into more widespread use. But along with these changes in building practice many of the storm resistant features of traditional housing, that, for example, had tied the roof down and held the structure together, have been neglected. The result is that along with investments in improvement and new building,, there is also more materials, investment and effort, which are at great risk of being lost and destroyed.

  It is a paradox that the very real improvements that have been made in building have contributed to increased vulnerability to loss, when this loss is considered in terms of the cost to the family of recovery and rebuilding a damaged or destroyed home after a disaster. Because more time and money has been invested in the home, this cost has become considerable. Vulnerability has in effect increased Redesigning affordable houses with appropriate technologies with new financial mechanisms require a group effort. Local institutions could play a critical role in building resilient homes

• Environmental degradation. Along the coast, mangroves and coral reefs have been removed, exposing coastal settlements to more cyclonic wind and waves than ever before. In the hills and mountains, removal of trees due to war and human development has increased erosion and run off. Hence flood levels are becoming higher than before. At the same time, with a less and less water infiltrating into the ground, dry season flows are reduced and there are emerging problems such as severe water shortage and salt intrusion. Involvement of community and local institutions in natural resource management, considering the grave disaster risks, could address this emerging risk.

Community-based early warning system

The generation, interpretation, translation and communication of flood warning information requires an in-depth assessment of community perception and of the role of local institutions in this regard.

Community-based disaster risk reduction

Decisions about the use of Government stocks and reserve funds for rice are centralized. Larger amounts can only be released through permission from the Prime Minister's Office or delegated officials in the Ministry of Finance. This means that decisions take time, and once a decision is made it is possible that market prices have gone up, and amendments in the quantity of rice or requested funds need to be made, leading to further delays. Some officials and staff of mass organizations recommend that decision-making about the use of reserve funds and rice stocks should be decentralized, probably to the commune and in some cases possibly to the district level.

A community-based approach to disaster risk reduction

• allows communities to identify their vulnerabilities and articulate their needs

• allows CFSC sub-committees to work with communities in finding solutions to these needs

• recognizes the strengths of communities

There is a need to identify the list of eligible activities and appropriate management mechanisms, and to entrust these tasks to communes and mass organizations. Table 11 lists some of these activities.

Table 11. Suggested activities for community-based disaster risk reduction [4]

Lessons of the 1999 floods could pave way for new policy changes for disaster reduction and natural resource management

Hong Ha commune is affected by the trend in increased local responsibility for development planning in Vietnam. As elsewhere in the country, local institutions are beginning to implement the Grassroots Democracy Program (by Government Decree No. 29, 1998), which calls for increased discussion of development priorities and budgets among local people, and for commune authorities to exercise greater transparency and accountability in their interactions with local communities. Hong Ha is particularly affected by a recent government program (Program 135), which directs development grants to the country's poorest communes. The Program provides grants on an average of US$ 30,000 per commune for small public infrastructure works and strengthening of local capacity and participatory approaches in development planning (World Bank et al., 2000). This provided additional powers for development decision-making to existing local authorities, along with the funding to carry out their priorities.

In spite of this move toward local empowerment, in the natural resources domain, a significant portion of the assets in Hong Ha commune remain under the strict control of a highly centralized and distant institution, the Bo Watershed Management Board. The Board operates directly under the national Department for Agriculture and Rural Development. The Board controls large swathes of tree-covered land and barren land designated for planting. It develops a design for forest planting bilaterally with a team from DARD and submits this plan to the provincial authorities for approval. Only after this process does the Board inform the district, commune and village of its decision.

Commune authorities have proven highly responsive to villagers' needs and concerns in the immediate aftermath of the 1999 flood disaster. For instance, they ascertained which households were most affected, and successfully mobilized emergency support from numerous outside organizations. Villagers appreciated these organizational efforts, claiming that without the People's Committee, "we wouldn't have a commune at all."

In the longer-term effort to recover livelihoods and production systems, the commune leadership has continued to playa prominent role. Drawing upon the grant resources made available by Program 135 and its new latitude in decision-making over infrastructure development and poverty alleviation at the commune level, the People's Committee has become increasingly active on several fronts. It has taken a greater role in formulating development plans for land use development, organizing input supply, training commune extension workers, and planting bamboo and indigenous species. Together with the local communities, the commune leadership has made agro-forestry development on hill lands a priority in order to alleviate poverty and achieve ecological objectives; such a strategy could reduce villagers' reliance on vulnerable, stony lands in the flood plain.

Villagers credit the institutional shifts as having increased the appropriateness of local development efforts overall. A significant factor in the strong accountability relations of the commune leadership is the enduring social relations that bind the community. The commune leadership is composed of ethnic minority people from the same groups as its constituents, and they share norms of reciprocity, language, and family bonds. The social structure in the commune is not highly differentiated. These factors increase the trust and cooperation between villagers and leaders. The Thua Thien Hue experience also informs policy discussions of what is the right level to which land use and agricultural development decisions should be devolved. This case argues for the commune as the "right" level because, at this scale, both social bonds and the opportunity for diverse and meaningful community consultation in decision-making exist.

In village discussions, the People's Committee was faulted mostly for failing to spend more time on recognizing and developing the potential of the poor and handicapped. Although socio-economic differentiation in the commune is not great, those at the bottom of the scale, primarily women, still face daunting difficulties in finding the time and energy to attend village meetings. They will require extra attention if they are to share in the benefits of local projects.

To advance local communities' development interests, commune authorities believe they will need to gain more experience and technical expertise in the development of markets. Households seek opportunities for diversifying their production systems to reduce risk. However, the lack of local market institutions is hindering these efforts; people cannot access the range of inputs they require, nor can they sell the range of products they would like to grow. Empowering local institutions to act as intermediary between producers and markets could promote sustainable development in disaster risk-prone areas.

Commune management of savings, credit schemes, inputs, land use planning could be the key to reduce long-term disaster risks

Improved capacity for commune and village management of resources would increase capacity to cope with crises. Community-managed savings and credit schemes would improve access to credit and would be more flexible than the bank in adapting to the conditions of each household. Community management of production and supply of seed and inputs are vital for quick recovery in crisis situations, but also for the normal access of inputs, especially for the poor.

Commune management of the hill land around the settlement area in the mountain communes could have the advantage of increasing flexibility in land use according to changing circumstances. In emergency cases, as in the coping period directly after the floods, there could be a larger tolerance regarding the use of hill land for food production. Loss of land for some households could be temporarily compensated with other land. From the long-term planning perspective, the commune would have more possibilities and incentives to develop forestry and agro-forestry production, including cash crops, food crops, fruit trees, high value forest species and medicinal herbs, and would increase sources of income and reduce vulnerability to crises.

Resources under control by agencies or local institutions outside the commune are perceived as the main constraint for recovery

Hill land villages have the highest capacity to recover due to a more diversified economy, with more access to sources of income from forest planting, collecting firewood and animals grazing in the hills. There are also more labour opportunities all year round in a more diversified production context. The hill land people are thus more flexible and have more control over their sources of income than both the lowland and the mountain population.

The lowland is largely a monoculture economy, which is dependent on two major points of income each year from the rice harvests. If the harvest fails, or if funds are required at other points in time, there are few options other than taking out loans. Labour opportunities are mainly available during rice planting and harvest. The people in the mountain commune have certain possibilities of solving emergency needs by collecting minor forest products. The remoteness of the commune means fewer labour opportunities, less access to inputs and markets. The main constraint to recovery is perceived as being people's limited access to land and forest, as most of the area is under the control of agencies outside the commune.

Commune and district level local organisations could be sensitive to the needs of different groups of people for effective natural resource management and reduction of disaster risk

The production environment during the years after the disaster also has a large impact on the capacity of people to recover. The immediate coping after the disaster has been solved by various emergency efforts. The risk of severe damage to household livelihood conditions comes from the series of production problems, which constrain the households in their recovery process. In the lowland, these constraints are heavy rains during crop season, reducing the harvest; low rice prices; and animal husbandry diseases. The conclusion would thus be to concentrate development efforts on improved drainage capacity, diversification, marketing efforts and improved veterinary services. To be able to control the drainage and irrigation of the fields, and thereby be less dependent on the weather, is a high priority for people both in the lowland, hill land and the mountains. In the mountains it is also a way to increase access to land. Larger district and commune control over the planning and implementation of water management investments tends to increase the degree of sensitivity to balancing the interests of different groups of people.

Local institutions could appreciate the nuances of individual households’ capacity to recover rather than losses suffered, and hence provide direction and targeting of disaster management activities

Policies for recovery have focused more on the absolute value of damage by the floods, and less on relative damage. A consequence of this has been less attention to recovery of household food security in the mountain areas even though the relative impact of the floods for people's livelihoods seems to have been as serious in the mountains as in the lowland. Institutional arrangements, which guarantee that the mountain population have enough land to ensure food production have a high priority. Also in the lowland, there are certain villages and people who have more difficulties in recovering because their overall production and livelihood situation is more difficult. Looking at the capacity to recover rather than at the value of the loss would focus attention to the poor and vulnerable in the support for recovery. This would involve greater attention to non-production aspects of recovery, including the support for secure housing, sustenance and health.

Local institutions have immense social capital to collectively address disaster risks

Social capital that bonds a community is important for the livelihood outcomes of natural resources management. In Thua Thien Hue, such ties increased the responsiveness of local institutions and mass organizations to community concerns. The crisis caused by the floods led to the mobilization of organizations at all levels. The village and commune organizations became more active in organizing mutual support. The community spirit continued, as organizations helped households rebuild and maintain their livelihood systems. The pre-existence of mass organizations (e.g. Farmers Association and Women's Union) helped to mobilize people effectively. Households contributed rice and cash to funds held by these organizations, which were redistributed to the most needy. People organized labour teams to help each other recover land that was buried by sand and stones. Villagers held numerous meetings to establish ways of coping with the crisis and helping each other

Since the floods, and in the context of commune authorities' new responsibilities, the leadership has reached out more often to community members to hear their concerns. Community members are increasingly articulate in their assessment of the commune and district organizations' work, and have clear demands and expectations regarding their roles and the services they should provide.

Local people themselves are their most important resource for rescue, protection, survival and recovery. Their personal experience of floods is their most important source for increased awareness of flood risks to life and property. There is a need to have an in-depth study of social and economic aspects of local institutions and evolve a policy support to streamline functioning of local institutions in this regard.

Local institutions could be motivated to treat climate variability associated risks as a continuous threat to livelihood of communities

Recurring natural disaster risks continue to undermine development efforts and poverty alleviation programmes due to non-integration of location-specific disaster risks into development planning. Empowering communities and local institutions to enable them to treat disaster risks as a continuous threat to livelihoods is hence an imperative need in integrating disaster risks into the planning process at the local level.

Empower local institutions through national policies and translate these to operational programmes

The management of the 1999 flood in Central Vietnam underscored the importance of the role played by local institutions like the People’s Committee and mass organizations. Local institutions assisted the communities to a considerable extent during the first three days of the floods. Outside help effectively reached only on the third day. Realizing the role played by the local institutions, the government announced four on-the-spot disaster management policy (Phuong cham 4 tai cho):

1) Prepare and mobilize "local forces", meaning members of various organizations and shock brigades to help the local people

2) Provide conditions so that people can stay where they live

3) Support people to earn a livelihood nearby

4) Ensure that services such as schools and hospitals, as well as relief goods are available nearby

Translating this policy into practice requires capacity building of local institutions based on systematic assessment of their strengths and weaknesses.