Can Tho Resilience Strategy until 2030

Living in a low-lying area, for hundreds of years now, people in Cần Thơ in particular and in the Cửu Long River Delta (Vietnamese part of the Mekong River Delta) in general have been subjected to the impacts of flooding and inundation. Living conditions and livelihoods in the Delta were historically well adapted to the regular pattern of seasonal flooding, which residents and local governments describe as a “living-with-floods” strategy. However, during the past few years, flooding has become less predictable and more damaging due to a multitude of factors such as climate change, land subsidence and urban development. This creates many challenges for the living-with-floods strategy. In addition, the city has been facing many other challenges such as extreme heat waves, infectious disease epidemics, environmental pollution, water resource depletion, and economic recessions. These challenges also have grown in severity and unpredictability, and are often characterized by inter-disciplinary, inter-regional and even global linkages. The city needs new systemic and integrated directions and solutions that are robust enough for the local, regional and global challenges. In this context, the concept of resilience is considered a useful way to support the city in addressing these issues. This approach has been applied in hundreds of cities around the world, including major cities such as New York, Paris, Sydney, Rotterdam and Seoul. This is a key rationale for Cần Thơ City to engage in the 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) program.