Vulnerability assessment in the coastal plain of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

The coastal plain is considered to be one of the most vulnerable areas in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta due to negative impacts of surface water resources changes driven by regional and local climate change and sea level rise. In addition, the vulnerability is also exaggerated due to low adaptive capacity of local residents. In this study, components of vulnerability index (including exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of local residents under negative impacts of both flood and saline intrusion) are calculated in details according to actual conditions of the study area. High vulnerability index would be shifted from coastal areas (at the time being) to zones further inland and along the main rivers (in the future) as local residents were not well-prepared for physical changes. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis was done to understand the reliability of assigned weight for each parameter.