It is likely that Vietnam will face some degree of climate change over the coming years. Natural resource based industries such as agriculture, fisheries and forestry, are particularly vulnerable to these risks, and the poor are considered as being the most vulnerable.  Therefore, the need to increase the adaptive capacity of people to deal with climate change risks has been identified as a priority in Vietnam.

The overall objective of this study is to improve the understanding of  the vulnerability of forest-human systems to the potential impacts of climate change in Vietnam. The main question addressed is how forest-human systems in Vietnam are vulnerable to the current and future impacts of climate change, and how can policy and management respond? This study will use a ‘bottom-up’ approach to examine the vulnerability of the systems being impacted. The focus will be on the biophysical and socio-economic characteristics of these systems. The study will be conducted in northern mountain regions of Vietnam.