Interregional watershed services: Valuation of the benefits of controlled embankment breaches to manage urban flood risk

Abstract

The Lower Mekong delta of Vietnam, particularly Can Tho city, is highly susceptible to flooding which urgently calls for significant efforts to mitigate urban flood risks. A possible measure to reduce flood risk is the application of controlled embankment breaches (CEB) in a rural province upstream. Utilising a Protection Motivation Theory approach, this paper uses a contingent valuation to assess the welfare effects of a reduction of flood risks in the city resulting from CEB in the upstream region of the delta. The findings revealed that households residing in the downstream areas of Vietnamese Mekong Delta were willing to financially support the implementation of the CEB upstream in An Giang city, as a measure to alleviate urban flood threats in Can Tho city. These results suggest that interregional cooperation, involving the concept of payments for watershed services between regional jurisdictions, may help to effectively mitigate flood risk in a low-lying population centre in a major river delta. As such, these findings can inform policies for urban flood risk mitigation regarding the development of a more comprehensive flood risk reduction strategy in similar geographical contexts.