Climate change has exacerbated gender inequality, and women are a vulnerable group. Previous research attributed this to physical gender differences, gender differences in ownership and control of natural resources, and socioeconomic status. We used a survey of 99 participants, seven focus group discussions, and 13 in-depth interviews in a coastal community in Vietnam to gain insight into the roots of gender inequality in the capacity to adapt to climate change. We analysed the role of social capital in regulating and mobilising other livelihood assets from a gendered perspective and found that gender norms explain the division and interactions of men and women in formal and informal networks. Based on our results, we suggest that policy-makers should pay more attention to gender issues when proposing climate change policies and reducing the gender imbalance in the impact of climate change adaptation.

The implementation of Community-engaged research (CenR) has faced many challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when researchers are based in another part of the country or the world. This paper presents a researcher’s initiative for implementing CenR in partnership with local universities, particularly engaging local students to become part of the communities and bridge the gap between researchers and communities. The project aims to engage local communities working in tourism services in assessing their adaptive capacity (AC) to climate change in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD). Notably, this study was conducted with the researchers being located in Taiwan while the research area was situated in the VMD. Methods used include field trips, in-depth interviews (IDIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), local workshops, and people participation geographic information system (PPGIS). Two groups of students at Kien Giang University (KGU) and Dong Thap University (DTU) (Vietnam) were involved. The article provides the process of engaging with local students, from searching and selecting them, to obtaining consents, engaging and building trust, training and guiding them in field trips, engaging with local communities, collecting and analyzing data, and developing future projects in those communities. The study offers a novel approach that can be extrapolated in the context of global system crises such as climate change, disasters, or emergency situations in remote areas that often experience limited connectivity with the outside world. By encouraging the creativity of students and researchers, this study promotes the continuity of research efforts even in times of uncertainty and crisis.

Environmental protection is an increasing concern across Taiwan. Facebook and LINE enjoy high penetration in Taiwan, are potential platforms for democratizing the research process. Citizens participate in evaluating their environment, contributing to its protection as well as having voice in decision making in the environment community-engaged research (eCEnR) than ever before. However, along with increased citizen engagement, researchers also see a decreased trust in institutions, including government, media, and news. Based on in-depth interviews with organizers and participants, the analysis of posts on Facebook group, LINE messages, and websites of two ongoing eCEnRs, we assessed the impact of civic media practice on the democratic process. This article analyzes how social networking sites or applications function in four activities of the democratic process. Network building, discussion forums, distributed ownership and persistent input help organizations overcome distrust of institutions and enhance civic media’s ability to foster connections and create more usable interfaces between communities and institutions.