The Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) recently organised a consultation workshop on Cooperation Framework of Vietnam and GGGI in the period of 2016- 2020. The workshop is an opportunity for the government agencies of Vietnam, in collaboration with international scientists, to review the impacts of climate change of Vietnam and make recommendations on policies and measures to prevent and mitigate extreme weather events that are happening more and more frequently.
According to calculations of the GGGI, Vietnam is currently one of the countries severely affected by extreme events due to climate changes. Specifically, estimated from 2001 to 2010, the annual impacts of the climate changes reduced 1.5 percent of GDP and killed 9,500 people. The rising sea level predicts a loss of VND62 million per household of Vietnam. With an increase of carbon emission, Vietnam needs to mitigate the negative impacts of economic growth and protect the country from the damages due to climate change. The cooperation framework scheme between Vietnam and the GGGI (CPF) that is being finalised and prepared to implement will contribute to the Government of Vietnam in the process of complying with the international and national commitments while maintaining sustainability and creating opportunities to further promote the economic growth of Vietnam.
The draft is a result of many positive sessions of ministries, agencies, donors and other development partners specialising in the green growth in the long-term. Accordingly, the draft states 3 main objectives including: the Green growth integrated into the socio- economic planning strategy to ensure the economic development in parallel with the environmental integrity protection; the rapid growth of urban areas of Vietnam required to meet the needs of people by encouraging production and sustainable consumption of energy sources and natural resources; the public and private financing for infrastructure development, energy, transport and environmentally friendly industry.
According to the experts on climate change, Vietnam is a country with "agricultural economy" while the extreme weather events due to climate change tend to devastate the industry most. According to calculations by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, if the climate change scenarios go as predicted, the GDP of the agriculture will be reduced by 1.67 percent. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should urgently build up a restructuring proposal submitted to the Government for approval, towards enhancing sustainable development. Also, there a lot of efforts to reduce emissions, such as the advanced cultivation methods and water saving.
According to Ms Luu Thi Thu Giang, Climate Change Expert of the CARE International in Vietnam, Vietnam now has an invisible barrier of raising awareness of the people, particularly the disadvantaged and the ethnic minorities, on the climate change. This issue requires Vietnam to work out the policies on many different areas to mobilise the power of communities to implement suitable actions. Besides, the people are encouraged to use local knowledge to manually change actions to help improve their livelihoods.
The story of climate changes becomes more urgent at the a conference on global climate change taking place in Paris recently, with the participation of the leaders of 147 countries. Highlighting the importance and solutions to cope with climate changes, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung reaffirmed that Vietnam continues to promote the integration of the disaster risk management and adaptation to climate changes, while improving forecasting capabilities and early warning systems, actively developing disaster prevention measures and effective responses to climate change and sea level rise; promoting the media and the active participation of citizens and businesses in the proactive disaster prevention and strengthening cooperation between countries in the region and the partners involved. "In addition to our own efforts, Vietnam needs cooperation and supports of the national and international organisations," Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung emphasised.
According to Dr Pham Hoang Mai, Head of the Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources, and Environment under the Ministry of Planning and Investment said the CPF will help Vietnam implement the green growth objectives in both short and long terms. Initially, there will be priorities for cooperation and institutional strengthening policies related to the green growth.
Meanwhile, Mr Adam Ward, GGGI's Country Representative to Vietnam, praised the plans and said that the strength of the draft from the CPF is the programme that the GGGI is currently cooperating with the Government of Vietnam in urban areas and water supply as well as the investment guidelines towards implementing the green growth strategy in Vietnam.
The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), headquartered in Seoul, Korea, is an intergovernmental organisation established to support and promote green growth on a global scale. The GGGI links with countries to support economic growth in a sustainable way, particularly an efficient and optimal use of natural resources, reduce carbon and provide better solutions to respond to the climate changes.
Anh Phuong
Vietnamese
