Workshop on Climate Change in Vietnam

On February 6-7, 2023 Bread for the World (BftW) organized a Climate Change (CC) conference in Vietnam. The workshop was moderated by Mrs. Eva Maria Jongen. Director for the Bread for the World Regional Office for Vietnam and La PDR ; Mr. Thomas Hirsch – Director, Climate and Development Advisor in Germany.

At the workshop, Mr. Thomas shared the successful story of the Climate Change Centre in Bangladesh. In 2009 BftW have consulted its partners on solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change and decided to establish a Climate Change Centre in Bangladesh. The center was built on a 23-hectare plot of land with an obvious vision and mission. The Climate Centre organizes forums and educational hub for linking between nations, and it has a variety of partners who are universities and the top Research Institute for Climate Change … Building a social housing center, a training space, a campus landscape for students, and students to study and research. There are solutions on green energy, climate change adaptation, poor rural areas.

From the model in Bangladesh, Mr. Thomas proposed to build a Climate Change Centre in Vietnam to deal with issues related to climate change. Mr Nguyen Quang Tan – ICRAF Center presented that this project will be sponsored by BftW, co-sponsored by CIFOR- ICRAF and Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry. The centre may be built with an area of 15 hectares on the Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry campus. The Center’s goal is to practice climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, contributing to the realization of Vietnam’s commitment to “net zero emissions by 2050”. The Center will build the Main Centre building, climate park, outdoor stadium, satellite areas.In the Climate Centre the beneficiaries may organize training events, seminars, climate capacity development, and service provision. Green lifestyle experience tourism. The center is expected to start in 2023 and by 2029 will be operational and financially self-sufficient.

On February 7, 2023, the Workshop discussed frameworks related to climate action in Vietnam. According to Mrs. Dung – BftW, from 1999 to 2018 Vietnam was ranked as the sixth most negatively affected country in the world. In March 2015, the Sendai Framework for Action on Disaster Risk Reduction set four action priorities and seven goals to be achieved by 2030. Vietnam’s contribution to this goal is to strengthen capacity resilience and adaptation for sustainable livelihoods; reduce disaster risks caused by extreme climate events, contribute to solving the problem of loss and damage; formulate and develop national communication programs; engage the community.

Regarding the national adaptation plan (NAP), Vietnam focuses on prioritizing the fields of Agriculture, tourism, industry and commerce, natural resources, public health, etc. Disaster preparedness and adaptation plans will be at the heart of development decisions; climate change adaptation must be associated with sustainable development; encourage stakeholders to participate actively.

Mr. Pham Van Dien – Rector of the University of Forestry said about the goal of implementing NAP in the forestry sector by 2030 to address deforestation and forest degradation; effectively control the conversion of land use purposes; strive to improve the quality of 50% of degraded forest areas; perfecting policy institutions.

At the workshop, the participants raised questions, contributed ideas and discussed to finalize the plan to establish the Climate Change Center; provide solutions and proposals on the climate change mitigation and adaptation plan in Vietnam.

Hoang Thi Nguyet

Translated by Vo Thi Phuong Thao