ALM UNDP

Summary:

Viet Nam covers an area of over 331,000 square kilometers and has an estimated population of 90.5 million people—making it the 14th most populated country in the world (CIA, 2011). It lies from 8o27 to 23o23 N and from 102o08 to 109o30E. Three quarters of Viet Nam is covered by mountains and hills and the rest is plains. Based on topography Viet Nam is divided into seven regions: Northern upland, Red River Delta, Northern Central Coast, Southern Central Coast, Central Highland, Northern East of the Sourh and the Mekong Delta. There are 2360 rivers in Viet Nam including the Red River and the Mekong River. Viet Nam is considered to be vulnerable to climate change, particularly in terms of its water resources, agriculture, forestry, energy, aquaculture and human health. It has a monsoon tropical climate with high humidity and hot temperatures. It is affected by many typhoons and tropical cyclones, on average there are about five per year. About 80-90% of the rainfall occurs during the rainy season. In several of the regions there are floods during the rainy season and droughts during the dry season.(First National Communication for Viet Nam, 2003). While Viet Nam is working to modernize its economy, agricultural production continues to generate about one-fifth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP; in 2010) and this sector continues to employ 53.9 per cent of the labor force (in 2009). By comparison, industry generated about 41.1 per cent of GDP, and services generated 38.3 per cent (in 2010). Deep poverty has declined significantly in recent years, and was estimated to be 10.6 per cent in 2010 (CIA, 2011). Viet Nam’s 2010 Human Development Index ranking was 113 of 169 countries (UNDP, 2010).

ADAPTATION NEEDS AND PRIORITIES:

Viet Nam’s present climate is tropical in the south and monsoonal in the north, with a hot, rainy season from May to September and a warm dry season from October to March (CIA, 2011). Since 1950, the country has experienced a rise in average surface temperatures of 0.7°C. As well, the country’s typhoon and flood seasons are observed to be longer than in the past; there is increased incidences of heavy rainfall and flooding; storms are tracking into new coastal areas; and drought in areas previously not vulnerable to aridity have been noted (Carew-Reid, 2008). These trends may be indicators of climate change, which is projected to lead to: rising temperatures; increased rainfall across nearly all regions; more erratic rainfall patterns; and rising sea levels along Viet Nam’s extensive coastlines (MONRE, 2003). Given Viet Nam’s geographical location, current level of development and projected climatic changes—particularly with respect to sea-level rise, extreme weather events and rainfall patterns (Oxfam, 2008)—it has often been identified as a country that is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change (World Bank, 2009). These vulnerabilities vary throughout the different regions of Viet Nam in light of their physical and social characteristics. As summarized in Table 1, the Mekong Delta Region and Central Coast are highly exposed to climate impacts, but have moderate sensitivity to these changes; the northern mountains, in contrast, are not very exposed to climate risks but the region’s poverty means that it has a high level of sensitivity to the changes projected to occur (McElwee, 2010). Overall, climate change has the potential to significantly exacerbate poverty related issues in a country that has made significant strides on this issue over the past decades.
Understanding of this vulnerability has been documented in Viet Nam’s First National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) submitted in December 2003 (MONRE, 2003), and its Second National Communication submitted in December 2010 (MONRE, 2010). Through these reports, Viet Nam has also communicated its adaptation needs and priorities and recommended responses to climate threats. Sectors identified as being priorities for adaptation action are agriculture, water, forestry, coastal zones and fisheries (MONRE, 2003; MONRE, 2010):

•  Agriculture: Projected increases in temperature, measured through fewer days below 20°C and more days above 25°C, are could negatively impact agricultural productivity in Viet Nam by increasing water needs, changing growing seasons, decreasing output, forcing changes to agriculture practices and crop varieties and the loss of 5,469 square kilometers of arable land by 2100 due to sea level rise (MONRE, 2010). In response, priority adaptation measures have been identified as: development of crop patterns suitable to climate changes; effective use of irrigation water; upgrading of irrigation systems for agriculture; development of new crop varieties that can withstand severe environmental conditions; improved storage of harvested varieties as well as establishing crop seed banks; and development of farming techniques appropriate to climate change (MONRE, 2010).
•  Freshwater resources: These resources are also expected to come under increasing stress, with the potential for the groundwater level to drop drastically after 2020. Sustainable development of water resources is a high priority in general, with a need to take into account potential climate impacts in the management and storage of water resources. Recommended responses in the National Communications include: creating plans for water development in all river basins; reinforcing and upgrading infrastructure, including dykes, canals and drainage systems; improving observation and forecasting; increasing public awareness of climate change coupled with promotion of efficiency and conservation of water use; increasing water reservoirs; and increasing research and study into long term water resource protection.
•  Forestry: Predictions to 2100 show climate change causing the shrinkage of natural forest ecosystems, increases in pest impact and greater risk of forest fires. Adaptation measures identified to address these concerns include: enhancing reforestation, particularly protecting and developing mangrove forest; strengthening sustainable forest management; improving forest fire prevention; enhancing timber processing efficiency and limiting use of wood; and selecting and developing plant varieties suitable to natural conditions (and resilient to pest and fire risk) while taking into account projected climate changes.
•  Coastal zones and fisheries: With one of the largest and most heavily populated deltas in the world, sea-level rise and increasing temperatures are of particular concern to Viet Nam. To reduce its vulnerability to these projected changes, the countries has identified measures such as: taking into account sea level rise and increase of temperatures while building infrastructure such as quays, ports and store houses; creating transitional belts between land and sea by building back-up dikes behind sea dikes, with the areas between mainly being used for aquaculture; building storm shelter port systems along the coast as well as on islands; establishing natural ecological reserves, especially coral reefs and atolls; improving aquaculture, including increasing tolerance of species and sustainable aquaculture plans; and disaster protection and risk reduction measures, including insurance improvements.

Viet Nam’s awareness of the importance of education and capacity building across all topics is also well documented, particularly with respect to water.

NATIONAL LEVEL POLICIES:

Viet Nam launched its National Target Programme to Respond to Climate Change (NTP) in late 2008 with the goal of developing national policy on adaptation and mitigation by the end of 2010 and full implementation in 2015. The adaptation related goals of the NTP are to (Government of Viet Nam, 2008):

•  Identify the extent of climate change in Viet Nam and its expected impacts;
•  Identify adaptation measures and policies;
•  Promote scientific and technological activities related to climate change;
•  Strengthen capacity building to respond to climate change;
•  Raise public awareness;
•  Promote international cooperation;
•  Mainstream climate change into socioeconomic development strategies and all levels of planning; and
•  Develop specific action plans and pilot projects to respond to climate change.

In most areas of climate change policy in Viet Nam, adaptation has been given equal footing with mitigation.

CURRENT ADAPTATION ACTION:

Viet Nam has been one of the most active countries in the world with respect to undertaking discrete adaptation projects. Viet Nam has a very high level of ongoing adaptation projects and programs relative to other East and Southeast Asian developing countries. These include projects designed specifically to meet the needs of Viet Nam, and those that also are being undertaken in other developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. The nationally focused projects are addressing a wide range of sectors, including coastal zones, policy formulation, water, disaster risk reduction, rural development, education and the needs of urban areas. The majority of these projects include capacity building, research, knowledge sharing, awareness raising and vulnerability assessments; a smaller number of projects include components involving community based adaptation and implementation. Funders of more than one nationally-focused adaptation project in Viet Nam include the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the governments of Australia, Germany, Japan and, in particular, Denmark.
Regional as well as globally focused projects are addressing a similarly wide range of adaptation priorities, with a slightly higher concentration of projects addressing adaptation in the areas of water, agriculture and urban centers; fewer address adaptation needs related to coastal zones, policy formulation, health, forestry, natural resources and fisheries and marine resources. Funders of more than one multi-country adaptation project that includes Viet Nam are: the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) and the governments of Australia, Germany, Norway, Sweden and, especially, the United States.

PROPOSED ADAPTATION ACTION:

Viet Nam’s Second National Communications contains a list of 54 proposed adaptation measures over the short- and long-term covering the priority areas of water resources, coastal zones, agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, energy, transportation and health (MONRE, 2010). While details are not given, this list does provide insight to the types of projects that the government is looking to undertake. In addition, Viet Nam has been identified as a potential partner in a project submitted to the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) and one being developed by the ADB.

ASSESSMENT:

Viet Nam has done a good job of both developing a sound vision for its adaptation priorities, and translating these priorities into action. In its latest National Communication, the government is very specific about its limitations, constraints and capacity building needs with respect to impacts and responses. These limitations include development of more detailed climate scenarios, impact assessments, and a shortage of technical experts in the field who have adaptation knowledge. As with most other countries, a shortage of up-to-date technology and capacity building needs are also cited as problems that have to be addressed.
Current policy approaches to adaptation are limited primarily to the National Target Program, which faces serious challenges. These include: a lack of local research on vulnerabilities; lack of direction for prioritization of efforts or specific actions; a focus only on government actions, not local ones; and often a limited horizontal integration with other sectorial planning initiatives (McElwee, 2010).
For future action, key areas of focus could be identified as follows:

•  Specific focus on adaptation options relevant for populations vulnerable to climate change due to their livelihoods; these include those reliant on forest-based livelihoods in the Mekong, Central Highlands and Northern Mountain regions; minorities with livelihoods based on agriculture in the Central Highlands and Northern Mountain regions; fishermen in the Central Coast; and migrants from rural areas and poor people in urban areas in the Mekong region.349
•  Greater emphasis on agricultural production through implementation of actions such as adjustments in cropping systems, biotechnology application and marketing development; these actions could be undertaken in the context of indigenous knowledge focused on infrastructure, tourism and fisheries.
•  Capacity building to enable policy formulation activities to take the next step towards on-the-ground implementation, which is lagging because of a lack of partners with the capacity to implement/manage programs.
•  As Viet Nam’s economy becomes increasingly dependent on industry, and less reliant on agriculture, ensuring that the implications of this transition are accounted for in adaptation planning—such as with respect to changes on land use, exploitation of natural resources, and agricultural and forest-based livelihoods.
•  Greater attention to gender concerns in adaptation policies, planning and projects, as this issue is not clearly addressed in current actions.
•  More focused adaptation interventions on early warning systems, especially for extreme weather events and flash-floods; involving communities in the systems’ development; capacity building for local communities to use these systems; and overall education about climate change and disaster risk management.
•  Combinations of adaptation options to address challenges of extreme weather events and sea-level rise should include: using ecosystem-based measures to reduce impacts, such as supporting forest and mangrove plantations; improving infrastructure, such as sea dykes and roads; and improving payments for ecosystems services to encourage community-based forest management.
•  Identify areas in the country that have not yet been effectively included in adaptation planning and prioritize these for future adaptation efforts.
•  Delineate adaptation efforts both horizontally and vertically to better include different sectoral efforts and livelihood groups in the development of adaptation projects.
•  Finally, often the major vulnerability of the population is related to weakened social safety nets and degrading common pool resources; therefore, when developing adaptation options, their social implications for different population and livelihood groups need be addressed.

Primary Source: Gass, Philip; Hove, Hilary; Parry, Jo-Ellen. (2011) “Review of Current and Planned Adaptation Action: East and Southeast Asia.” Adaptation Partnership / International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Additional References:

• Carew-Reid, J. (2008). Rapid Assessment of the Extent and Impact of Sea Level Rise in Vietnam. Hanoi: International Centre for Environmental Management.
• Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] (2011). Vietnam. The World Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vm.html
• Government of Viet Nam (2008). Decision on approval of the National Target Program to respond to climate change. No: 158/2008/TTg (2 December 2008). Unofficial English translation of Vietnamese original.  Retrieved fromhttp://www.theredddesk.org/sites/defaultfiles/decision_on_national_target_program_on_reduction_of_climate_change_0.pdf

• McElwee P. (2010). Social Dimensions of Adaptation to Climate Change in Vietnam. Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change. Discussion Paper no. 12, Washington DC: World Bank.
• Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment [MNRE] (2003). Viet Nam Initial National Communication. Retrieved from http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/vnmnc01.pdf
• Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment [MNRE] (2010). Viet Nam’s Second National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Retrieved from http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/vnmnc02.pdf
• United Nations Development Program [UNDP] (2010). Human Development Index 2010. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/
• World Bank. (2009). Convenient Solutions to an Inconvenient Truth: Ecosystem-based approaches to climate change. Washington: The World Bank.