Climate Change Information Sharing and Policy Workshop a Success in the North

August 31st marked an information sharing and policy dialogue on climate change in the Northern area which was co-hosted in Hanoi by: 

The workshop was attended by more than one hundred participants, including, but not limited to, officials of DMHCC, representatives of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), MONRE and representatives from the Embassy of Finland, the Embassy of the United States, Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Department for International Development (DFID) and  the United Nations Development Program in Vietnam, and many others.

In his opening speech Mr. Le Cong Thanh, Director of DMHCC, said that ‘Vietnam is in the transformation process from a low income country to a middle income country, so the financial aid that the international community is providing for Vietnam has been cut down. We have to rely on our own resources. Responding to climate change is the task of the whole political and social system as well as the authorities at all levels, institutions and the people. We have to put our utmost effort to deal with it.’  In his presentation, he shared that the second National Target Program to Respond to Climate Change (NTP-RCC) would be more specific, involving the utilization of modern measurement instruments to draw a complete picture of climate change in Vietnam. He appreciated the experience and capacity of NGOs in supporting the community in responding to climate change. It is an incredible advantage when NGOs can meaningfully contribute to the capacity building and information sharing between communities and governments.

The representatives of MPI, MARD, MONRE and the Support Program to Respond to Climate Change (SP-RCC) gave some comments about related issues such as the green growth strategy and the integration of climate change into SEDP; agricultural development plans for Northern provinces in the context of climate change; NTP-RCC 2012-2020; and the information exchange on climate change responses between Northern provinces. Those comments helped build a concrete foundation for NGOs to develop their direction for future projects at the community level as well as for engagement in policy dialogue with related agencies and ministries.

Within the workshop, some provinces introduced their climate change action plans, including DONREs<!--[if !supportAnnotations]--> of Hai Phong, Thai Binh and Lai Chau province. They also gave brief presentations about the implementing process of their action plans. For instance, following the approval of the action plan, they will facilitate capacity building activities for local people with regards to the impacts of climate change. In the following period, these provinces will establish steering committees to respond to climate change. These provinces have mainstreamed climate change into most aspects, programs, and development projects within the provinces so far. However, they are still facing some difficulties regarding the inharmonious legal documents, cooperative mechanisms between ministries and agencies, insufficient climate change database, low awareness about climate change and limited financing for climate change response. A number of participants from the Thai Binh, Hai Phong and Thanh Hoa provinces appreciated the support NGOs provided the communities in their provinces with during the last period. They hope to continue working with NGOs regarding technical consultation and community cooperation.

On behalf of VNGO&CC and CCWG Mr. Truong Quoc Can, Deputy Director of the Center for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD), said that ‘In order to successfully implement the policies and programs at the local level and reach every single person in the community, we need to collect experience from practical models and mobilize the active engagement of people in the community.  This is an advantage that NGOs gained during the time working closely at the grassroots level. The cooperation and information exchange between NGOs and the Government would bring about great opportunities to connect the government’s political effort and active engagement and support of the community, contributing to the national effort to respond to climate change.

-SRD-