Ha Noi, 9 January 2023 - The Department of Climate Change and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Viet Nam held a closing workshop to celebrate the achievements of the "Viet Nam National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Development and Operationalisation Support" project (NAP-Sup).

Supported by UNDP and funded by the Green Climate Fund under the NAP Readiness window, the project aimed to establish an effective system for integrating climate change adaptation into the government administration process in five prioritized sectors, including natural resources and the environment, planning and investment, agriculture and rural development, transportation, and health.

During its two-year implementation period, the NAP-Sup project has delivered significant results, overcoming the delays and restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, drafting, and submitting various policies, laying the groundwork, and building a strong implementation foundation for climate change adaptation in Viet Nam.

The development and completion of Viet Nam's NAP Technical Report, which will soon be communicated to the UNFCCC, is a key achievement of the project. It sets out national prioritized measures until 2030 to reduce vulnerability and enhance the resilience of communities, economic sectors, and ecosystems, to the impacts of climate change. It also communicates the potential long-term climate loss and damage that Viet Nam unlikely to adapt to through national efforts. Building on lessons and good practices of the past decade, the NAP Technical Report sets clear priorities to accelerate solutions toward more integrated and inclusive adaptation programme approaches, protect those who are most vulnerable first, and ensure full alignment and integration within the national and sub-national development plans.
 
For the first time, Viet Nam has a guideline to prioritize and integrate climate adaptation solutions into national, sectoral, and local socio-economic development plans and budgets. Leading by MPI, the guideline is establishing necessary arrangements for tracking and reporting on adaptation finance and progress, moving toward an enhanced transparency framework for Viet Nam as part of UNFCCC process. The NAP-Sup project recommends critical solutions to foster engagement of the private sector in climate adaptation. These include, for example, developing a long-term NAP investment plan, promoting innovative pilot schemes for public-private partnerships in investment for adaptation projects. As Viet Nam’s financial institutions have a clear motivation to support climate change adaptation, NAP should generate momentum and new incentives to improve financing system’s support to adaptation projects. For example, the peer-to-peer lending model is a potential tool for risk-sharing in financing high-risk adaptation project portfolios. Line ministries are recommended to provide relevant policy support to business associations to pilot the initiative, exchange experiences, and mutually learnt for future replication.  

Mr. Tang The Cuong, Director of the Department of Climate Change, said, "The legal basis for climate change is gradually improving. Particularly in 2022, the Department of Climate Change supported issuing fourteen documents that will serve as a foundation for conducting adaptation efforts. Viet Nam has submitted to the Prime Minister and will be submitted to the UNFCCC. The report stated the results of NAP implementation, Vietnam's needs, and the basis for implementing adaptation activities.

Another key milestone is the launch and dissemination of the NAP portal, including the online M&E system for NAP implementation nationally. Designed as an open platform, the Portal provided a one-stop shop for all CCA information in Viet Nam from legal policies and technical guidelines to undertake climate risks and vulnerability assessments to presenting all the latest climate scenarios, maps of major hazards and climate risks across 63 provinces, and adaptation good practices. The NAP portal also includes an online monitoring and evaluation system for ministries, provinces, private sector, and non-government organizations to register, report and track their progress and contribution to NAP targets from now until 2030. This helps Viet Nam to effectively collect data and communicate transparently adaptation progress of NAP and NDC of Viet Nam in the future.

In close consultation with all line ministries and stakeholders, the project takes stock all key policies, practices, and progress on gender and climate change adaptation in Viet Nam in the Background Report on Mainstreaming Gender in CCA. The report’s findings and recommendations helped strengthen gender analysis and gender interventions of Viet Nam’s NAP Technical Report. In particular, it highlights key factors that drive gender inequalities and women's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. It analyzes gaps and challenges in gender mainstreaming practices in the five key sectors, where gender-sensitive adaptation actions are urgently needed. The report offers a set of recommendations and proposes a “Joint Roadmap Toward Gender Mainstreaming" for Viet Nam to advance gender action in NAP in the coming years, fully aligned with the five priority areas set out in the Gender Action Plan of the Paris Agreement and its first 5-year Lima Work Programme. Gender mainstreaming must be compulsory in all investment project selection criteria under the NAP framework.

At the closing workshop, representatives discussed how to apply the monitoring and evaluation system of climate change adaptation activities at the national level as part of National Communication to UNFCCC, replicating good practices from risk and vulnerability assessment methods in agricultural and transport sectors to other development sectors. Parties also discussed how Viet Nam will institutionalize the project’s guidelines for integration of climate change adaptation into national, sectoral, and local socio-economic development plans and budgeting as part of the national financial framework and transparency process, both domestically by all local governments as well as internationally as part of UNFCCC process.

Mr. Dao Xuan Lai, Head of UNDP’s Climate Change and Environment Unit in Viet Nam, said, “For Phase 2, we will continue to consolidate Phase 1 results, focusing on operationalization of NAP Monitoring and Evaluation system. We will leverage the results we already have to implement NAP in localities. UNDP will work with line ministries to conduct feasibility studies and develop appropriate project proposals which are set out as high priority in Viet Nam NAP agenda until 2030.”

The successful completion of this project demonstrates Viet Nam’s commitment to addressing the challenges posed by climate change, where adaptation is the national priority. By catalyzing efforts to ensure that adaptation efforts are recognized as instrumental to the country's sustainable development, the "Viet Nam National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Development and Operationalization Support" has contributed to reducing the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems. The project has established a robust system for integrating climate change adaptation into the government's administration process and promoting integration into national and local development plans. It is a testament to the cooperation between the government, international organizations, and the private sector in building a sustainable future.