Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

08/05/2022 | Press release | Archived content

Viet Nam realizes its commitment to climate in agriculture


Viet Nam realizes its commitment to climate in agriculture


(02:08:45 PM, 05/08/2022)

Vietnam promotes sustainable, climate-resilient and low-emission agriculture
Viet Nam is implementing many solutions to concretize climate commitments related to the agricultural sector.

Ambitious

Agriculture is not only an industry strongly affected by climate change, but also a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 13.9% of Viet Nam's total greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, reducing emissions in agriculture is one of Viet Nam's goals in achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

At COP26, Viet Nam joined two commitments that are closely related to agriculture: reducing global methane emissions and the Glasgow Declaration on forests and land use. Accordingly, Viet Nam will work with countries around the world to reduce methane emissions from human activities in all fields by 2030 by at least 30% compared to the 2020 emission level.

Along with reducing emissions, Viet Nam also aims to ensure global food security with the desire to become a transparent, responsible, and sustainable food producer and supplier that meets food security and nutrition requirements for about 100 million Vietnamese people and for export. This is Viet Nam's affirmation at the United Nations Summit on Food and Food Systems (in 2021).

Immediately after COP26, the Government has been and continues to soon complete the relevant legal framework, develop specific plans, measures and roadmaps; review and adjust relevant strategies and plannings; mobilize investment resources for climate change adaptation infrastructure; take advantage of the movement of global financial resources; promoting circular economy development, adapting to climate change...

As part of the effort to implement that process, in January 2022, the Prime Minister approved the "Strategy for sustainable agricultural and rural development, period 2021-2030, vision to 2050". In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is developing a plan to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the agriculture and rural development sector in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050.

Mobilize synergy

According to international experts, in order to realize the commitments, as well as implement the strategy of sustainable agricultural and rural development, Viet Nam needs great efforts, not only from the government, but also from the private sector, including businesses, who directly produce. These efforts need to appear at different scales to unlock the investment resources of the whole society, towards a green, low carbon and sustainable agriculture.

Viet Nam needs to mobilize all resources and economic sectors to participate, especially the private sector. The state will play the role of allocating resources from the budget, calling for international support, and mobilizing capital from society. The process of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions needs to be closely linked with the agro-ecological transition and adaptation to climate change.

In the report, the World Bank Group recommends that Viet Nam reorient public spending in agriculture to support the introduction of lower-emission crop varieties and production technologies.

Accordingly, to promote sustainable, climate-resilient, and low-emission agriculture, Viet Nam will need to strengthen institutions at both the central and local levels, leveraging the financial resources of private sector and promote market incentives - including helping farmers and food system actors access carbon finance.

In addition, Viet Nam needs to invest and scale up the use of low-carbon technologies in rice production, such as the wet-dry alternating method. Emerging technologies and techniques can improve the use of water and other inputs, reducing production costs and increasing net profits for farmers and other actors in the value chain.

Over the past time, on the part of management agencies, Viet Nam has been and continues to improve the relevant legal framework, develop plans and roadmaps; as well as reviewing and adjusting relevant strategies and plans.

In Viet Nam, a regenerative agriculture model has been piloted by enterprises with the aim of conserving and restoring agricultural land, ecosystems and its important resources including soil, biodiversity and water, thereby benefiting farmers, the environment and society at large. These benefits include soil carbon capture and plant biomass; improve soil health and fertility; reduce the use of agrochemicals and reduce net greenhouse gas emissions.

Regenerative agriculture also aims to reduce farmers' dependence on agricultural inputs, improve the resilience of farmland to climate change, and benefit livelihoods of farmers.

Khanh An