Action on climate change can boost other aspects of development, if properly aligned

“Connecting the thematic implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals presents important leverage points for civil society actors to identify critical gaps and shortcomings, and to foster a truly integrative implementation of the social, economic and ecological dimensions of these two agendas,” said in her opening speech Yvonne Blos, Regional Coordinator for Climate Change in Asia, FES Vietnam Office. “This is also what a socio-ecological transformation that we stand for aims to achieve”.  

During the conference participants discussed the connections and synergies with the SDGs that can be found in the Vietnamese NDCs. Our photo report highlights some ideas of how international experts, government representatives and civil society organizations can come together to enable a participatory and consistent implementation process. 

With more than 100 representatives from ministries, media, think tanks and NGOs, the conference enabled a direct exchange between civil organizations, national decision-makers and international experts. As an important achievement, the conference brought together representatives from three ministries that are essential for the coherent implementation of SDGs and NDCs. These are the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Vu Minh Hai, CCWG chairwoman from 2015 to June 2018, led the event. Vu is one of the leading disaster risk management experts in Vietnam. In her function as chair of CCWG, Vu focused her efforts on reinforcing the dialogue between NGOs and government representatives through consultation meetings and intensive exchanges during the Conferences of the Parties for negotiations around the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Government of Vietnam has committed to mobilizing all resources necessary for a successful implementation of Agenda 2030 and its SDGs.  Seventeen global SDGs have been nationalized into the National Action Plan (NAP) for implementation of the Agenda 2030, with 115 specific targets that are in line with the national development priorities and conditions, based on the successful implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“WWF is a CCWG member since the beginning,” said Pham Cam Nhung, Programme Coordinator for Sustainable Energy at WWF Vietnam. “We see that this network is a key dialogue partner with the government. We see a lot of achievements and results of CCWG in terms of policy dialogue with the government.” She said WWF Vietnam was enthusiastic about taking over as chair of CCWG from June 2018.  

Vu Thi Bich Hop from the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD) introduced the audience to SRD’s work on the two agendas. Since 2006, SRD has helped rural communities to adapt to the changing environment to ensure their livelihoods in an equal, sustainable and efficient manner. For example, by introducing climate-smart agricultural practices SRD support small-scale food producers increase their productivity sustainably (SDG 2) while reducing carbon emissions.

“The NGO community is crucial because they bring in specific knowledge that can complement not only the national but also the local level governance for the future implementation of both climate change action and sustainable development,” said Adis Dzebo from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). Dzebo is a co-leader of the joint initiative NDC-SDG Connections, a cooperation between the German Development Institute (Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, or DIE) and the SEI.

Nguyen Thi Yen from Care International introduced actionable agro-climate information services. She pointed out the need to learn from other international and regional experience in NDC implementation to increase information exchange between governmental agencies, to avoid overlaps and promote the contributions that NGOs can make.