A conference was held in Hanoi on April 23 by the Ministry of
Planning and Investment, to collect opinions on evaluating investment
activities and public spending on climate change.
Vietnam has joined a number of initiatives in accordance with the
Convention of the United Nations (UN) and Kyoto Protocol on climate
change. Many national policies have been revised to include climate
change issues in environmental management work, biodiversity
preservation and other interdisciplinary goals such as poverty
reduction.
By now the country has received 1.2
billion USD in international aid for climate change adaptation. Experts
say investment in this area is expected to increase, but policies and
coordination capacity are lacking, creating a bottleneck in the
implementation process.
According to Pham Hoang Mai,
head of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Department of
Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment, domestic
investment in climate change response is still restricted.
However, experience in clean development and private investors’
response to energy efficiency and regenerative power indicate that an
increase in investment is possible, Mai added.
Thomas Beloe, a UNDP representative, suggested that Vietnam should
take a more proactive approach to climate change, particularly to
promote green/low carbon development. He said the green development
strategy, which Vietnam is working to build, will create a good
foundation to put in place a strong policy framework as to climate
change.
A tough challenge for developing countries,
including Vietnam, is how to mobilise sufficient financial sources
to deal with climate change, said Murray, a World Bank representative.
Therefore, the country should classify climate change-related costs in
order to improve the quality of spending on climate change response.-VNA