Special edition  » The climate for change

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia and aims to achieve the status of an industrialised country by 2020.

It is also one of the countries that is, and will be, adversely affected by climate change. Climate change adds a new dimension of vulnerability to the present environmental risks. The rural poor will be the worst hit, thus endangering the unique Vietnamese success story of poverty alleviation during the last decade as well as social cohesion.

Mainstreaming climate change mitigation and adaptation is a cross-cutting issue in German

Mr Rolf Schulze

development cooperation. Our assistance portfolio in Vietnam aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming and at facilitating adaptation to climate change.

Germany and Vietnam have identified three priority areas of cooperation. Along with the areas of sustainable economic development and health, environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources is the major focus of cooperation between Germany and Vietnam.

Within this context, projects and programmes contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation are implemented in the areas of sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation, renewable energies and energy efficiency, as well as sustainable urban development and macroeconomic reforms.

Through sustainable forest management and conservation of biodiversity, the relevant ecosystems are enabled to react more flexibly to changes in the environment. Through improved forest management and reforestation supported by German development cooperation projects, emissions are reduced by up to 7.3 tonnes of CO2 per hectare of forest per year. Additionally, we support our Vietnamese government partners in establishing contracts for the trade of CO2 certificates out of reforestation projects with private partners. The macroeconomic reform programme supports its partners with the development of ecological tax reforms.

In the Mekong Delta, which is one the most vulnerable regions to the effects of climate change worldwide, the German government supports Vietnam by helping to develop a conducive legal and institutional framework for integrated coastal zone management.

Moreover, the protection, management and rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems, the piloting of dyke protection and rehabilitation, the improvement of biodiversity, especially in protected areas, and the promotion of income opportunities for the local population are important issues to be tackled by our bilateral development cooperation.

We believe that the combined efforts of German-Vietnamese development cooperation will foster a streamlined Vietnamese response to the challenges ahead, which will be crucial for success. The next generation will depend on our sound management, right decisions and quick reactions now.