04/08/2016
Why Ecosytem-based Adaptation is needed?
Climate change is a real, growing and pervasive threat to Việt Nam’s continued socio-economic development, poverty alleviation, and shared prosperity efforts. Việt Nam is considered one of 16 “extreme risk countries”, according to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index. The economy suffers from climate change impacts by about USD 15 million/year, especially in the sectors of agriculture, fisheries and tourism. For example, it is projected that an additional 30% total area of the Mekong River Delta, which is the most productive agricultural area and is essential for the country’s food security and rice exports, is experiencing and will increasingly face an unprecedented increase in salt intrusion, resulting from a 30-cm sea level rise. Without implementing adaptation measures, rice production could decline by approximately 2.6 million tons/year.
Việt Nam is considered as a world’s biodiversity hotspot rich in biodiversity including many rare, precious wildlife species and gene resources, variety of landscapes and natural resources and both the population and the economy rely on the services that these ecosystems provide. However, in the past and until today, pressures like deforestation, land use changes and population growth have led to the degradation of many of these valuable ecosystems. Additionally, the impacts of human induced climate change are increasingly being experienced, especially sea level rise, the increase of annual average temperature, floods, storms and droughts. Hence, there is an urgent and indispensable need for adaptation that decreases vulnerability by strengthening people’s resilience and adaptive capacity.
Ecosystem based Adaptation (EbA) uses biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change. However, in many cases EbA measures are more cost-effective, flexible, holistic and applied in all ecosystems, are more accessible by rural and poor communities, and create co-benefits, such as biodiversity conservation, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, increased food production, ecotourism, making them in many cases “no regret options” that may also serve to meet development goals. Therefore, EbA has increasingly gained attention internationally in the past years and is put on the policy agenda in many countries.
The Government of Việt Nam has reacted to climate change threats by developing a range of strategies and programs. Action to initiate a national response to climate change started in the late 1990s and progressed to an Initial Communication to the UNFCCC (2003). The response to climate change has developed rapidly since 2008 including the National Climate Change Strategy (NCCS) and the Việt Nam Green Growth Strategy (VGGS) which form the overlying structure as well as sector responses including the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation to 2020 (2007), Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (2013), National Forestry Development Plan 2011 - 2020 (2012)...
Fore-mentioned national and provincial strategies and action plans illustrate the necessity of dealing with resilience through adaptation, as well as the requirement for mitigation in relation to international status and financing. Findings from the Climate Public Expenditure and Investment Review reveal that climate change response spending is heavily focused on adaptation (accounting for around 90% of expenditures). However, a majority of CC-response allocations are driven by investment in improving the climate resilience of high-cost, large-scale infrastructure projects as Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development and Ministry of Transport have accounted for a combined 94% of the climate budget over the study period.
The “soft”, low-cost, and/or small-scaled adaptation measures, for example in the water resource and agriculture sector like changes in sowing and cultivation practices, erosion control, and changes in cropping patterns, selection of crops that are better suited to a changing climate and give more attention to land and water management should be adequately addressed at policy and ground implementation levels. EbA is considered as soft, low-cost, and small-scaled adaptation measures. The concept of EbA is not sufficiently integrated in current strategies and programs. Moreover, the analysis of the policy framework shows that adaptation is no longer a priority for the planning period 2016 - 2020. This bias may be connected to the focus of international development partners on mitigation rather than adaptation, and the heavy dependence of the Government of Việt Nam on the support of these partners for the implementation of climate change programs. Nonetheless, in a country like Việt Nam that is already heavily impacted by climate change, adaptation needs to be a priority topic and the policy framework should support effective implementation.
EbA integration to adapt to climate change is relatively new. However, several successful practical examples of EbA have been implemented in Việt Nam. Some of them are presented in the following chapter. The case studies show that it is now the time to mainstream EbA from the local to the policy level and to integrate the approach into plans and programs in order to most effectively align the measures from the national to the local level and along different sectors.
Integrated Coastal Management Program (ICMP) - EbA good practices in Việt Nam
In Việt Nam, most of the current EbA projects are located in the Mekong Delta area, helping to adapt people in coastal environments mainly by rehabilitation of mangroves as a buffer against sea-level rise and storms. However, EbA can be applied in many other ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, sand dunes, river catchments or even agro-ecosystems. At stratetegic level, EbA has been mainstreamed into the provincial biodiversity conservation master plan and the socio-economic development master plan of Bến Tre province.
Increasing floods, storms, droughts and sea level rise due to climate change have increasingly severe impacts on the Mekong Delta that is home to 17 million people and where more than half of Việt Nam’s rice is produced. Approximately one third of this low-lying flat coastal area would be inundated if the sea level rises by one meter as predicted by 2100 and 1 million people would be at risk of being displaced until 2050. The Integrated Coastal Management Program (ICMP), implemented by GIZ and co-financed by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, aims to increase the resilience in the area using appropriate strategies for coastal protection, water and forest management, agricultural practices and planning.
As part of the program, land is reclaimed for coastal protection through breakwater fences in the sea for the rehabilitation of mangrove forests that pose the best protection against floods and storms. As a second measure, farmers are supported to apply adapted techniques like improved water and pesticide management, technical support for environmentally sound shrimp farming. These methods have led to a reduction of 30% in water use and pesticide application, especially, the abandonment of chemicals in aquaculture practices. To support the water management, a water information system was set up and operational regulations for local irrigation systems were developed including a participatory irrigation management manual.
On a policy level, the project promotes the cooperation across borders by establishing a coordinated approach of authorities on the national and provincial level for climate-resilient development. After developing solutions in the first phase of the project, these activities will be institutionalized. The scaling up is effectuated in three working areas: Turning the local solutions into guidelines and regulations for wider implementation; arranging the funding of necessary measures by the government and international donors; and supporting coordination across provinces.
Conclusions and recommendations
Although EbA as a concept is relatively new, however, traditional conservation approaches, the EbA approach should takes climate factors into consideration. The implementation of EbA can build upon the experience and traditional knowledge that local communities have on ecosystem management and dealing with climate variability. The willingness to participate in the approach is crucial, but again needs a comprehensive policy framework that evidently creates benefits for the participating communities.
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The GIZ Project “Strategic Mainstreaming of Ecosystem-based Adaptation in Việt Nam” supports its partner ISPONRE under MONRE to anchor the EbA approach in Việt Nam’s national and provincial planning processes. The project includes trainings of trainers for capacity building, the establishment of learning and dialogue platforms including a round table on EbA and the support to access financial sources. Based on the experiences of the project and the presented case studies, the following recommendations for the successful mainstreaming of EbA are given:
Raising awareness and understanding of the importance, potentials and comparative advantages of EbA among national and provincial policy decision makers: EbA is still a new topic for Việt Nam and most of the national and provincial public stakeholders are not fully familiar or work with the concept of EbA. This gap can be addressed by informing them about EbA approaches in form of trainings and the dissemination of practice-oriented documents. Simultaneously,discussion platforms amongst national and local decision makers on best practices in adaptation approaches for Việt Nam need to be initiated. This would help to identify the main knowledge and capacity gaps and implementation barriers and raise awarenessand build up an understanding of how an EbA approach is different from other adaptation measures and how to integrate it into existing national strategies, planning and budgeting processes.
Capacity building on methodologies for mainstreaming for national and provincial practitioners: The up-scaling of EbA should be developed on the basis of existing experiences and pilot measures that rely on scientifically based vulnerability assessments and that include sound cost-benefit analyses. Dialogue platforms need to be set up involving stakeholders from civil society, science, the private sector as well as government institutions from the local, provincial and national level. Their involvement is necessary for knowledge exchange, strategic alliances and for integrating EbA as a cross-cutting issue into adaptation policy.
Building up a way towards mainstreamingEbA approach in the national strategies,policies and plans: So far, an EbA approach is not explicitly mentioned in any national climate change strategies, plans or legislations in Việt Nam. Therefore, entry points for EbA in relevant legal frameworks as well as financing options need to be identified.
Disseminating learning experiences via national and international networks: Online resources, communication networks and events on both national and international level should be used to present experiences of concrete measures and to build cooperation and learning networks on EbA worldwide■
Huỳnh Thị Mai
Deputy Director - Biodiversity Conservation Agency
Vietnam Environment Administration
