Viet Nam, a country highly vulnerable to climate change effects, has experienced numerous challenges in the past years especially in its agriculture sector including the  main sub-sectors of crop production, livestock, forestry, fishery and aquaculture, water resources management, salt production.

Recognizing its on-going and potential effects, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), is implementing the “Integrating the agricultural sector into National Adaptation Plans (NAP-Ag)”programme to incorporate climate change concerns related to agriculture-based livelihoods within existing national planning and budgeting processes. With the financial support from the Government of Germany, the 4-year-programme aims to strengthen technical and institutional capacity, develop integrated roadmaps, improve evidence-based results, and advocate and share knowledge on NAP.

As one of the priorities in the action plan, FAO and UNDP are supporting a study project to create an in-depth analysis and recommendations for climate adaptation options mainly for crop, livestock and aquaculture production, which are the three most vulnerable subsectors of agriculture. In preparation of the field work, project stakeholders from International Cooperation Department (ICD), UNDP, FAO, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and MARD met early this year in March 2017, to share inputs before the study kick started. Based on the inputs, technical experts from FAO and UNDP are currently conducting a climate change vulnerability assessment and cost-benefit analysis of adaptation policy options, identifying the possible options for these sub-sectors in the Northern, Central and Southern regions of Viet Nam.

“Climate change adaptation with a focus on agriculture sector is an important component of Viet Nam’s Initial Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the Paris Agreement. It is reiterated in the National Plan to implement the Paris Agreement issued on 28th October 2016. Through the close collaboration with MARD, we are glad to technically support Viet Nam to reach its international contribution to mitigate and adapt to climate change effects.” said Jong Ha Bae, the Country Representative of FAO Viet Nam.

Based on the study results, an overall synthesis report and policy brief are expected to be released by middle of 2018.