Over the past years, Vietnam has been active in participating and realizing international commitments on climate change response in both national and international terms and those efforts have been recognized worldwide.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh made the statement at the workshop in Hanoi on December 26 reviewing Vietnam's implementation of international treaties on climate change response.
 

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh speaks at the workshop. Photo: Hung Nam

Thanh said that Vietnam has fulfilled the obligations of a member in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the Vienna Convention, the Montreal Protocol and other relevant treaties.

The deputy minister stressed that in spite of many important achievements, the implementation of international treaties in Vietnam still encounters shortcomings, mainly because climate change treaties are often complicated.

This makes it difficult for Vietnam to transpose those treaties to national legislative documents. Many contents stipulated in international treaties have not been included in Vietnamese regulations, thus, hindering the implementation.

Besides, resources for climate change response have not been monitored in accordance with the general provisions of the Paris Agreement. Therefore, the allocation of resources for coping with climate change may have negative impacts on resources for other socio-economic purposes.

Vietnam makes efforts to enhance effectiveness of international treaties

Experts attending the workshop said that in order to enhance the effectiveness of international treaties, the Vietnamese government needs to drastically change the climate change response awareness and actions at all levels, sectors, and people in the country.

Specifically, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is responsible for coordinating with relevant ministries and sectors to review and update Vietnam’s report on the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which provides the necessary information to follow the emission reduction roadmap from 2021 onward.

Moreover, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment needs to propose mechanisms and policies to prepare resources, take initiative in realizing international commitments as well as adopting urgent actions in coping with climate change in Vietnam in the time ahead.

Besides, the Vietnamese government should improve the apparatus dealing with climate change in ministries, branches and localities; strengthen the professional capacity of staff to effectively enforce international regulations on climate change response.