The 'Youth for Climate Action in Việt Nam' report was launched during an online ceremony in Hà Nội on Saturday.— Photo Viet Nam Youth4Climate

HÀ NỘI — The 'Youth for Climate Action in Việt Nam' report was launched during an online ceremony in Hà Nội on Saturday.

The event was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Việt Nam, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) and the Central Committee of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union.

During the event, a talk with President for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) Alok Sharma was also held.

The activity was within the framework of the Youth4Climate Initiative launched by the UNDP in Việt Nam last year to raise youths’ capacity and awareness of implementing the 2015 nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and updating the 2020 NDCs of the Vietnamese Government in line with the Paris Agreement for Climate Change.

With feedback from youths nationwide, the 56-page Special Report is part of the UNDP’s 'Climate Promise' with funding from the governments of Germany, Sweden, Spain and Italy, and the European Union and other sponsors.

It comprises six topics, including bottlenecks and common measures, greenhouse emission reduction, climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions, climate change policy and youth action roadmap. In each topic, the authors also offered recommendations to authorities for the 2021-25 period.

Speaking at the event, UNDP Resident Representative in Việt Nam Caitlin Wiesen Antin hailed the report with the participation of thousands of Vietnamese youths as an important milestone, reflecting their contributions to climate change response efforts at the national and global levels.

Deputy Director of the MoNRE’s Department of Climate Change Phạm Văn Tấn said Việt Nam signed the Paris Agreement in 2015, ratified and then issued a plan to implement it in 2016 with 68 groups of tasks. It also sent NDCs to the UN and added them into law.

COP26 President Alok Sharma called on leaders to listen to youths’ voice and urged countries, including Việt Nam, to join hands to reduce greenhouse emissions and cope with climate change.

Green Climate Fund

In related news, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has provided US$30.2 million as non-refundable assistance to Việt Nam to help the country deal with climate change impacts.

The sum will be allocated to a project 'Strengthening the resilience of smallholder agriculture to climate change-induced water insecurity in the Central Highlands and south-central coast regions of Việt Nam' (SACCR).

A document on the deal was signed by representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Hà Nội last week.

The project is expected to benefit residents in five provinces, namely Khánh Hoà, Bình Thuận, Ninh Thuận, Đắk Nông and Đắk Lắk.

It aims to empower vulnerable farming households, especially women and people from ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands and south-central regions, to manage climate-related risks to agricultural production by ensuring the availability of water resources, climate change resilient activities and access to agricultural climate information, credit and markets.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Hoàng Hiệp, this is the largest amount of non-refundable aid the ministry has received from international organisations in recent years.

The project will help better connect irrigation systems, improve management capacity, and effectively use climate change adaptation systems.

The project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026.

The Green Climate Fund was established by 194 countries party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2010. It is designed as an operating entity of the convention’s financial mechanism and is headquartered in the Republic of Korea. It is governed by a 24 -member board, representing countries, and receives guidance from the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP).

Created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the fund aims to support a paradigm shift in the global response to climate change. It allocates its resources to low-emission and climate-resilient projects and programmes in developing countries. — VNS