CCWG organizes international conference on climate change adaptation and mitigation

The international climate conference COP 21 and the delivery of the Paris Agreement turned 2015 into a landmark year in the global response to climate change. Developing and emerging countries were very successful in achieving more recognition and importance for adaptation in the Paris Agreement, resulting in a global adaptation goal. While adaptation has achieved equal weight with mitigation in the new climate agreement there remains an open question of how mitigation and adaptation can be linked and where the synergies between both for climate resilient development lay. Mostly, adaptation and mitigation are pursuit as separate tracks, instead of exploring and making use of their synergies. There is, however, a potential for combined benefits, synergies and mutual reinforcements. This potential can become very important for making vulnerable groups stronger in the face of climate change, but remains largely unexamined to-date.

To address these gaps and to promote the discussion in the Vietnamese context, the Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) under the NGO Resource Centre, currently chaired by Oxfam in Vietnam, organized an international conference. The conference took place under the auspices of the Moroccan Embassy, with the support of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Vietnam.  As an official Pre-COP event in the run up to this year’s UNFCCC conference of parties (COP) to be held from November 7th to 18th 2016 in Marrakech, the event focused on making Vietnam and its vulnerable people stronger in the face of climate change, as well as supporting the Vietnamese government to achieve an effective and inclusive climate change response.

Speaking about the International Conference, Mrs. Vu Minh Hai, CCWG chair and Oxfam in Vietnam’s Programme Manager for Building Resilience, stated: “Through this event, the CCWG will bring together concerned government agencies, major donors, UN agencies, non-governmental organisations, other institutions and interested individuals to discuss how Vietnam will be able to fulfil its commitments made at COP21 under the Paris Agreement. Further, the event will provide an opportunity to stress the importance of providing financial and technical support for community-based initiatives, working with some of those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change”.

During the conference two draft position papers were introduced in order to stimulate exchange between and receive recommendations from the Vietnamese and international non-government organisations, policy makers, scientists, media and interested public with the goal of launching the final position papers at COP22. The papers centre around two questions:

1) How to make a vulnerable groups-oriented climate change adaptation and resilience for all a reality in Vietnam and

2) How a transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy and inclusive climate change mitigation can be achieved that leaves no one behind and generates benefits for poor people and other disadvantaged groups

In the afternoon session, under the facilitation of speakers and core members of CCWG, participants had a chance to discuss and investigate feasible solutions for enhancing linkages between adaptation and mitigation regarding the Paris Agreement/INDC implementation for Vietnam, urban resilience, rural development, agriculture and forestry, the energy field, and climate finance.

Representing the host country of COP22 in 2016, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco introduced how the Moroccan government is preparing for COP22, as well as the country’s actions to fulfill its climate change commitments, such as cutting greenhouse gases emissions by 32% by the year 2030 through meeting 52% of the country’s energy needs with clean sources by 2030.

Speaking at the International Conference, Mr. Amine Aboussaid, Chargé d’Affaires a.i, Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Vietnam, pointed out that “COP22 will focus on concrete actions to be carried out in the coming years, especially those related to adaptation, transparency, technology transfer, mitigation and capacity building. It will be an occasion for the international community to set up mechanisms for scaling up climate mitigation and adaptation initiatives, facilitating access to technical and financial resources and taking needed actions to determine whether countries’ climate action plans can succeed”.