With the permission of the Prime Minister, the delegation of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) led by Minister Tran Hong Ha attended the Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change and High-level conferences on environment and water resources in Singapore from 8th to 10th of July 2018.
Minister Tran Hong Ha and ASEAN Ministers take souvenir photos
With the permission of the Prime Minister, the delegation of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) led by Minister Tran Hong Ha attended the Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change and High-level conferences on environment and water resources in Singapore from 8th to 10th of July 2018.
Speaking at the Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change on July 10, 2018, Minister Tran Hong Ha emphasized, "Vietnam commits to cooperate closely with ASEAN countries and the international community for overcoming challenges, taking advantage of opportunities to transform the unsustainable development model, jointly implement climate change mitigation and sustainable development for the green and better resilient future".
At this meeting, the Minister Tran Hong Ha also addressed Vietnam's proposal to ASEAN in response to climate change. For detail as below:
ASEAN should deepen its cooperation within and outside ASEAN to assist ASEAN Member Countries in strengthening their capacity to respond to natural disasters caused by climate change. They are typhoons, floods and drought through capacity building for forecasting, early warning of natural disasters, extreme weather events, and emergency response capacity for the local people to bring more benefits to the ASEAN Community.
Strengthening conservation and sustainable management of forest resources to provide ecosystem services, contributing to disaster risk reduction, mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapting to climate change.
To promote the experience sharing and practical application of market tools and the establishment of carbon credit exchange mechanisms in the ASEAN region to achieve targets of GHG emission reduction.
A clear roadmap should be developed to further mobilize international financial and technical support as well as capacity building for the 2020-2030 period to enhance expectations of ASEAN countries in response to climate change.
The Minister emphasized that ASEAN’s initiatives must be rapidly transformed into action based on joint projects to address the emerging challenges of climate change.
According to the Minister Tran Hong Ha, ASEAN is one of the most severely affected regions by climate change. The negative impacts of climate change are serious challenges for the socio-economic development of ASEAN countries. For nearly 10 years since the first declaration of the Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change was adopted in Hua Hin of Thailand, ASEAN countries have made intensive efforts and gained significant achievements in response to climate change. By that contributing to sustainable socio-economic development. However, ASEAN should take more specific solutions and make greater efforts to ensure that the ASEAN Community achieves its goals in response to climate change at the local, national, regional and global levels.
The Minister emphasized, “Vietnam considers climate change as a serious challenge to the sustainable development of the country. Over the years, the Government and people of Vietnam have made great efforts to overcome this challenge. In particular, many legal documents, strategies, and action plans have been adopted to provide a solid legal framework for climate change adaptation. Enhancing awareness on climate change has been achieved from government to the private sector, the media and residents”.
Vietnam prioritizes and integrates adaptation issues into socio-economic development activities, particularly in vulnerable zones such as coastal and mountainous areas. Vietnam Government prioritizes the building of sustainable development planning in response to climate change in the Mekong Delta region, creating a large-scale transition process for the region with the participation of all stakeholders.
In the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Vietnam commits to reduce its GHG emissions by 8% with the normal development scenario by 2030 and increase this figure to 25% with the support of the international community. Vietnam is currently in the process of reviewing and updating the NDC with a number of solutions to improve its GHG emission reduction targets.
Minister Tran Hong Ha to chair the Vietnamese delegation to attend the Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change in Singapore
In the afternoon of July 10, 2018, the Minister Tran Hong Ha also attended the Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change. The meeting was attended by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister for Climate Change -Teo Chee Hean, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - Patricia Espinosa, South Korea’s Minister of the Environment, Japan’s State Secretary for Environment and Vice Minister of Biology and Environment of China.
After listening to the proposals from the Heads of the above-mentioned delegations at the meeting, Minister Tran Hong Ha highly appreciated the cooperation and support of the ASEAN+3 partners. He clearly mentioned that Vietnam welcomes and willings to join with other countries in the framework of ASEAN+3 cooperation on climate change adaptation as well as address other emerging environmental issues such as ocean plastic waste.
Besides this meeting, the Minister Tran Hong Ha also met and discussed with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change about Vietnam's effort in response to climate change.
Minister Tran Hong Ha met with Ms. Naomi Tokashiki - State Secretary for Environment of Japan
Earlier on the day of July 08 and July 9, 2018, the Minister Tran Hong Ha also attended the events in the framework of the High-level Conference on the environment and water resources in Singapore.
During the Conference, the Minister also met bilaterally with Singapore's Minister of Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli to discuss cooperation activities between the two ministries as well as the coordinated implementation of ASEAN initiatives on response to climate change.
The Minister also met with Japan's State Secretary for Environment, Ms. Naomi Tokashiki, to discuss strengthening cooperation in the field of environmental protection and responding to climate change, such as tackling the problem of ocean plastic waste, wastewater treatment, sustainable urban development within the framework of ASEAN-Japan cooperation.
International Cooperation Department of the MONRE (reported from Singapore)