Resolution 120 itself is a big step forward in setting the basis for coordinated action for sustainable development in the Mekong Delta and since then there has been a lot of concrete progress as well. 

World Bank Country Director for Viet Nam Carolyn Turk - Photo: VGP/Thuy Dung 

World Bank Country Director for Viet Nam Carolyn Turk made that statement when interviewed by the Viet Nam Government Portal recently regarding the outcomes of three-year implementation of Resolution 120/NQ-CP on sustainable development of the Mekong Delta in response to climate change.

The World Bank Country Director said that the Resolution has been real achievements. 

She spoke highly of the regional master plan, the establishment of the regional coordination council and the agricultural transformation plan which have been established and realized in the region, adding that this Resolution provides a very important platform for a focus on nature-based solutions to some of the critical problems of the Mekong Delta including those that have been caused by climate change. 

“In this Resolution, strong coordination between different ministries and agencies and between 13 provinces of the Mekong Delta play critical role because these problems are too big to solve individual province by individual province”, she highlighted. 

She expressed her hope to see this coordination basis turned into strong mechanisms for real coordination as well as look forward to a meeting of the regional coordination council which will become a strong decision-making forum that can make financial decisions about resource allocations decisions about prioritizing investments. 

Turk expects for another mechanism that could also resolve disputes around those investments as well so this can provide a strong basis for support going forward.

The World Bank Country Director stressed the need to use technology to provide a better scientific basis, a better evidence basis for making decisions and for sharing information between all of the different sectors who have to coordinate in order to take strong action against some of the problems.

“IT could help understand the science of environmental impacts, the science of erosion, the science of sanitization, the science of water resource management as well as share that information in a very efficient manner between all the different stakeholders who need to make the decisions”, she asserted. 

Mitigation, adaptation-solutions for stronger prevention of impacts of climate change

Turk referred to two angles for Viet Nam in making plans and proposing solutions for stronger prevention of the impatcs of climate change, including looking at Viet Nam as a as a driver of some of the track of climate change through its emissions and through its carbon footprints that scenario where the country could take action and then on the other side as the country that needs to adapt to the consequences of climate change.

Regaring the mitigation side, it's important that the Government take a bold step to decouple the growth path from the carbon footprint, which leads to less emissions, less greenhouse gases and this will be fundamental to the energy sector strategy going forward, she suggested. 

“In addition, on the adaptation side, of course Viet Nam, with its very long coastline and its low-lying deltas, is very vulnerable to rising sea levels and the challenges of water resource, management of salinization, erosion of the river banks and erosion of the coastal at coastal strip”, said  Turk. 

These are all critical areas in which Viet Nam will have to invest in order to properly protect against some of the worst impacts of climate change, she said, adding that some solutions are involved in infrastructure but the other solutions that more based in nature so the Government needs to go at to assess very carefully what kind of solutions work best in different environments.