VietNamNet Bridge – After three days of discussion, the international forum on building resilience to climate change impacts in coastal Southeast Asia, held by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Cambodia, released a declaration with 39 recommendations for the governments of Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

More than 200 representatives of Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia confirmed climate change impacts are happening and committed to work more strategically to adopt the Preah Sihanouk Declaration.

The Declaration gives valuable recommendations to the three Southeast Asian countries on building coastal resilience to climate change impacts, particularly in coastal zone resilience, livelihood resilience, ecosystem resilience, diversity and equality, governance and policy and media and communications.

The recommendations were offered based on experience and lessons learned and shared from the EU-funded ‘Building Resilience to Climate Change Impacts - Coastal Southeast Asia' Project (BCR). This project was implemented in eight provinces in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia from 2011 through 2014 by the IUCN to assess the vulnerability and capacity of coastal ecosystems and local communities in adapting to the impacts of both climate change and man-made stressors. The project will end in December 2014.

"The BCR project is reaching the end of its four-year life cycle. This is the last time we will all be gathering like this in a BCR Coastal Forum. But I am sure that many of the experiences and lesson learned from BCR will continue to influence our work and other projects for many years to come," said Dr. Robert Mather, Head of Southeast Asia Group, IUCN Asia.

"There are some things we can't change. We can't change the fact that we have only one atmosphere that connects us all. But we can change how we choose to respond to climate risks in the places we live. We can be proactive in our response in learning to adapt to climate change.

We can take positive action to change aspects of our livelihoods and lifestyles to be more appropriate in a changing climate. And at its heart, this is what the BCR project has been all about. Firstly, understanding the risks of climate change in each local area, and then identifying some initiatives that can be done, to take the first few steps on that long journey of climate change adaptation," Dr Mather added.

In Vietnam, the BCR project began in 2011 in Can Gio, Ben Tre, Soc Trang, and Kien Giang, in collaboration with the Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands and GTZ (German Agency for International Cooperation).

"What we jointly learned with our provincial partners in that process was that poor coastal communities were often well aware of past climate trends and were able to respond with constructive ideas. We also learned that in some cases it was extremely important to supplement local knowledge with external technical expertise. Ownership and sustainability had also been a key strategy that we pursued successfully," said Dr Andrew Wyatt, Mekong Delta Program Manager, IUCN Vietnam.

Vietnam is considered one of the countries most affected by climate change. Its Mekong Delta is one of the world’s three most vulnerable deltas to rising sea levels.

Fully aware of the serious impacts of climate change on the country’s sustainable development, the Vietnamese Government has approved the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol, and at the same time has directed its agencies to complete documents as the legal foundation for preventing and mitigating natural disasters and coping with climate change. A National Strategy of Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation was approved in 2011.

In late September 2014, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung allowed the use of an official development assistance (ODA) package worth VND3 trillion ($135 million) to carry out climate change adaptation projects during 2015. The money will be spent on mangrove afforestation and sea dyke construction in coastal areas.

Thu Anh