At the event, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and EnvironmentLe Cong Thanh and Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management MarkHarbers held that both nations have similar natural environments and been hardhit by climate change, with Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region experiencing landerosion, saline intrusion and sand depletion, and 25% of the Netherlands’ areasbelow the sea level.
According to Thanh, Vietnam has carried out climate mitigation measures overthe past 15 years while nature-based solutions have been undertaken in the recent10 years.
The Netherlands, who found out thenature-based development models, have run a lot of projects in Vietnam, helpingthe country handle challenges in food security, water resources security,natural disasters’ risks, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction, he said,adding Vietnam has strengthened resilience and adaptive capacity in several areas,including forest preservation, restoration of the natural ecosystem, and developmentof the low-carbon agriculture.
Dutch experts said that investing in nature-based measures is fordevelopment that benefits biodiversity and natural ecosystem, stressing as oneof the most biodiverse countries in the world, Vietnam has favourableconditions to develop nature-based economic sectors.
However, the measures must be suitable tothe country’s environment, climate, soil, and financial capacity of enterprisesand local people, they added.
Also present at the workshop, specialists from the World Bank and AsiaDevelopment Bank affirmed to continue supporting and accompanying the VietnameseGovernment in developing nature-based solutions towards realising the sustainable developmentgoals./.