Vietnam is strongly committed to achieving net zero by 2050. The country aims to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 9% by 2030 using only domestic resources, and by up to 43.5% with international support. At the same time, the Government of Vietnam is prioritizing food security as a key pillar of national policies on socioeconomic development and sustainability.
As the national food hub, the Mekong Delta plays a vital role in Vietnam’s national economy and food security. It produces half of the country’s rice, 70% of its aquaculture, and one-third of its GDP. Accordingly, the government and donors have prioritized the region for support to become a national model for innovative, climate smart, and transformative agriculture systems.
Yet balancing the dual objectives of food security and low-emission development is an imminent policy question for policymakers in the Mekong Delta. Provincial government agencies are also facing difficulties in translating national policies on low emission food system practices due to weak coordination between sectors and government agencies; the absence of clear and consistent legal frameworks; lack of finance; and the lack of research, data, and understanding of food system interactions. The lack of effective dialogues, information exchange between central and provincial dialogues, and cross-sectoral co-learning and co-adapting to identify solutions to address these barriers also hinders the development of an effective, efficient, and equitable low emission food system in the delta.
As a research and knowledge partner, Mitigate+ aims through its activities in Vietnam to facilitate food system discourse and co-learning, and support stakeholders with evidence-based decision making relating to the implementation of low emission food systems by enhancing the necessary data, evidence, participatory processes, and governance structures.
On the 7th of November 2023, as part of these efforts and following a government request, Mitigate+, Nong Lam University, and University of Adelaide held an international workshop, ‘Low-emission food system development in the Mekong Delta: Opportunities, challenges and future pathways’, at the university’s main campus in Ho Chi Minh City. Eighty-nine participants, including representatives from central government agencies (such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Planning and Investment), provincial leaders and researchers in 13 Mekong Delta provinces, and key members of private sector and civil society organisations, took part in the event.
The workshop was deeply appreciated by the participants, as it helped stakeholders to clarify and build a common understanding of what low-emission food system development means in the Vietnamese context, and facilitated open dialogue and information exchange on opportunities, challenges, and potential options for low emission food system in the Mekong Delta. It also enhanced knowledge and information exchange on global and national low-emission food system policies and practices between national and subnational governments, stakeholders, NGOs, academics, and local communities, by fostering cross-sectoral dialogues.
Prof. Nguyen Tat Toan, the acting chancellor of Nong Lam University, said that the occasion was one of the rare events in which policy makers, the private sector, donors, civil society organizations, and international and national researchers can come together to discuss how policy and practice can better align, and how research can support not only policy makers but also local communities to implement a low emission food system. The workshop also helped Mekong Delta stakeholders to understand global trends, the national vision, and the future road map, and to align their own planning and action with these larger goals.
Clarifying the ‘food system’ concept in the Vietnamese context, and improving monitoring system
Both central and provincial government agencies in the Mekong Delta that took part in the workshop highlighted the challenges in understanding, interpreting, and translating conceptual and technical jargon including food systems in their daily work. Louis Verchot, the director of the soil research area at the Alliance of Biodiversity International and CIAT, and the director of MITIGATE+, clarified that a food system is more than just the agricultural system, value chain, and land use chain. Rather, it includes all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures, institutions, etc.) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food, and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and environmental outcomes. In other words, governance, economics, and sociocultural factors (including inclusive decision making and gender equity) are all key to food system transformation.
While the traditional view on the food system in Vietnam focuses exclusively on generating enough food to eradicate poverty and hunger, Verchot also highlighted key food system-related solutions to mitigate climate change, including improving the efficiency of food production; avoiding and reversing deforestation, land degradation and desertification; consumption of healthy and sustainable diets; and minimizing food loss and waste.
Dr. Ly Viet Hung, a representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said that clarifying this comprehensive and cross-sectoral view on food systems is critical so that Vietnam in general – and the Mekong Delta provinces in particular – can develop holistic solutions for a low emission food system. He also highlighted the data gap in capturing emission reductions associated with the food system in Vietnam, notably on food waste and loss. He emphasized the need for national, regional, and local datasets to inform appropriate decision making.
“Without a comprehensive and accurate understanding and analysis of what sources of emissions are and where emissions occur, we cannot design well-targetted and effective interventions,” Ly said. “There is a serious knowledge and data gaps in regional and provincial specific emission sources in Mekong delta which needs to be addressed.”
Dr. Nguyen Thi Quy Ngoc of the General Statistical Office also mentioned the need to feature comprehensive food system parameters in national statistics inventory and reporting. She indicated the possibility of mainstreaming this in the office’s upcoming 2025 plan.
Significant efforts already made, but more needs to be done
Dr. Mai Van Trinh, a representative of the Institute for Agriculture Environment (IAE) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, highlighted opportunities for the Mekong to develop its low emission food system, as Vietnam has a strong legal framework on climate change adaptation and mitigation, and various free trade agreements that will also allow Mekong Delta products to enter international markets. He highlighted numerous innovative policies and practices for low emissions in Vietnam and the Mekong Delta, in the rice, livestock, aquaculture, and forestry sectors. Representatives from CGIAR centres – the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Center for International Forestry Research- World Agroforestry Center (CIFOR-ICRAF), World Fish and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) – also shared best practices for the rice and aquaculture sectors, based on their long term research in the Mekong Delta landscape.
However, representatives of the Mekong Delta’s provincial authorities also pointed out challenges in generating finance to scale up these kinds of interventions. They also stated the urgency of a proper impact evaluation to assess their effectiveness and draw lessons for different ecological regions in Vietnam. “Most pilot studies are carried out at a small scale, and we need more evidence to show that they can be scaled out to a larger one,” said a representative from Ca Mau Province. Representatives from 13 provinces within the delta also called for detailed and practical guidelines for provincial governments and local communities to adopt these practices in different contexts.
Workshop participants also highlighted the need to enhance social transformation as part of the low emission food system transition. Phuong Khanh, the vice director of Long An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, highlighted the need to ensure low emission food system policies and practices do not harm provincial socio-economic development, and said that they should support local communities and smallholders in the Mekong Delta with sustainable livelihood and income sources.
Ms. Le Kim Dung, the director of CARE International in Vietnam, called attention to the fact that the Mekong Delta has high rates of poverty and income and gender inequality. She pointed out that a low emission food system could reinforce existing inequalities and further marginalize vulnerable groups, including women, youth, and ethnic minorities, if they are not well-designed and based on inclusive decision making processes in which a wide range of groups are properly consulted and included. She also said that CARE’s experience working with local communities, women’s unions, and women in Mekong Delta has shown that environmental policies are often gender-blind and do not take into women’s needs, preferences, and value – and that future low emission food systems should address these problems.
Dr. Christopher Martius, interim team leader for the Climate Change, Energy and Low Carbon Development programme at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), shared that the initial packing, processing, household consumption, transportation, and waste and loss of food contributes significantly to Vietnam’s emissions.
Ngo Minh Hue of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and Nguyen Giang Thu from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, acknowledged the importance of looking closely at these areas, are they are being overlooked in current policies. “Vietnam’s Green Growth Strategy emphasizes the social movement towards a green lifestyle as one of its key pillars,” said Ngo.
While significant efforts have been made towards designing technical and silvicultural interventions, less has been done in terms of changing market and consumer demand towards low emission food products. “Public policies need to be coupled with new low emission food market demand to drive societal change,” said Ngo. Nguyen reiterated the urgency of collecting data on emissions associated with food processing and packaging, as the post-food production system is currently poorly acknowledged in decision making.
Overall, the workshop participants agreed on the need to improve current policies on low emission food systems, towards cross-sectoral solutions and multilevel governance that supports the Mekong Delta’s green and socially equitable development.
