Young people grow trees at Can Gio Protective Forest in HCM City. (Photo: VNA) Such models help address the impacts of climate change and the need for moresustainable use of natural resources.
This reflection was highlighted at the High-Level Policy Dialogue: SustainableCo-Management of Natural Resources in the context of Climate Change, co-hostedby the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the UNDevelopment Programme (UNDP) on August 26.
The dialogue focused on emerging opportunities, effective governance of naturalresources, and robust regulation and finance as well as key barriers forscaling up and recommendations to enhance the implementation of nature-basedsolutions.
Innovative ideas, good practices, knowledge and experiences from both nationaland international projects that advance the effective collaborative‘co-management’ of natural resources in a more sustainable andclimate-resilient way were shared.
Participation of all the stakeholders in sustainable management and utilisationof natural resources, including water and below-water resources, marine andforest, is essential for achieving the key objectives of the Strategy forSustainable Agriculture and Rural Development for the 2021-30 period, with avision to 2050.
Examples include developing green, environmentally friendly agriculture,adapting to climate change, reducing rural environmental pollution, andstriving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent compared to 2020.
Addressing the dialogue, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le MinhHoan said: “Depleted natural resources, climate change, market fluctuations andchanged consumer trends force the agriculture sector to change the mindset,conduct re-organisation as well as re-planning to meet the demands fordevelopment.
"The most important point in the current orientations for development isto help people access to knowledge and make better decisions based on availabledata in management and utilisation of their limited resources.
“The sustainable development of natural resources must be based on threefactors namely economic, environmental and social ones. The 'top-down' approachwith tough administrative regulations has revealed certain problems ineconomic, environmental and social aspects."
He said that natural resources still have the tendency to degrade, while localcommunities – whose livelihood depends on local natural resources – havelimited access to and use of these resources.
It is, therefore, necessary to consider other implementation solutions such as"co-management", and "community-based management" toemphasise the important role of the community in monitoring, managing, andsharing natural resource values.
"Collaborative management mechanism has proven significant effectivenessand solidarity of stakeholders through sharing of rights, power,responsibilities and benefits of co-management of natural resources,” Hoansaid.
“Law on Fisheries 18/2017 and the Decree 26/2018 stimulate co-management offishery resources in order to share the right and responsibility in protectionand exploitation. In the forest sector, communities widely participate incommunity-based forest management, in different forms of collaborative management,that have greatly contributed to protecting and developing sustainable forestsin Vietnam.”
There is still however space for institutions and policies to further grow thepractical and legal space for a more effective and expanded community involvementin co-management.
Many potential areas of sustainable management of natural resources are remotelocations with a high rate of ethnic minorities people and lower income socialgroups and with limited rights to land and natural resource use.
UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen said that Vietnam hadtaken steps towards collaborative management of resources by introducing therelevant legal framework and promoting models at localities. For example,fishery, forestry, and environmental legislations have recognised the roles andprocesses that enabled local communities to participate in the protection andconservation of natural resources.
Following the adoption of the fishery law and Payment for Forest EnvironmentalServices (PFES), scheme, local authorities and communities have piloted manygood models of co-management of marine resources and community-based forestmanagement. For example, local communities in Binh Thuan, Binh Dinh, Thua Thien-Hue,Phu Yen and many other provinces have been empowered to take the lead inprotecting fishery and coral reef resources through conservation andsustainable exploitable practice.
Community-based financial schemes have been set up to facilitate co-managementefforts.
“To sustain long-term growth, it is vitally important that Vietnam follow atrajectory that invests in, sustains, and regenerates the natural capital thatpeople, communities, and the economy depend on,” she said.
“This is not an endeavor for government alone and will require the fullengagement and support from local communities and the private sector. Furtherempowering and strengthening the roles of local communities and the privatesector in natural resources co-management and benefit sharing and integratingsuch approaches in development plans and budget processes is essential.
"This in turn lays the foundation for successful models of resourceco-management for sustainable agriculture production and livelihoods,biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration, to be effectively scaled.”
To enhance the co-management of natural resources in Vietnam, it was necessaryto enable environment and policies, ensure sustainable access to finance andcommunity-based financial mechanisms and promote learning exchange betweencommunities, she suggested.
“Access to information and data by communities are key to enhancing theeffectiveness of co-management practices, including monitoring and tracking thequantity and quality of resources. A database with regular updates of keyinformation on resources, including soil, water, and species in theco-management areas needs to be in place,” she added./.
VNA
