The project “Support to Vietnam for the implementation of the Paris Agreement” supports relevant line ministries in the mainstreaming of NDC targets into the sectors. Among others, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is being advised on how to integrate the NDC targets for agriculture and LULUCF in their sectoral policy frameworks. Towards this end, two departments under MARD were supported to develop NDC implementation plans – one was developed for the sector Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF), and two further plans were developed for the sub-sectors of crop production and livestock. These NDC implementation plans are being developed on the premise of feasibility, and with the purpose to bring about co-benefit values, ensuring sustainable agricultural development, and being applicable at household level. To validate the assumptions and conclusions for each plan, comprehensive consultation rounds took place, involving representatives from MARD, GIZ, international and local research institutes, enterprises, NGOs, and government agencies.

A workshop on October 13, 2021, co-chaired by the VN-SIPA project, and the Vietnam Administration of Forestry under MARD, was held to discuss the proposed roadmap of measures to achieve NDC targets for the forestry and agriculture sectors. Participants’ feedback helped refine technical and financial measures for the plan, and contributed to establishing criteria for selecting regions and related areas for implementation. Cost-benefit calculations, investment needs and the potential for integrating different measures were also discussed with the aim of clarifying available and potential financial sources for the plan.

On 25 November, a consultation workshop on the draft NDC implementation plan for crop production was held at the Department of Crop Production in Hanoi. The Deputy Director General highlighted the importance of crop production, especially rice cultivation, in the agriculture sector’s efforts to achieve the NDC’s mitigation targets, and stressed the role of crop production in the new commitments made by Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, at COP26 in Glasgow. Mr Cuong highlighted several adaptation measures currently being applied to crop production, including adjusting crop calendars, the use of crop varieties resistant to extreme weather events, and eco-agricultural and smart agriculture solutions. The plan will specify a roadmap and scale of implementation (scale of application, priority areas, technical solutions, etc.) for the next 10 years, for cost-effective measures that combine mitigation and adaptation benefits while contributing to livelihood improvements.

Four days later, on October 29, 2021, a consultation workshop to collect feedback on the draft NDC implementation plan in the livestock sector, took place, co-hosted by MARD’s Department of Livestock Production. Livestock production is one of the main sectors contributing to methane emissions in agricultural production. The workshop participants discussed technical, financial and policy measures, and requirements for a measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) system for the NDC implementation plan in the period 2021 to 2030.