Vietnam shares experience in climate adaptation monitoring at COP31

Vietnam shares experience in climate adaptation monitoring at COP31

Vietnam has shared its experience in developing a national monitoring, evaluation, and learning system for climate change adaptation at COP31.

At the 31^st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), held in Antalya, Türkiye, on November 12, the Department of Climate Change under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE), in collaboration with the National Adaptation Plan Global Network, organised an event “Connecting National Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Systems with UNFCCC Processes: Country Experiences.”

The event brought together representatives from Vietnam, Kenya, Japan, and Haiti, as well as international experts, to share experience in developing and operating national monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems for climate change adaptation.

Photo: DDC/Nga Huong

Mai Kim Lien, deputy director of the Department of Climate Change, said Vietnam was among the countries most severely affected by climate change. Adaptation had therefore been identified as a key task in the country’s sustainable development strategy, while efforts to strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems were also being prioritised to improve the effectiveness of adaptation policies and measures.

She said in 2022, the prime minister issued Decision No.148/QD-TTg establishing a national monitoring and evaluation system for climate change adaptation, comprising 72 indicators across six areas.

In 2024, Decision No.1422/QD-CP was issued, approving the updated National Climate Change Adaptation Plan for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050. In 2025, the MAE issued Decision No. 4777/QD-BNNMT on the monitoring and evaluation system for climate change adaptation in the agriculture and environment sectors, helping translate the national framework into sector-specific measures.

“Vietnam has also introduced an online monitoring and evaluation reporting system and issued technical guidance manuals for ministries, sectors, and local authorities, gradually moving from fragmented manual reporting towards centralised and systematic data management,” she said.

Photo: DDC/Nga Huong

Vietnam is continuing to review and update its national monitoring and evaluation system to improve its feasibility, measurability, and data verifiability. It is also studying the selective integration of elements of the Global Goal on Adaptation, considering national priorities and practical conditions.

However, implementation continues to face challenges in mobilising resources, ensuring data quality and consistency, and assessing adaptation outcomes and effectiveness.

Linking the national MEL system with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requirements also requires a balance between international reporting obligations and domestic priorities, while avoiding duplication and reducing the reporting burden, Lien said.

At the event, Vietnam proposed focusing discussions on three areas: experience in developing, operating, and improving national MEL systems; reviewing, testing, and applying the Belém Adaptation Indicators in ways suited to individual countries; and connecting domestic monitoring and evaluation results with UNFCCC reporting tools and processes, particularly the second Global Stocktake.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, developing countries will need an estimated $310-$365 billion annually by 2035 to adapt to climate change, 12–14 times the international climate finance allocated to adaptation in 2023.

In Vietnam, the estimated financing requirement for climate change adaptation during 2021–2030 stands at $55-$92 billion.

Meanwhile, the World Bank estimates that climate change caused around $10 billion in economic losses in Vietnam in 2020, equivalent to 3.2 per cent of GDP. Without appropriate adaptation and mitigation measures, annual losses could reach 12-14.5 per cent of GDP by 2050.

VIR