In 2015, Viet Nam submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It was succeeded by a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) which identifies agriculture as a priority sector for the development of climate change response strategies. The NDC highlights 15 options to enhance mitigation in agriculture and outlines the goal of developing a ‘clean and sustainable’ sector under its adaptation component.

The exposure of Viet Nam’s agriculture sector to climate change is further recognised by its emphasis in the National Adaptation Planning (NAP) process, which seeks to reduce vulnerability to climate change and facilitate the integration of adaptation into development plannin, at all levels, in the medium to long term. While NDCs represent countries’ integrated mitigation and adaptation commitments at the strategic level and NAPs allow adaptation priorities to be elaborated and implemented at the operational level, there is now increasing recognition that despite their distinctive characteristics, climate planning instruments – including NAPs and NDCs – should be linked, sequenced and aligned to foster linkages and accelerate climate action.

In Viet Nam, the NAP process, and its alignment with the NDC, are being supported by the ‘Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans’ (NAP-Ag) programme through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Co-led by UNDP and FAO, NAP-Ag is a multi-year initiative funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). It provides technical assistance to 11 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to identify and integrate climate change a daptation measures into relevant national planning and budgeting processes, with a focus on the agricultural sectors.

Experiences and lessons learned from NAP-Ag provide important insights that can inform the update of Viet Nam’s NDC and strengthen the coherence and effectiveness of adaptation interventions. This brief provides an overview of the key activities undertaken through the NAP-Ag programme in Viet Nam which are of relevance to the review and update of its NDC, including (i) a stocktaking of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) practices; (ii) a vulnerability assessment of four key sub-sectors (crops, aquaculture, livestock and irrigation resources) and (iii) an initial study on loss and damage in agriculture.