Knowledge Management in response to
climate change
Workshop Proceedings
Tuesday 26 June, 2012
Hanoi, Viet Nam
Workshop Themes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The National Target Program on Climate Change. How do the Ministries of Natural
Resource Management and Environment (MoNRE), and Agriculture and Rural
Development (MARD), respond to policy development and implementation at national and
provincial levels?
How is information relevant to policy development collected and shared among
departments?
How is traditional or indigenous knowledge used to inform climate change adaptation?
What are the current policy priorities for climate change in Vietnam?
Who are the primary stakeholders in Vietnam’s response to climate change, and how are
they involved in policy development and implementation?
What are the current barriers to effective policy development and implementation relating
to the National Target Program on Climate Change?
How are counter-part agencies at provincial level involved in climate change policy, and
how are their efforts co-ordinated against national priorities?
What education programs are in place to assist in raising awareness about climate change
and climate change adaptation?
Summary of Presentations
Dr Nguyen Vau Thang, and Dr Tran Hong Thai, Vietnam Institute of Meteorology Hydrology and
Environment.
Response to climate change in Vietnam.
Vietnam’s climate is changing with mean temperature increases of 2-3 degrees and changes in
total rainfall. Sea levels are expected to rise by up to 100 cm and changes to the frequency and
severity of extreme weather events threaten populous cities particularly those on the coast. The
establishment of a National Committee on Climate Change (January 2012), includes the
development of a national strategy, and piloting a community response to climate change in
coastal regions, and in the Mekong River delta. An action plan for 2012-2020 aligns to the National
Target Program on Climate Change. This involves an integrated response involving the whole
community through awareness raising and human resource
development. Development strategies aimed at all sectors
including the legal and regulatory sector are an important
component. Mainstreaming climate change into socioeconomic sectors is also an important aim for future
development strategies. A systemic and integrated
approach is necessary. Involvement of the Ministry of
Information and Communication is an important response
to awareness raising for climate change in Vietnam. Two
pilot provinces will be used to develop effective models for
climate change adaptation.
Page 2
Dr Tran Hong Thai, Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment, Vietnam
Vietnam National Target Program to respond to Climate Change: translating from policy into
actions.
In recent years, natural disasters associated with climate change have been becoming more
intense in terms of frequency and magnitude, causing not only severe casualties and asset losses,
but also destruction of economic and social infrastructure, leaving adverse environmental impacts.
For Vietnam in the last ten years (2001-2010), casualties were more than 9000 and asset losses
were estimated to be equivalent to 1.5 per cent of GDP annually.
Acknowledging threats of climate change to the sustainable development of Vietnam, the
Government has issued the decision 158/QD/TTg in order to establish the National Target
Program to respond to Climate Change (NTPRCC) in December 2008. A key obtained result is that
Vietnam’s strategy on climate change, for a century-long vision, has been approved by the
Prime Minister in the decision 2139/QD-TTg issued on 5 December 2011, in which 10 strategic
tasks were set to cover crucial aspects referred to as adaptation, mitigation, science and
technology, management capacity, public awareness and international co-operation. In
association with this theme, the National Action Plan on Climate Change, involving the National
Scientific Program on Climate Change, has been developed aiming towards achieving those
strategic goals by means of determining specific actions and detailed criteria as well as clarifying
responsibilities among ministries, sectors and provinces.
Hoang Lam Son, CIREN, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam
Building knowledge management systems in response to climate change.
The Department of Information Technology of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
(CIREN) is responsible for knowledge management, including the formulation of strategies policies
and practices responsive to knowledge sharing among central agencies. Knowledge and
understanding derive from information which comes from data. Knowledge management in the
context of Vietnam is important to resolve natural resource management, environmental
protection and adaptation to climate change. These are influenced by culture, and inter-sectoral
engagement among stakeholders. There is a current lack of a legal framework which promotes
interdisciplinary collaboration and information transfer. Developing and completing an
information system aimed at managing results of the National Target Program for Climate Change
is an important aim for CIREN. This will assist in awareness raising among the community to
effectively adapt to climate change.
Page 3
Nguyen Duc Cuong, Centre of Data and Communication on Disaster Prevention, Department of
Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment,
Vietnam.
Traditional wisdom and its use in adapting to climate change.
Vietnam must strengthen communication and education to raise awareness and social
responsibility on climate change. Boosting human resource capacity to adapt to climate change is
an important goal. Communities and civil servants should have a basic understanding of climate
change and of appropriate adaptive responses. Media should be utilised effectively to raise
awareness of climate change at community level. Drawing on traditional wisdom, particularly from
those community members who have been exposed to natural disasters and extreme climatic
events, can provide insights into future adaptive responses. This is also an important driver of
community engagement together with more formal knowledge (e.g. climate science, agriculture,
engineering) relevant to climate change adaptation.
Dr Terry Chan, Monash Sustainability Institute, and Dr Tran Ngoc Anh, Vietnam National
University (Hanoi).
A Bayesian Network approach to understanding a systemic response to climate change: the Red
River.
The Red River Basin is an important natural asset supporting the livelihoods of much of the
Vietnamese population. An integrated approach to management including trans-boundary issues
is necessary to respond to climate change and sustainable resource development. Management
issues include conflicts among water users in the dry season, and trans-boundary co-ordination
(including China). Numerical models which provide for examination of system level effects (of
climate change and water resource management decisions) can be helpful in linking research to
policy. Bayesian Network (BN) models which present relationships among variables are becoming
increasingly prominent in natural resource management. In the context of the Red River (including
its tributaries), water availability (for human use) can be expressed as a function of quantity and
quality. In this way climate change scenarios which will affect water availability can be used to
examine the intersection with population growth, land use and land use change. The use of
reservoirs, which can be used to manage dry season flows or for flood mitigation can be examined
under a BN. Current activities include the examination of reservoirs and their utility on the Red
River Basin.
Ms Tong Thi Lien, Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment, Vietnam.
Impact of climate change on water resources and
solutions for water management in Vietnam.
Climate change forecasts for the Red River indicate
changes in river flow ranging from + 5.8 per cent to -19
per cent. In the dry season, projections are for decreases
of 10 to 14 per cent in river flows. Consequent impacts
include erosion and other flood impacts and
concentration of pollutants in the river.
Page 4
Agriculture will be affected both by temperature increase and by water availability. Responses
include building capacity for water resource administration. Reservoirs also can be used to adapt
to climate change as these provide for water storage (during the dry season) and flood mitigation
(during the wet season). Improved irrigation techniques are also an important adaptive response
for agriculture.
Mr Dao Quoc Hung, CIREN, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam.
Building a national database on natural resources and environment in respect to climate change
response.
In an attempt to limit or mitigate the effects of global climate change, information and
communication technology (ICT) play an important role. Policies which increase labour
productivity can also assist in reducing consumption. Communication to remote areas remains a
challenge in Vietnam, as does developing information systems to direct disaster management.
Building a national database at central and local level is an important means of managing a climate
change response. A data collection system which is integrated from central to local including
synchronised ICT infrastructure is a necessary prerequisite to managing a country-wide response
to climate change. Associated tasks include: digitisation of data, application of unified software,
and training on database administration. The national database and associated tasks will
strengthen dissemination of knowledge and improve community awareness and understanding of
climate change in Vietnam.
Discussion and key points:
Developing effective climate change policy in Vietnam:
•
Develop a co-ordinated response among agencies responsible for development and
implementation of climate change policy in Vietnam
•
Improve knowledge management by information collection, interagency collaboration,
and knowledge sharing.
Knowledge sector development:
•
Develop and implement a systematic approach to collection of data and transferring
information (e.g. the national database)
•
Improve sharing of information including
traditional wisdom (e.g. flood management)
•
Clarify and promote publication policy in public
and administrative areas
•
Develop a knowledge management framework
for natural resource management and the
environment in response to climate change.
Page 5
Knowledge management:
•
Map how information is collected, shared and stored e.g. Red River Basin
•
Identify barriers or opportunities for knowledge transfer among and within agencies
•
Align economic, social and environmental information in a co-ordinated approach to
policy development and implementation.
•
Link CIREN to education sector (e.g. VNU) to improve understanding of research/policy
link. Incorporate climate change in high school curricula.
•
Make the language of climate change more accessible rather than use jargon.
•
Improve information sharing across provincial boundaries including the promotion of
decentralised database including provincial databases linked to the central database.
•
There are 54 ethnic minorities in Vietnam and language accessibility must be addressed
to improve communication and awareness raising.
Knowledge management
Climate change adaptation
Integrated catchment
management
Economic Development
Central agencyPoverty Reduction
National target
Program
Local
government
Community
development
National
Target
Program
Alternative livelihoods
Conflict resolution
Security of access
Legal and regulatory framework
Formal
knowledge
Governance
Traditional
wisdom
Culture
Monash Sustainability Institute
6
Linking top down (policy) to bottom up (community response) in a co-ordinated approach to knowledge
management responsive to the National Target Program on Climate Change, Vietnam.
Page 6