VN urged to generate funds for green growth
A meeting was held in Hanoi last week to report on the implementation of the Vietnam National Green Growth Strategy in the 2012-16 period.
The event was jointly held by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the United Nations Development Programme.
Pham Hoang Mai, director-general of the MPI’s Department of Science, Education, Resources and Environment, said five ministries and 30 cities and provinces in the country had built and were implementing their plans of action on green growth.
Vietnam participated in the Paris Agreement adopted at the 21st Conference of Parties in November 2015, and government agencies had coordinated with development partners to realise the country’s commitments under the agreement, he said.
Last October, the government promulgated a plan to implement the Paris Agreement and the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution commitment, he added.
Craig Hart, deputy director of USAID in Vietnam, noted that while it was important to mobilise international financial resources for the purpose, it was necessary to improve the efficiency of domestic funding mechanisms.
He cited as an example the collection of fees for forest services, which earns around US$60 million (Bt2.1 billion) for the country each year. Last year, nearly 20,000 rural residents for the first time received payment for their forest care from this source.
