VIETNAM YOUTH STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE 2024

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Preamble 

Viet Nam is among the five countries most heavily affected by climate change and sea level rise, ranking 5th in the Global Climate Risk Index (2018) and 8th in the Long-Term Climate Risk Index (CRI). Viet Nam, as a committed member of international organizations, has signed the Framework Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement. The countryViet Nam is actively integrating climate change response strategies into national policies, especially in integration and development, and has committed to achieving a Net Zero emissions strategy by 2050. This is a significant milestone and also the driving force for Viet Nam to adopt a whole society approach while responding to the climate crisis.

Vietnamese children and youth make up a quarter of the population, holding a vital role in shaping the country's future development. While they are among the most vulnerable to climate change, they also have immense potential to contribute to climate action. To support this, the Youth Climate Action Network (YNet Viet Nam) organizes the Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) Viet Nam, a platform empowering young people to learn, raise their voices, and participate in national and international climate discussions.

The National Youth Statement is a crucial outcome of LCOY Viet Nam, capturing the voices, concerns, and aspirations of children and young people on urgent climate issues affecting both their generation and the nation as a whole. This document serves as a collective message from Viet Nam's youth to national and global leaders, outlining their perspectives on critical areas such as climate adaptation, sustainable energy transition, and climate-smart education.

Through the National Youth Statement, Vietnamese youth emphasize their commitment to climate resilience and articulate the support they need to drive meaningful climate action. This statement not only represents a unified stance on vital climate issues but also reinforces the role of young people as key partners in shaping a sustainable and resilient future for Viet Nam.

Overview

Previous reports and youth statements show that Vietnamese youth, with their energy and enthusiasm, have been pioneers in both adopting existing solutions and creating new ones to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to climate change, and mitigate disaster risks, particularly through nature-based projects. However, youth activities still face many challenges related to skills, technology, finance, and stakeholder collaboration. These issues result in programs lacking systematic approaches, depth, and effectiveness . Some activities remain superficial, and Vietnamese youth struggle to access information about climate policies at both national and international levels. They also do not fully realize their role and responsibility in contributing to developing and implementing the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and climate change adaptation strategies, policies, and actions in Viet Nam . Vietnamese youth need support from stakeholders to overcome these specific obstacles, thereby promoting meaningful participation in addressing climate change.

Therefore, this statement calls for solutions to untangle these barriers, develop, and promote youth-led solutions and activities, focusing on three themes: Energy Transition, Climate Smart Education, and Climate Change Adaptation. The recommendations are based on the common consensus of the delegate groups, focusing on urgent issues that stakeholders need to act on to address and respond to climate-related issues in Viet Nam.

Regarding climate smart education:  As one of the countries suffering the most from climate change-induced disasters, the effects of climate change on the physical and mental well-being of children and youth are evident in the education sector. Extreme weather events can directly damage infrastructure, making it difficult for children and youth to attend school. Children and youth from ethnic minorities and low-income households already face challenges in accessing education, and the added burden of extreme weather and disasters can further reduce family income, forcing them out of school. Poor rural households, which rely on natural resources for their livelihoods, are especially vulnerable due to the combined pressures of economic hardship and environmental factors. Acknowledging this, the Vietnamese government has emphasized the integration of climate change education for all, including youth, through communication and educational program. Education and the active participation of youth in decision-making are the main drivers behind efforts to empower youth to take action on climate-related issues. Emphasizing education to enhance knowledge, capacity building for the younger generation to protect themselves, as well as participating in climate change response actions while also ensuring that disaster risks are managed, are pressing issues that must be addressed. Efforts to integrate climate change into the general education curriculum have been ongoing since the 2010s. These efforts began with the Education Sector's Climate Change Response Action Plan for 2011-2015, followed by the Project on Information and Communication for Climate Change Response and Disaster Prevention in Schools from 2013-2020. Climate change topics were incorporated into various subjects within the general education curriculum. Additionally, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union has implemented climate change and environmental protection initiatives in schools through the "Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Participates in Environmental Protection and Climate Change Response" for 2023-2027.

Regarding energy transition: In the context of depleting resources and current climate change, Viet Nam is gradually moving towards a carbon-neutral future. In fact, Viet Nam joined the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) in December 2022, establishing cooperative relations with other developed countries on finance, technology, capacity building, and improving renewable energy policies. Viet Nam is the third developing country to implement JETP after successful implementation in South Africa and Indonesia. Under JETP, Viet Nam commits to reducing Viet Nam's greenhouse gas emissions by 200 megatons by 2030 and 300 megatons by 2035. Viet Nam announced the JETP Resource Mobilization Plan (JETP – RMP) in December 2023 (JETP 2022 Political Declaration) This plan focuses on eight key task groups: (1) Improving institutions and policies to promote energy transition, (2) Accelerating the transition from coal power to clean energy, (3) Developing the renewable energy industry and service ecosystem, (4) Promoting energy conservation and efficiency, (5) Upgrading electricity transmission and distribution systems, speeding up the development of smart grids, and advancing energy storage systems, (6) Facilitating green energy transition and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector, (7) Encouraging innovation, development, and technology transfer, (8) Ensuring fairness in the transition process. More importantly, JETP ensures the equitable distribution of benefits and costs across different socio-economic classes by providing support mechanisms (e.g., creating new job opportunities) for those affected. Therefore, JETP is a crucial step in the energy transition process that helps Viet Nam achieve its climate goals and create a more sustainable and just energy future. Throughout the energy transition process, Vietnamese youth play a key role as the main workforce in energy-related jobs, policy advocates, energy entrepreneurs, and raising awareness for society; therefore, they have an important voice in this process.

Regarding climate change adaptation: As one of the six countries most heavily affected by climate change, Viet Nam has been actively participating in international mechanisms and agreements on climate change adaptation and mitigation, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, the Global Adaptation Alliance (AAC), etc. At COP26, Viet Nam committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050, while also beginning to transition its economy towards sustainable and environmentally friendly development. To date, Viet Nam has restored over 4,000 hectares of mangrove forests and is one of the countries with the largest area of mangrove forests in the world. Notably, the Can Gio mangrove restoration and conservation project started in 1978, has become one of the model lessons for the world. This site has also been developed into an attractive eco-tourism model, and in 2000, this 75,740-hectare forest was recognized by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve. Currently, Viet Nam has 11 World Biosphere Reserves, ranking second in Southeast Asia. In addition, as one of the world’s leading rice exporters, Viet Nam currently ranks 9th among the 10 countries with the largest organic agricultural land in Asia. However, the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam's largest agricultural production hub, contributing 50% of rice output, is one of the three largest deltas in the world most vulnerable to sea level rise, with estimated losses of nearly $3 billion annually. To adapt to climate change, Viet Nam has developed rice varieties that can tolerate acidity, drought, and salinity while mobilizing hundreds of millions of dollars to build salinity prevention dikes to protect crops. However, Viet Nam's climate change adaptation efforts remain limited as financial resources for climate change adaptation are still low compared to actual needs, especially in the context of ODA loans and non-refundable aid mainly focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, Viet Nam has a high demand for developing international cooperation in the field of climate change adaptation and prioritizes technology transfer from advanced countries, as well as developing high-quality green human resources.

In addition to the aforementioned focus areas, a concept of significant importance is the "Leave No One Behind" (LNOB) principle, a core tenet of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the context of Viet Nam, this principle holds particular relevance when facing severe challenges posed by climate change. The impacts especially affect vulnerable groups such as the population in the Mekong Delta region, the country's largest agricultural hub, ethnic minority communities living in difficult mountainous areas, and low-income households in coastal regions. Within this context, the LNOB principle demands that Viet Nam's climate change policies and solutions ensure that these populations are not only protected from the adverse effects of climate change but are also supported and empowered to adapt and thrive.

Vietnamese youth, as a key force in climate change response efforts, must take proactive measures to ensure that initiatives and policies not only aim to achieve sustainable development goals but are also inclusive and meet the needs of everyone. We must promote educational activities and raise community awareness about the importance of "leaving no one behind" and play an active role in ensuring that the most vulnerable have opportunities to participate in and benefit from climate solutions, thereby collectively building a more just and sustainable Viet Nam.

We - Viet Nam Youth

• Recalling the achievements of the Viet Nam Youth Climate Statements in 2021, 2022, and 2023, the Special Reports by Youth in 2021, and 2022, and continuing the roadmap for youth climate action with the 2023-2030 action goals, vision to 2050;
• Recognizing the importance of building a declaration for Vietnamese youth, as well as emphasizing the participation of Vietnamese youth in activities to address Climate Change and protect the environment, and youth participation in the climate change response is crucial and thus cannot be excluded from the social development processes;
• Reaffirming the vital role of youth in climate action; however, young people have often been designated as implementers of less technical tasks or placed in advisory roles that lack systematic integration as shown in Criteria 4 & UNICEF’s NDCs and Child Sensitivity data platform, despite that youth engagement has been mainstreamed into almost the decision-making processes of climate action, especially at the international level, such as the NDC Partnership’s Youth Engagement Plan, the UN Youth Strategy;
• Calling for all parties to take urgent action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C and achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change; also stressing that vulnerable groups are disproportionately affected by climate change, stressing for the integration of vulnerability-sensitive climate policies to maximize Viet Nam's resilience to climate change;
• Affirming that climate change adaptation is not the work of an individual or a single entity but a shared responsibility of society at large and nations globally;

In pursuit of holistic Climate Action, we, the Vietnamese youth, declare:

At the global level, we are

1. Urging Parties to agree on an ambitious New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance that addresses the needs and priorities of developing countries at COP29, enhance direct access to vulnerable stakeholders, including children and youth, to boost financial access for locally-led action, and enhances devolution of decision-making towards procedural justice for affected stakeholders, based on -/CMA.5, Para. 83 and 9/CMA.3;
2. Encouraging countries to dramatically deliver stronger ambition and action in the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions to keep the 1,5C goal within reach, while ensuring the updated NDCs and NAPs are children and youth-focused and inclusive responding to the increasing adverse impact of climate change on future generations, committing to a sustainable and just future for all; 
3. Demanding the global assessment and measurement of the impacts and effectiveness of those efforts in engaging youth in the decision-making process in the way that quantitatively and qualitatively explains the changes and lessons learned that global efforts have made in this regard;

At the National level, we are

• Recommending that the Prime Minister, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and relevant Ministries continue working with the youth networks and youth-focused organizations to evaluate the 2020 - 2025 Roadmap, develop a concrete action plan for 2025-2030 towards improving the formal participation mechanism, responding the needs of the young people so that Vietnamese youth can actively and meaningfully contributing not only into the NDC development and implementation processes but also in other crucial national climate policies like the NAP, National Climate Change Strategy (NCCS);
• Encouraging the government and relevant organizations to continue to support capacity building and facilitate the participation of youth and children representatives from various fields in national and international climate negotiations including but not limited to SBs, COP;
• Propose that the Government, businesses, and social organizations work together to contribute and implement a youth climate action roadmap in line with the 2023-2030 action targets and the 2050 vision, by creating legal frameworks and support mechanisms for individuals, initiatives, movements, and youth organizations. This should include dedicated mechanisms for minority and vulnerable groups, and those directly affected by climate change, along with resource allocation and cooperation with the Youth Climate Action Network and other youth initiatives;

1. Recommend the Government to support and create enabling environments for youth-led climate education campaigns and initiatives targeting schools, communities, and online platforms, based on youth-proposed recommendations as outlined in relevant youth-initiated documents;
2. Encourage the Government to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to enhance the integration of information and content on green jobs, natural disasters, and climate change –  stressing the economics, social, and environmental effects, especially highlighting local context – of these topics into all subjects at all levels, from preschool to tertiary institutions;
3. Propose that the Ministry of Education and Training collaborates with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to create evaluation criteria for educational activities' environmental impact, aiming for a carbon-neutral education system;
4. Demand the Government and local authorities to work together with international organizations and the private sector to allocate additional funding for schools, enabling them to build, maintain, and replicate disaster-resilient school models, as well as enhance climate change education and disaster preparedness activities, in the context of increasingly frequent natural disasters due to climate change impacts;

1. Call on the government to collaborate with the private sector to expand existing good practices, providing infrastructure, scholarships, and training opportunities on energy-related youth upskilling, reskilling training programs and apprenticeships specifically targeting youth in underrepresented groups, and youth affected by the transition process;
2. Encourage NGO/IOs to collaborate and provide good practices and guidance for implementation for the government on more relevant and youth-targeted technical assistance on energy transition;
3. Urge NGO/IOs and relevant ministries to provide capacity-building support to youth organizations and networks working on just energy transition initiatives in Viet Nam and support the development of youth-led research and advocacy;
4. Call on the private sector to invest in youth-led social enterprises promoting sustainable energy solutions and working on enhancing community resilience;

1. Demand that the government should prioritize and advocate for the selection of specific and quantifiable GGA indicators, specifically youth-sensitive, adaptable to different regional contexts, and incorporate a wide range of metrics to serve as a reference for the country to improve and align the current national adaptation plan;
2. Urge the government to adopt a gender- and youth-responsive approach in all stages of the national adaptation plan (NAP), using a fully transparent and participatory approach, in addition, ensure the formulation of NAP includes a separate vulnerability assessment for children/youth which should be informed by the youth; 
3. Request non-governmental organizations/international organizations to support capacity building for youth organizations and networks working on climate change adaptation in Viet Nam;
4. Encourage the government, businesses, relevant organizations, and the HCYU to continue to provide financial and human resources to help youth build and establish sustainable projects regarding climate change, thus empowering youth to contribute ideas, perspectives, and efforts to address local issues.; 
5. Urge the private sector to continue and accelerate collaboration with local communities and youth organizations to implement sustainable development and climate-resilient infrastructure projects, and to actively empower youth-led social enterprises to drive climate adaptation solutions and strengthen community resilience;
6. Call for substantial investment in the research and development of climate adaptation technologies that directly benefit vulnerable and marginalized communities in Viet Nam, especially technologies developed by young people, through dedicated funds.

Acknowledgement

We would like to sincerely thank the 130+ Vietnamese youths who have contributed to the inception of this draft statement. Your voices are at the heart of this work, and it is through your contributions that we have been able to capture the hopes and commitments of our generation – the young generation.

We would also like to send our deepest gratitude to all the organizations and entities that have supported the organizing process of LCOY Viet Nam 2024, helping us maintain this valuable space to gather ideas, aspirations, and voices from youth across the country, shaping this meaningful document: 

• Strategic Partners: UNICEF Viet Nam, UNDP in Viet Nam
• Accompanying Partners: Hong Bang International University, Sen Vang Entertainment
• Technical Partners: YECAP, ODCC
• Sponsors: Green Youth Lab, To He Social Enterprise, Bitexco. 
• Media Partners: Duyên Dáng Việt Nam, Tạp chí điện tử Một thế giới

We would also like to thank YNet Viet Nam, Gen Zero Global, and Youth Policy Working Group for organizing LCOY Viet Nam 2024.

Once again, we would like to thank all the organizations and individuals who have supported and created opportunities for Vietnamese youth to speak out and contribute to national and global climate action.