The Embassy of Vietnam in the Netherlands in collaboration with the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education held the 8th roundtable to exchange experience in ensuring environmental security and climate change response on December 4.The roundtable drew various local officials, representatives of diplomatic corps, and members of research institutes, non-governmental organizations and international scholars.
Conference scene. Photo: baotintuc.vn
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The roundtable was more significant and timely as it was held just after the opening of the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in Poland on December 3 with the participation of more than 200 countries.
In her opening speech, Vietnam Ambassador to the Netherlands Ngo Thi Hoa emphasized Vietnam’s role and efforts in activities to counter climate change impacts over the years.
Co-chair of the roundtable Matt Luna and President of Dutch Institute for Environmental Security Wouter Veening affirmed that Vietnam holds an important geopolitical position in strategies against global climate change.
Vietnamese and Dutch experts from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam, Delft University, Wageningen University presented issues related to climate change and water management, including cooperation in the Mekong River, impacts of climate change on periods of disasters, and food security.
An inter-ministerial delegation of Vietnam, comprising of representatives from the Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment, Science and Technology, Finance, delivered the country’s cooperation plans and strategies on climate change response in the time ahead.
A representative from the Global Adaptation Center under the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared some information about the UN agenda on climate change cooperation in 2019 and affirmed the Netherlands, as a non-permanent irregular member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is actively bringing climate change and security into the UN agenda, to promote international cooperation in this field.
As the whole world and the United Nations are making efforts to negotiate a deal to realize the emission reduction targets agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the roundtable drew attention from not only the countries affected by climate change such as Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Kenya, but also developed and prominent countries in the movement against climate change such as France, Switzerland, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, among others.
