Viet Nam Project

Prior to the project start, Vietnam had made strong commitments on agriculture GHG emission reduction, including in the livestock sector. These commitments included specific GHG mitigation measures addressing ruminant feed and livestock manure management; the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD, now Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, MAE) was strongly committed to operationalising these commitments. However, there was no operational MRV system to track progress towards the NDC targets; the NDC’s livestock GHG emission reduction targets were not based on well-informed science; the inventory (Tier 1) was not capable of reflecting the changes in feed and manure management targeted and had obvious areas for improvement; the agriculture inventory compilation agency (Institute of Agricultural Environment, IAE) had no livestock expertise, but only involved the National Institute for Animal Science (NIAS) in population data provision; NIAS livestock experts had received no prior training in GHG issues.

The specific objective of the first project was to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD, now Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) to implement their responsibilities for GHG measurement, reporting, and verification in the livestock sector.

A separate project supported IRRI to digitise and institutionalise in MARD an MRV system for rice cultivation activity data.

According to national legislation, MARD has responsibility for GHG inventory compilation, GHG mitigation planning and MRV in the agriculture sector, including livestock.

• GHG inventory improvement: The livestock GHG inventory (Tier 1 for all species, Tier 2 for cattle and pigs) have been improved. The improvements included recalculating the inventory following the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines, which uses different emission factors. Some errors and omissions in earlier inventories were also corrected. This led to some significant revisions to GHG emission estimates. The implications of applying the technical improvements for recalculating the NDC BAU and mitigation scenarios were assessed. Full acceptance of the revised inventory will take communication and time, not least because of the restructuring of MAE in 2025. The expert team at NIAS now fully understands GHG inventory requirements and has the capacity to update the inventory in the future. NIAS also involved the inventory compilation agency (IAE) at various phases of the project, which established a good cooperative basis for uptake of the improved inventory and further work on livestock GHG mitigation. Dr Huyen, team lead for NIAS, has been appointed to the working group responsible for NDC updating in the agriculture sector.

• Livestock MRV system piloted: For some years, MARD Department for Livestock Production (DLP) had been lobbying to include large-scale cattle and pig farms in the list of entities subject to mandatory GHG reporting and mitigation planning. However, there was no system to calculate GHG emissions from these farms. The project developed Excel-based farm GHG calculators designed for different types of cattle farm and piloted their use on a small number of farms. The response from the private sector and government was very positive. Recommendations were made for further improvement of the tools and for a capacity-building programme to support their roll-out.

• Rice MRV system institutionalised: An Excel-based system for recording and reporting rice cultivation activities (RiceMoRe) – originally designed for harvest monitoring and forecasting – was turned into an online reporting system with support of the NZCSA. Extensive training was provided to government staff from local, provincial, and national levels, and the management of the digital system was handed over to the MARD Digital Services Centre. A decree was issued mandating operation of the system in the Mekong Delta Region, Vietnam’s main rice producing area. The system has not yet been adopted as the basis for MRV of GHG emissions in Vietnam. IRRI is now exploring replication of this system in other countries in Southeast Asia.

• Research capacities: Through both the inventory and measurement work, individual and team capacities within NIAS have been strengthened. They are now able to independently design and implement experiments to measure enteric methane and manure emissions. Engagement in the international science community has also been strengthened, and NIAS has engaged with various partners (e.g. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, CIRAD France, and ILRI) on related research activities. Technically, NIAS are excellently set up to take the lead in measuring both enteric and manure emissions from Vietnamese livestock systems. They have also shown themselves to have excellent research management systems, with timely reporting, timely progress, and as active collaborators.

• Enhancing Vietnam’s ability to take and track climate action: Vietnam’s existing political ambition for GHG mitigation in the livestock sector has been strengthened with the improved inventory, creation of a team of experts at NIAS fully conversant with GHG emission and mitigation issues, and a clear direction for future improvement of the piloted MRV system. Private sector responses to the MRV pilot were also positive. This sets a good basis for DLP to fulfil its mandates for inventory compilation and MRV in the livestock sector with support of other stakeholders. The team at NIAS is well capable to support DLP to continue making progress in this area. The experiment results and inventory work have also strengthened the NIAS team’s understanding of mitigation options. They are now in a good position to pursue future applied research to identify practical and effective GHG mitigation options in collaboration with the private sector.

• Enhancing NZ’s partnership with Vietnam: Key partner agencies in MARD (including International Cooperation, DLP, DOSTE) highly appreciated the support on this topic from New Zealand. Livestock is an area in which NZ is a recognized international leader, and climate change is a key topic in the NZ-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This cooperation directly contributed to strengthening NZ’s partnership with Vietnam.