Updating the Provincial Climate Change Response Action Plans (CCRAP) of Quang Binh province and Ha Tinh province for 2016 – 2020 was an important entry point for EbA mainstreaming. This process had been led by Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) of Quang Binh and of Ha Tinh with technical support from GIZ. The Provincial CCRAP is a legal basis for all coordinated efforts of Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces in response to climate change mitigation and adaptation. This CCRAP includes priority projects and programs implemented by different provincial agencies to response to climate changes in Quang Binh and Ha Tinh during the period of 2016 – 2020. Findings and recommendations from the Vulnerability Assessment for Socio-Ecological Systems including recommendations of EbA have been fed into the CCRAP process at both provincial and local levels to create synergies. Expected impacts are to reduce negative impacts of climate changes in Quang Binh and Ha Tinh in the short run and in the long run.

This process had been led by General Department of Land Administration (GDLA), and Department of Appraisal and Environmental Impact Assessment (DAEIA) under Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA) with technical support from GIZ and in collaboration with Institute of Strategy and Policy for Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE). This was the first-ever effort had been made in this regard in Vietnam without any precedence. SEA constitutes a frontline tool for mainstreaming a range of sustainability related concerns in so-called ‘strategic’ decisions over the world. This is reflected, for example, in the increasing range of issues that both EIA and SEA have been expected to encompass: from human health and well-being to climate change adaptation. Vietnam has a fairly well institutionalized system of SEA, with the first legislation having been introduced in 2005 and a second generation legal framework being implemented in 2011. Thus SEA is considered as a good opportunity/vehicle to add on EbA topic into the strategic planning process. Expected impacts include an improvement of the regulatory framework for integrating EbA into the SEA process and the planning process in Viet Nam.

Provincial institutions (government officials and training institutions) develop capacities to mainstreaming EbA based on a capacity development strategy (CDS) along 4 dimensions: people, organizations, networks& cooperation, and framework conditions. The CDS and roll out includes the following steps: 1. Capacity&needs assessment of a) target groups on EbA knowledge and learning habits via interviews b) 10 potential training service providers taking into account training experiences of international organizations (IUCN, WWF, UNDP). 2. Elaborating tailor-made training materials on the GIZ “Integrating climate change adaptation into development with a focus on ecosystem-based Adaptation” based on the Harvard Case Method and adapted to the Vietnamese context with IPCC SREX report terminology. 3. Carrying out a test training to come up with an intercultural sensitive didactic concepts and key topics. 4. Conduct ToTs for training service providers to institutionalize the EbA training in the long term. 25 participants from 4 different experienced training service providers in Vietnam were trained. 5. Conduct customized trainings for provincial technical staff by service providers bassed on TOT experiences.

The EbA vulnerability assessments (VA) provide an overview of climate change hotspots and identify priorities for Action at the the macro- (Provincial-level) and micro-level (community or local-scale). The Macro-level VA uses existing information on province’s ecological, social and economic assets and climate change projection and identifies specific “hot spots” that require cloer attention. It enables a province to get a comprehensive overview of climate change issues and identify priorities for action. The micro-level VA focuses on a selection hot-spots and repeats the analysis, applying more conventional bottom-up methods of field work, local data collection and stakeholder participation. The key concept here is VA for Socio-Ecological System (SES) incl. the following: Scoping the provincial context for climate change to identify and prioritize the important issues ; Identification of SES and key economic assets based on economic, social and ecological profiles, and using the expert judgment based on Google Earth to identify different types of land cover, infrastructure and human activities; VA of SES and KEA including assessment of impacts, adaptive capacities, vulnerabilities; Identifying EbA and other Adaptation Options.

Local stakeholders learn to become environmental leaders. They learn about their water reality. When people understand the local problems and their community's responsibility, they can meet and engage with similar groups of stakeholders from other communities across the conflict. The common ground for these cross conflict meetings is the safeguard of the shared watershed and the communities engage in productive meetings to identify solutions. Together they identify projects that speak to the self-interest of both sides. Through this process, the communities gain the capacity to advance solutions even within a turbulent political environment. In most cases, the combination of a strong youth program and outspoken adult leadership creates the political will of mayors and other municipal leaders to get involved.

Top-Down is the process to create broader political awareness of the issue. It includes advocacy for national and international support. Commonly a concept paper that explains the problem initiates this process with further research to support and document the issues. It is important to appeal to the news media, as their attention is necessary to heighten the political awareness of the issues and to convey the information to the public, resulting in the creation of a broader public demand for action. Media attention mobilizes national and international engagement and can foster domestic and international resource mobilization. In our experience, public opinion plays a decisive role in dictating the political agenda to local leaders as well as national decision makers.

Pasvik-Inari Trilateral Park received EUROPARC certification as a transboundary (TB) area in 2008 and was renewed in 2013. Aims of the certification are to 1) identify priorities for future transboundary work, and 2) raise the national and international profile of the parks and TB area as a whole. Application requirements include a joint long-term vision and guiding rules for future cooperation along with an action plan (see Building Block 3), which are essential for the continued transboundary cooperation. Initial suggestions for the vision and guiding rules were circulated among working group members before the Steering Committee agreed on the final vision: “Pasvik-Inari Trilateral Park is an internationally recognised sustainable nature tourism destination known for its wilderness characteristics and natural, cultural and historical values. Promotion of nature conservation and sustainable nature tourism preserves the core values and contributes to the sound development of the area.” Bilateral and multilateral agreements between Finland, Norway and Russia were also needed for TB certification, which incorporated input from all three countries and were prepared in Finnish and translated to English then to Norweigian and Russian.