Viet Nam debuts sustainable agrifood and forestry initiatives ahead of COP31

As one of the world's leading agricultural exporters and a country highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Viet Nam recognizes its responsibility to work with the international community in advancing solutions that promote trade while ensuring sustainable development, protecting ecosystems, and improving livelihoods.

Ahead of the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), scheduled for November 2026 in Türkiye, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment on June 26 officially introduced the Climate-Smart and Responsible Agrifood, Forestry Trade Alliance (CSR-AFTA) initiative.

Advancing Climate-Smart and Responsible Trade

The initiative is aligned with the shared global objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the recommendations of the United Nations Food Systems Summit.

According to Mr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, Director General of the International Cooperation Department, the initiative is not intended to serve as a negotiation mechanism or create additional legal obligations for countries. Instead, CSR-AFTA is designed as a voluntary, open, and inclusive cooperation platform that brings together governments, international organizations, the private sector, financial institutions, research organizations, industry associations, and farming communities to promote climate-smart, transparent, responsible, and sustainable trade in agricultural and forestry products.

“Through this initiative, Viet Nam seeks to work with its partners to establish a cooperative framework that delivers mutual benefits, promotes knowledge sharing, mobilizes resources, strengthens investment, fosters innovation, and enhances capacity-building, particularly for developing countries.

More importantly, we wish to send a clear message: sustainable trade should not be viewed as a barrier to development. Instead, it should serve as a driver of climate action, green growth, agrifood systems transformation, nature conservation, and improved livelihoods,” he emphasized.

Three objectives and strategic pillars of CSR-AFTA

According to the proposal, CSR-AFTA pursues three overarching objectives: promoting sustainable agriculture and forestry trade based on harmonized standards; safeguarding farmers' livelihoods while encouraging ecological, circular, and regenerative production models linked to forest and biodiversity conservation; and mobilizing green finance to support the development of sustainable agricultural value chains.

To achieve these objectives, the initiative is built upon three strategic pillars.

The first pillar focuses on climate-smart and responsible trade by developing green supply chain criteria, strengthening traceability systems, standardizing eco-labels, reducing technical trade barriers, and establishing preferential trade mechanisms for products that meet environmental sustainability requirements.

The second pillar promotes sustainable agriculture and forestry through deforestation-free production models, expanded agroforestry systems, conservation-oriented diversified farming, and the implementation of the Food Forest Program. These efforts aim to establish ecosystem service payment mechanisms, improve rural livelihoods, and help farmers access regenerative farming technologies as well as climate finance.

The third pillar focuses on developing green and equitable financing mechanisms, including promoting carbon and biodiversity credit markets in agriculture, expanding climate insurance for smallholder farmers, supporting green bonds for the agriculture and forestry sectors, and mobilizing funding from international climate funds as well as private-sector investors.

According to the draft proposal, Viet Nam will serve as the coordinating country, working with partners to develop common criteria for the green origin of agricultural and forestry products, promote carbon credit exchanges, and share experience in developing sustainable raw material production areas.

The initiative was launched by Viet Nam in partnership with Türkiye and Australia - the two COP31 co-hosts - and is expected to involve a broad coalition of countries, international organizations, and private-sector partners, including FAO, WTO, UNDP, WWF, IUCN, CIAT, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo. Under the proposal, participating members will convene an annual CSR-AFTA High-Level Dialogue on the sidelines of the COP conference to review progress and strengthen cooperation.

Viet Nam is calling on international organizations, climate finance institutions, development partners, and global consumer goods companies to join the initiative in building climate-smart and responsible agriculture and forestry value chains.

Under the proposed roadmap, Viet Nam will finalize the initiative's framework in 2026, conduct consultations with relevant ministries, agencies, and international partners, and mobilize countries to become founding members before officially launching CSR-AFTA at COP31 in November 2026.