While food systems account for up to 30% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, Vietnam is holding high-level talks aimed at creating more sustainable farming systems in the country’s ‘food bowl,’ the Mekong Delta region.
Tran Trong Khiem, Pham Thu Thuy, Tran Nhat Lam Duyen, Ngo Minh Duyen, Tang Thi Kim Hong, Hoang Tuan Long. Image Credit: Flinders University
However, public policy experts are asking whether an extended series of government and large organizations running high-level multistakeholder forums (MSFs) is the best approach – and with few signs of low-emission food production systems commencing since the forums started almost 30 years ago.
Based on policy and literature reviews and interviews with 40 organizations in Vietnam, the Vietnamese researchers led by experts from Nong Lam University have joined Flinders University Professor in Public Policy Thuy Pham to highlight the need for policymakers and
MSF organizers to learn and implement important ‘real-world’ changes to greenhouse gas emissions and equity in society.
“Our investigations on the impact of 17 MSFs in Vietnam show they have shared some valuable knowledge but all this has generally made little contribution to outcomes on emissions, climate change mitigation and equity in communities,” says Professor Pham, from Flinders University’s College of Business, Government and Law.
“Current MSFs operate at different scales – regional, national, provincial – targeting different stakeholder groups for different objectives and outcomes,” she says, of a new article published in the World Development Perspectives journal.
“This means there is a lack of effective discussion across the groups, and not all stakeholders know about the forums, so limiting opportunities for collaboration, information sharing, networking and resource efficiency.”
“Rather than running more MSFs, we recommend that the great ideas produced at these forums should be used by policymakers to make progress on emission targets in food production, and in turn on equity.”
The researchers suggest that key policymakers should learn from and work with existing MSFs, rather than establish new ones and waste time.
They say reducing emissions and more sustainable food production requires holistic, cross-sectoral and multilevel solutions developed by multiple stakeholders. Technical solutions need to align with transformative governance and wide-ranging and inclusive stakeholder engagement with all players in food systems – while taking into account the interests and perspectives of these different stakeholders.
Coauthor of the study Dr Tang Thi Kim Hong, from the Nong Lam University in Ho Chi Minh City, says Vietnam’s policies on emission reductions and food systems – such as its Nationally Determined Contribution, and Resolution 34 on national food security until 2030 – require the participation of all sectors, state and non-state stakeholders as well as local communities and ethnic minorities.
“It is important, therefore, to analyse the degree to which a low-emission food system in the Mekong Delta is inclusive, and to assess whether all stakeholders or affected parties and their interests are represented in the decision-making process.”
While MSFs are designed to be “bring together a range of stakeholders to participate in decision-making and/or implementation in order to address a land, climate or resource problem or to achieve a common goal,” too often they are led and controlled by ‘powerful’ stakeholders who have funds, access to knowledge and political networks. This leaves local communities, Indigenous people and women behind, researchers say.
“We would suggest that key policymakers and funding agencies should learn from, and work with, existing MSFs to understand what works, what doesn’t, what works best and where, when and for whom, before establishing new ones,” adds Professor Pham, who is also affiliated with the Center for International Forestry Research in Indonesia (CIFOR).
“These MSFs should also ensure and empower disadvantaged groups such as Indigenous people local communities, women and youth to take the ownership, leadership and have a voice in how these MSFs should be run and operated, and how they can meaningfully address the on-ground problems.”
The article, ‘Multistakeholder forums in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam: Stakeholders’ perspectives regarding their outcomes and effectiveness for low-emission food systems’ (2025) by Thu Thuy Pham, Thi Kim Hong Tang, Vy Thao Ngo, Ngoc My Hoa Tran, Thi Thuy Anh Nguyen, Thi Van Anh Nguyen, Trung Son Nguyen and Dinh Yen Khue Nguyen has been published in World Development Perspectives DOI: 10.1016/j.wdp.2025.100661.
Professor Thuy Pham, based at the Flinders College of Business, Government and Law, also is affiliated with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia. Other corresponding authors from Vietnam’s Nong Lam University – Dr Kim Tang, from the Faculty of Forestry, and Dr Thao Ngo, from the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, contributed equally to the study.