FAO Representative: Nature is the "quiet infrastructure" of Vietnam's climate resilience

Every year, World Environment Day encourages us to reflect on our relationship with nature. Too often, however, that conversation is framed solely around protection: protecting forests, rivers, oceans, wildlife and biodiversity. While this remains essential, I believe the climate crisis requires us to recognize a deeper reality. Nature is not only something we must protect. It is also something that protects us.

Forests regulate water flows. Mangroves shield coastlines from storms and erosion. Wetlands absorb floods. Healthy soils retain moisture and sustain crops. Biodiversity supports pollination, pest control and ecological balance. Rivers, watersheds and coastal ecosystems quietly provide the conditions that allow communities, farms, cities and economies to function.

This is what I call the quiet infrastructure of climate resilience.

Unlike roads, bridges, dams or power plants, this infrastructure often operates unnoticed. It rarely appears in investment plans, public budgets or balance sheets. Yet its contribution to development is profound. When ecosystems are healthy, they reduce risks and strengthen resilience. When they are degraded, climate shocks become more severe and development gains become increasingly fragile.

Vietnam perhaps understands this reality better than many countries. Its development story has long been intertwined with nature. The country's remarkable achievements in food production, rural development and poverty reduction have been built on the strength of its deltas, rivers, forests, mountains, coastlines and agricultural landscapes.

Today, however, that relationship is under growing pressure. Climate change is no longer a future projection. It is already being felt through more intense storms, prolonged droughts, saline intrusion, landslides, coastal erosion, changing rainfall patterns and rising heat stress.

A recent Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and World Meteorological Organization (FAO-WMO) joint report warns that extreme heat is emerging as one of the most urgent and least understood threats to agriculture and food security. It affects crops, livestock, fisheries, forests and rural livelihoods, with consequences extending far beyond the environmental sector.

The impacts of climate change are increasingly being felt across food production, public health, infrastructure, migration patterns and long-term economic stability. In 2025 alone, natural disasters and widespread flooding caused economic losses estimated at nearly $4 billion, in Vietnam, with agriculture among the hardest-hit sectors.

For farmers, fishers and forest-dependent communities, climate change is not an abstract global issue. It is reflected in changing rainfall patterns, salinity reaching further inland, declining crop yields, warming waters and increasing uncertainty in everyday life.

From recognizing nature's value to investing in resilience

This is why climate resilience cannot be built solely through emergency response measures. Nor can it rely only on hard infrastructure, important as those investments are. Resilience must also be strengthened through healthier farms, forests, wetlands, watersheds and coastal ecosystems that can absorb shocks and protect the communities that depend on them.

A mangrove belt that reduces storm surges is climate infrastructure. A restored watershed that regulates water flow is climate infrastructure. Healthy soils that help crops withstand drought are climate infrastructure. A thriving forest that stabilizes landscapes and protects biodiversity is climate infrastructure.

Yet we have not always treated these natural systems as infrastructure. Too often, nature is viewed as a backdrop to development rather than one of its foundations. We readily calculate the value of land when it is converted for economic use, but not always when it is conserved. We count the costs of disasters after they occur, but rarely measure the savings generated by ecosystems that help prevent or reduce those disasters in the first place.

This gap between the value nature provides and the investments we make to sustain it remains one of the key challenges in climate adaptation.

The issue is not a lack of knowledge. The evidence is increasingly clear. Ecosystem restoration, sustainable forest management, climate-smart agriculture, improved water governance and integrated land-use planning all have critical roles to play. The challenge lies in moving from isolated projects to systemic implementation and long-term investment. That shift begins with how we think, plan and invest.

First, nature must be placed at the center of climate adaptation planning. Ecosystems should not be treated as environmental add-ons. Forests, wetlands, soils and coastal ecosystems are strategic assets for risk reduction, food security and rural development. They need to be fully integrated into national and provincial adaptation plans, public investment decisions and disaster risk management systems.

Second, agrifood systems must become part of the climate solution. Agriculture is highly vulnerable to climate risks, but it also has enormous potential to build resilience when managed sustainably. Better soil health, efficient water use, diversified production systems, integrated pest management and low-emission farming practices can strengthen productivity while reducing environmental pressures. The goal should not simply be to produce more food, but to produce food in ways that protect the natural systems on which future production depends.

Third, resilience must be local. Climate impacts vary significantly across Vietnam, from the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands to the northern mountains and coastal provinces. Each landscape faces different risks and requires different solutions. Effective adaptation therefore requires territorial approaches that combine science, local knowledge, community participation and practical investment.

Farmers and local communities are not merely beneficiaries of resilience programmes. They are custodians of the landscapes where resilience must ultimately be built.

Building resilience from the ground up

Vietnam already has strong foundations to build upon. The country has demonstrated leadership in disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, forest protection and food systems transformation. It has also made ambitious national commitments and accumulated valuable experience across provinces and sectors. The task now is to connect these efforts more strategically and scale up what works.

At FAO, this agenda remains central to our work in Vietnam. We support initiatives that strengthen climate-resilient agriculture, promote sustainable forest and fisheries management, reduce disaster risks, advance the One Health approach, transform food systems and leverage data and innovation to improve decision-making.

Across all these areas, one principle remains clear: environmental sustainability and food security cannot be separated. The health of ecosystems and the wellbeing of people are fundamentally interconnected.

World Environment Day reminds us that the environment is not a standalone sector. It is the foundation upon which food security, public health, livelihoods, disaster risk reduction and long-term prosperity depend.

As Vietnam continues its journey toward high-income status and deeper global integration, the quality of growth will matter as much as its pace. Growth that protects and restores natural systems will be more durable, more inclusive and more resilient.

The quiet infrastructure of climate resilience is already all around us, in forests, rivers, wetlands, farms, soils and coastal ecosystems. It asks not simply to be admired, but to be understood, valued and invested in.

On this World Environment Day, recognizing that reality may be one of the most important climate actions we can take.