Assessment of Sustainable Development Goals Implementation at the Deltas: Case Studies at Red River Delta and Mekong River Delta

The Red River Delta and Mekong River Delta play a great role in socio-economic development, environmental protection and response to climate change in order to promote sustainable development. This report is an attempt to evaluate the implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) at the regional level using the Provincial Sustainable Development Index (PSDI) (Pham Thi My Hang & Nguyen Duy Tung, Provincial Sustainable Development Indices PSDI 2021, Economics University Press, 2022). The assessment results have shown that the Red River Delta is ranked first in the country with a score of 60.59/100 points and has achieved good progress in implementation of SDG 1, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, but facing difficulties in the implementation of SDG 2, 9, 15, 17. Similarly, the Mekong Delta is one of the difficult regions with the overall region evaluation score below national average score, 49.42/100 points, but also achieved relatively good results for SDGs 2, 3, 10, 16, and others are currently finding it difficult to achieve their progress. The study has also showed a number of linkages in the implementation of sustainable development, such as the positive ones between SDG 1 and SDG 2, 4, 6, 11, for the Mekong River Delta and between SDG 2 and SDG 4, 8, 9, for the Red River Delta. Several provinces are selected for case study such as Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh provinces and Hai Phong city of the Red River Delta and Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Kien Giang provinces, and Can Tho city of the Mekong Delta to illustrate the implementation of SDGs for the Delta. In summary, assessing the implementation of regional sustainable development goals through the use of the PSDI, taking the Red River Delta and Mekong River and a number of representative provinces as research sites, has clarified progress of the 2030 Agenda at the sub-national and deltaic scale to promote sustainable development in Vietnam.