266 Should the country continue with narrow sectoral approaches to promote economic growth? Or should the nexus approach—with its emphasis on energy food water nexus and low carbon pathway—be consider[.]
266 Should the country continue with narrow sectoral approaches to promote economic growth? Or should the nexus approach—with its emphasis on energy-food-water nexus and low carbon pathway—be considered? This decision will be made by the Vietnamese policy makers as the country is commencing the initial phase of its transformation into a technology- and knowledge-based economy From a cross-sectoral inter-linkages perspective, this decision will provide the guiding principles of the investment, deployment, and management of existing resources; the country’s legal framework; as well as the planning and implementation of policies going forward Since Vietnam is on the cusp of innovating its development pathway, there are enormous opportunities which the country might take advantage while achieving its socio-economic aspirations by 2030 This context is laden with huge challenges and risks, especially with regard to social and environment stresses To achieve its 2030 vision, Vietnam’s most feasible pathway is to consider the integrated framework of policy making, with a bold strategy for protecting natural resources—that is, the food, water, and energy as discussed in this research To achieve this, input-output modelling framework, developed in this research, could be an important and meaningful resource for policy makers Furthermore, as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, Vietnam needs to adopt the energy-food-water nexus integrated approach policy making, in order to ensure the implementation of more environmentally friendly approaches and a natural resource conservation growth strategy Moreover, based on these approaches and strategies, the country needs to develop a climate resilient program for economic strategic planning and public investments in infrastructure Vietnam cannot avoid increasing its investment efficiency to protect its environment and resources while pursuing economic prosperity—particularly insofar as no trade-offs in these arenas can be offset in the long run Once the government succeeds in promoting public accountability in this arena, they can build on and call for the strength, will, and spirit of current and future generations of Vietnamese people to ensure the development of a prosperous, civilized, and democratic Vietnam As such, policy makers in Vietnam should consider alternative pathways to feasibly and effectively achieve economic prosperity while respecting and sustaining the security of essential resources—namely, energy, food and water—which are not only primary resources for economic growth but perquisites for human life