President Truong Tan Sang (right) receives Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation Jose Graziano da Silva. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Khang HA NOI — Viet Nam hopes the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations will continue to assist and support the country in agriculture co-operation projects, prioritising food security, eradicating poverty, easing the negative impact of climate change and protecting the environment. Receiving FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva in Ha Noi yesterday, President Truong Tan Sang further said he highly valued the organisation's taking Viet Nam as an important partner country in agriculture co-operation, as evidenced by the more than 400 FAO-financed projects being implemented in Viet Nam. The State leader attributed Viet Nam's world acclaimed achievements in agriculture to the organisation's help, and voiced the country's pledge for support to FAO's initiatives and activities in the future. Thanking the … [Read more...]
Conference focuses on climate change
VietNamNet Bridge – A three-day conference on developing towns that are well adapted to face climate change challenges opened yesterday, March 13, in Mekong Delta's Can Tho City. Organised by the Can Tho City People's Committee and the Can Tho University, the conference brought together 90 experts and officials, 33 of them from Eastern Asian countries, the US and Russia. Participants will discuss policies for climate change adaptation, practical actions and construction ideas at grassroots and national levels for each country. The progress thus far made on climate change adaptation by Can Tho City will be reported at the conference. The city is co-operating with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation on finding ways to ensure sustainable urban development amidst climate change challengers during the 2011-15 period. Conference participants will go on a field trip to study the impacts of climate change in the city as … [Read more...]
Communication, co-operation key to climate change response
Saleemul Huq, senior fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), spoke to Viet Nam News about the sixth international conference on Community-based Adaptation co-hosted by IIED and the Vietnamese Government. What were the major outcomes of the conference? This was a successful conference in terms of sharing knowledge. More than 300 people came from all over the globe, most of them from countries in the developing world hardest hit by climate change. They gathered here to discuss various aspects of climate change adaptation, particularly at the community level. This dialogue is very important because if we are going to adapt successfully to climate change, we have to work together. For example, coastal communities in different countries may learn from Viet Nam how to grow and maintain mangrove forests in flood-prone areas. The results of this conference will also be used as the output for the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on … [Read more...]
Overexploitation of coastal areas contributes to climate change
Viet Nam News talks to Dr Nguyen Chu Hoi, head of the governing body of the Mangroves for the Future programme initiated by former US president Bill Clinton in 2006 to protect coastal eco-systems in Viet Nam. What is the importance of coastal areas? A coastal area is the place where water and land meet each other and has diverse eco-systems. Coastal areas allow many economic development activities like aquaculture, salt making, tourism, port and marine services, mining, coastal economic, industrial and processing zones, and others. The area is considered one of the key economic zones, accounting for 30 per cent of national GDP. Around 10 million people live based on coastal natural resources. The most precious asset of the coastal area is its eco-system that provides ‘adjustment services' against climate, floods, diseases, water quality, carbon, ‘supply services' like food, water, wood, drugs, ‘support services' by creating natural characteristics for land, promoting … [Read more...]
Southeast Asia starts to plan for climate change
A forum on fighting climate change was held in Thailand recently. Viet Nam News spoke to Robert Mather, head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Southeast Asia Group, about the project. Can you tell us about the project? The project started last year and will last until December 2014. Supported by funding from the European Union, it seeks to strengthen the capacity of local governments and people to plan for and adapt to future climate risks in Cambodia's Kampot and Koh Kong Provinces, Thailand's Chanthaburi and Trat, and HCM City, Ben Tre, Soc Trang, and Kien Giang in Viet Nam. This will enable local government agencies to conduct vulnerability assessments, identify pilot activities to reduce the vulnerability, design, implement, and monitor the success of these activities, and carry out cost-benefit analysis and feasibility assessment for replicating pilot actions over a wider area. It will identify best practices developed by local people and provide … [Read more...]
Coping with climate change
VietNamNet Bridge – Regional co-operation is needed to cope with climate change in Southeast Asia, speakers said yesterday, June 4, at a symposium held in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta city of Can Tho. Eighty local and foreign experts in global-warming adaptation are in Can Tho for a regional symposium that involves government partners, non-government organisations (NGOs), donor agencies and corporate partners. Experts at the three-day event are discussing innovative climate-change mitigation models that have been successfully implemented in Southeast Asia. The goals of the symposium include creating a dialogue between partners in the ASEAN community and designing effective community-based climate-change adaptation models. Two to three possible adaptation measures will be taken back to each partner office to share with the local community in Can Tho. The community partners will then help design the preferred adaptation models. Based upon the local context in Laos and Viet Nam, … [Read more...]
Norway funds climate change impact curbs
Norway will provide Viet Nam with nearly US$476,000 to conduct a four-year project to reduce the impacts of climate change on rice production.—Photo chinhphu HA NOI (VNS)— Norway will provide Viet Nam with nearly VND10 billion (US$476,000) to conduct a four-year project to reduce the impacts of climate change on rice production. The project will be conducted in the northern province of Nam Dinh and the Mekong Delta provinces of Soc Trang and Tra Vinh from next month. The Norwegian Embassy and the Viet Nam Academy of Agricultural Sciences signed the agreement for the project in Ha Noi on Wednesday. — VNS … [Read more...]
City budgets $3.3b for climate change plan
CM City has earmarked VND70.54 trillion ($3.3 billion) for 36 projects to mitigate the effects of climate change, which is expected to severely affect the city. Based on assessments of the impacts, HCM City will have action programmes in various phases to ensure they do not impact development. It will focus on developing an energy-efficient economy as a cornerstone of its efforts to combat climate change. It will also rely on international co-operation to take measures against climate change. Scientists fear HCM City will be one of 10 worst-hit cities in the world in case of climate change. … [Read more...]
VN knuckles down on climate-change
VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday, Jan 11, chaired the first working session of the National Committee on Climate Change, two days after its official establishment. Dung said response to climate change and sea level rise was a matter of life or death to the nation's sustainable development, and that Viet Nam had to start taking drastic measures right away or it would be too late. He said it was not until now that Viet Nam realised the vital importance of responding to climate change. Since 2008, Viet Nam has constructed a National Target Programme to respond to climate change. However, the efficiency has been low due to limited resources and weak co-operation between relevant stakeholders. The National Committee on Climate Change hopes to help address this. One of the committee's tasks is to advise and consult the Government and Prime Minister on important matters relating to inter-agency responsibilities with … [Read more...]
Target programme for climate change response and green growth approved
The Prime Minister has approved the National Target Programme for Climate Change Response and Green Growth for the 2016-2020 period. The programme aims to enhance the capacity of the whole country in responding to climate change and simultaneously implement measures to adapt to the negative impact of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emission. It also aims to strengthen the people’s capacity to adapt to climate change and develop green growth towards a low carbon economy, whilst natural capital enrichment will become the mainstream with regards to sustainable economic development. Accordingly, 30 transitional projects in Document No. 1443/TTg-QHQT dated September 19, 2012 by the PM and 42 projects on mangrove afforestation in the PM’s Document No.78/TTg-QHQT dated on January 16, 2015, as well as a number of priority projects, are expected to be completed by 2020. A number of urgent priority projects to deal with the impact of natural disasters in the context of … [Read more...]