Climate change and the future of Vietnam

Update: 09/12/2009
The UN Conference on Climate Change will last from December 7-18 in Copenhagen, Denmark. This is the final chance for countries to reach an agreement on cooperative action to cope with and adapt to rapid climate change, a disaster that threatens the future of every creature on earth.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that the earth’s temperature rose by 0.74 degrees Celsius from 1906-2005 and will increase further. 90 percent of the increase has been caused by energy production, deforestation, transportation, agriculture and industry.

Coping with the rise in sea levels temperature increases may be the most costly projects. Most developing countries, which must focus on hunger eradication, poverty reduction and other urgent social issues don’t have funds to deal with climate change.

Vietnam has a coastline of 3500 kilometers and is among five countries that will suffer most from rising seas.

According to the World Bank, if the sea level increases by 1 meter, 11 percent of Vietnam’s population (10 million people), may lose their homes. One third of the Mekong Delta, home to over 17 million people, will be submerged.

Source: VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre