International support to mitigate damage from climate change in Vietnam not only helps the country’s poverty reduction efforts, but also helps ensure world food security, said a Vietnamese official.
Speaking at a seminar to launch the World Bank (WB)’s World Development Report 2010 (WDR 2010) in Hanoi on February 4, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Van Duc confirmed that climate change poses challenges to Vietnam’s sustainable development and poverty alleviation.
While affirming the Vietnamese government’s efforts in coping with and mitigating the damage caused by climate change, Duc expressed his hope that countries and international organisations will increase support for Vietnam in this field.
Under the theme of “Development and Climate Change”, the WDR 2010 urges the countries of the world to act now, act together, and act in accordance to their specific circumstances on the issue because no single nation can take on the interconnected challenges posed by the problem alone.
“Global cooperation is essential in increasing the efficiency of energy and developing new technologies,” says the report.
The report also shows that climate change threatens all countries throughout the world, especially developing ones, which face 75-80 percent of the potential damage it will cause.
“Many people in developing countries live in physically exposed locations and economically precarious conditions, and their financial and institutional capacity to adapt is limited,” says the report.
The report called on countries to use clean energy and invest in adaptation measures to protect their populations and economic development from the impact of climate change. It also stressed the expansion of financial reserves earmarked to address the problem, as well as promoting the invention and popularisation of climate-smart technologies.
“High-income countries also need to act quickly to reduce their carbon footprints and boost the development of alternative energy sources to help tackle the problem of climate change,” according to the report.