Members of two committees of the National Assembly discussed the threats and impacts of climate change on Vietnam’s development process with international experts at a seminar in Hanoi on April 27.
Private sector’s participation encouraged in coping with climate change
Climate change is not simply an environmental issue, but also has great implications for Vietnam’s sustainable development, Vice Chairman Ngo Quang Xuan of the Foreign Affairs Committee told the seminar on April 27.
He noted that Vietnam is one of five countries expected to suffer the most serious impacts from climate change and the sea rise level. The country’s rice baskets – the Red River Delta and the Mekong River Delta – will be flooded severely.
“The impacts of climate changes to Vietnam’s social and economic development and environment have not been measured fully. But climate change is surely a real threat to hunger eradication and poverty reduction goal, and a latent danger to sustainable development and the achievement of millennium goals by Vietnam,” Xuan stated.
Vice Chairman Le Bo Linh of the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment called climate change a vital issue for Vietnam, a threat Vietnam must understand and cope with actively.
The Vietnamese representatives said that funding needs for the nation’s newly adopted national plan for climate change are estimated at VND 1.965 trillion (over US$ 115.5 million). Vietnam plans to raise half that sum from the international community and encourages the contribution of the private sector.
Virginia Foote, the Chairwoman of the US-Vietnam Trade Council, the National Assembly’s co-organizer of this seminar, urged that Vietnam seek funds for climate change adaptation and mitigation from American investors or other foreign investors.
Foote said foreign investors look to long-run interests in Vietnam and therefore the impacts of climate change must be one of their concerns.
“The US is ready to provide technical assistance to help Vietnam carry out programs to diminish the impacts of climate change,” Foote emphasized.
National Assembly resolution urged
Vietnam will launch the national program to deal with climate change in 2009-2010. The Director of the Institute for Hydrometeorology and Environment, Dr. Tran Thuc, confirmed that work to build scenarios for climate change impacts in Vietnam, particularly from rising sea levels, is nearly complete. With the assistance of competent ministries, provinces and cities will develop their own plans based on these scenarios.
“Is coping with climate change only the job of executive bodies?” asked the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Committee for Science, Technology and Environment, Nghiem Vu Khai.
Answering his own question, Khai noted that his committee has proposed that the National Assembly issue a resolution on measures to deal with climate change. The proposed resolution emphasizes the close relationship between effective climate change countermeasures and programs to speed up hunger eradication and reduce poverty in the areas expected to suffer strong impacts from climate change.