HCM City Needs $58.25M for Climate Change Plan by 2015

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Vietnam’s southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City has worked out an action plan to tackle climate change with an estimated capital of VND12 trillion ($58.25 million) from now up to 2015. Of the sum, 50% will be raised from foreign sources, 30% of the state budget, 10% from local budgets, and the rest from businesses and other sources, the Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon newspaper reported July 21. The five-year plan will focus on such important areas as urban planning, water resources, energy, agriculture and waste management.
The newly-built plan will also prioritize urban planning issues, planning of transportation projects to adapt to climate change and research to assess of its impacts on the possible migration of the city.
HCM City also will conduct study on the test models, new materials to enhance the green and absorbing surface water in the pavement, parking, traffic works. The climate change is showing clear signs with the increase in atmospheric temperatures, rising sea level, droughts, floods, unseasonable storm, which will severely affected agricultural production, its related processing industries, as well as sea, island areas and ecology of the city. The municipal department predicted that if sea level rises by 65 cm, HCM City will have flooded areas of about 128 square kilometers, and if sea level hits 100 cm, up to 473 square kilometers will be underwater, making up 23% of the city's land area. HCM City ranks among the top 10 cities in the world likely to be hardest hit by climate change. By 2050, millions of its citizens will be at increased risk from regular and extreme climatic events such as floods, droughts, and tropical storms. (thesaigontimes.vn July 20)