Vietnam to Complete Climate Change Monitoring System by 2015

Vietnam is making efforts to build a monitoring system on climate change and sea level rise in order to put it into operation by 2015 in a move to cope with their impacts. The information was released at a conference on global climate change and solutions for Vietnam held by the Vietnam Association for the Conservation of Nature and Environment (VACNE) in Hanoi on October 1. Climate change is regarded as one of the urgent international environmental issues severely affecting lives of many people worldwide, and it has drawn the attention of numerous scientists, managers and politicians.
Participants said that climate change is a new and complicated problem. Thus, solutions to deal with the matter should be considered simultaneously with sustainable development. They also stressed the necessity to set up an effective mechanism for tackling the problem and proposed the government to establish a national advisory committee on climate change to attract experienced scientists and managers to adviser Vietnam. Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha said VACNE should work out viable solutions for the country and propose ideas on policies and strategies for development models and large projects in the coming years. Vietnam is listed among five hardest-hit countries by climate change. If sea level rises one meter, 5% of Vietnam’s land, 11% of its population and 7% of its agricultural land would be affected with the losses estimated at 10% of GDP. The government has so far mobilized more than $1.2 billion in aid from the international community in efforts to tackle climate change. (Ha Noi Moi – New Hanoi Oct 3 p4, An Ninh Thu Do – Capital Security Oct 3 p2)