The Australian government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have decided to grant $1.3 million for a project to help Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region to cope with climate change from now up to 2011. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will carry out the project that costs $1.63 million to assess the climate change threats and mapping out actions to adapt to, the Vietnam News Agency said Jan. 14. The government of Vietnam will contribute $330,000 in a reciprocal capital to the project. Vietnam is among the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change, the ADB said in its press release issued on Jan. 13. Preliminary studies have showed that up to 31% of the total land used for agriculture and aquaculture in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region is at risk from a potential one meter rise in the sea level by 2100. This will likely affect 4.8 million people, including over 1.5 million poor people there.
