Climate change will make great impacts on Vietnam’s water resources, especially the country’s two major rivers of Red River and Mekong River, said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE). According to the Ministry’s Institute for Natural Resource and Environment Strategy after conducting research into climate change, in the coming years, climate change will hit Vietnam hard. Temperatures will rise, droughts will be prolonged and water levels in big rivers will drop quickly. For the Red River and Mekong River, the normal water flow will decline, but currents will become fiercer during the flood season. Scientists calculate that, by 2070, climate change will directly affect water resources in the Mekong Delta. The flows of small and medium rivers will bottom out. At the same time, droughts will be intensified in the mountainous northwestern and northeastern regions. In the central region, average temperatures will also climb. Rainfall levels will rise in the southern part of the central region, but a severe dry season will run from December or January until August or September. Westerly winds will come early and leave late. In the central highlands, the hot season will be longer, while the cold season will be shortened. The abnormal rainy season will enhance the risk of drought in this area.
