U.K. Oxfam and the Vietnam Forum of Environment Journalist (VFEJ) co-held a three-day conference on climate change in the northern province of Ninh Binh by Dec. 3, the VFEJ said on its website. The seminar, entitled Mitigation of Climate Change Impacts for Coastal Areas, aims to provide further information on climate change for nearly 30 Vietnamese environmental reporters. This is an important event to help Vietnam collect necessary information on climate change response in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark this month. Coastal line of Vietnam stretches 29 provinces from 25 degrees latitude and Vietnam is listed among five hardest-affected countries by climate change. If the sea level rises by one meter, 40,000 square kilometers of Vietnamese coastal areas’ land will be submerged, affecting directly 10% of the country’s population and causing a loss of 10% of GDP, the participants said.
