Climate change is estimated to cost Vietnam 10% to 11% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), threatening the country’s sustainable development, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said at a meeting in Hanoi. At the third national forum on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation on Oct 10, he said the Vietnamese government has been making efforts to raise capacity in climate change supervision and improve the public awareness of the issue. He also called on international community to support Vietnam in climate change fight due to a shortage of state budget. Vietnam needs roughly $900 million to cope with negative impacts of climate change in the agriculture sector from now to 2020 as agriculture is forecast to be hardest hit by climate change, Deputy Director Dinh Vu Thanh of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment said at a meeting in Hanoi in mid-Sept. Climate change is a real threat to Vietnam’s socioeconomic development. If sea level rises one meter, 5% of the country’s land, 11% of its population and 7% of its farmland would be affected. (Sai Gon Giai Phong – Saigon Liberation Oct 10)
