Authorities in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi will build an action plan to cope with impacts of climate change from now up to 2011. The plan will include defining targets, forecast impact levels of climate change with many different scenarios, the Kinh Te & Do Thi newspaper reported Dec 20. The municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that although rising sea level or tidal surges are resulted from climate change, which does not affect Hanoi like Ho Chi Minh City, climate change is showing its clear signs under forms of natural disasters in the capital. Many dykes are at risk of facing landslides due to more floods from the systems of Hong (Red), Da and Duong Rivers, which can threat lives of residential areas along the rivers, the department elaborated. Especially, heavy rains and floods also cause difficulties for drainage, resulting in prolonged serious submergences in the city, the department added. To mitigate impacts of climate change, Hanoi has invested in many anti-landslide projects over the past years as well as implemented projects on upgrading river dyke systems by 2020. Vietnam is listed among five hardest-hit countries by climate change. If sea level rises by 100cm, 23% of HCM City’s areas and 37.8% of Mekong Delta region’s areas will be completely underwater, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said. (Kinh Te & Do Thi – Economy & Urban Dec 20 p3)
