Vietnam is likely to continue facing extreme weather conditions such as higher temperatures, lower summer rainfalls, stronger storms, and rising sea levels from now to 2050, experts said at a conference on high resolution weather forecast in Hanoi Aug 22. Accordingly, temperatures in northern Vietnam will rise by between 0.83.4 degrees Celsius by 2050 and continue its uptrend during the late 21st century. The surging frequency of hotter days is forecast to severely hamper agricultural production. Summer rainfall will decline in most areas. Meanwhile, storms may become rarer but fiercer, causing possible flash floods and landslides in flood-prone areas of northern mountainous, central and central highland provinces. The high resolution forecasts suggest sea level rises of 100mm–400mm along the entire Vietnamese coast by the end of 21st century, affecting marine biology and coastal communities. Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha reiterated the unpredictability of climate change and its potential impacts to create a variety of dangerous extreme weather events in the future. To raise the public awareness of climate change impacts, he urged concerned agencies to work together on devising worst-case scenario models and responses by 2015 and called on international experts to further support Vietnam in climate change adaptation. 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 with the losses estimated at 10% of GDP. (http://vtc.vn [1] Aug 23, vietnamplus.vn Aug 23)
