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Ninh Kieu wharf in the southern city of Can Tho. The city is one of the most vulnerable to climate change in the country |
Government officials and scientists across the country yesterday gathered in Ha Noi to discuss development strategies to help cities and urban areas cope with climate change.
Dinh Van Tien, deputy head of central Binh Dinh Province's Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that his province had a natural disaster prevention committee and made plans every year to react to immediate disasters like flooding and drought.
"It is, however, very critical to understand the consequences of climate change that leads to disasters in order to have long-term and sustainable plans for our province," said Tien.
The workshop was part of the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) that is sponsored by the US's Rockefeller Foundation. Da Nang, Qui Nhon and Can Tho are the three cities that were chosen to run the pilot projects along with 10 other Asian cities from India, Indonesia and Thailand.
This five-year climate change initiative, which was launched in January last year, aims to help selected cities develop climate change risk and vulnerability strategies that will be followed by the development of a range of resilience-building interventions. The project will include the construction of climate-resilient housing and creation of more effective water management.
The Associate Director of the Rockefeller Foundation, Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio, said, "We focus on medium-sized cities because we believe that the models are easy to be replicated and popularised in other parts of the country."
The cities of Da Nang, Quy Nhon and Can Tho were selected for participation in the project because of their willingness to engage in a process over several months that would create a climate steering committee. The cities will also assess their own climate vulnerabilities, work with climate experts to analyse the potential impacts of climate change, and research key sectors in order to understand sectoral opportunities to confront challenges presented by climate change, she added.
Scientists and researchers from the three cities spoke of the dramatic challenges that climate change will present to their localities. Ky Quang Vinh from the ACCCRN board of Can Tho, a city in the Mekong Delta, said the frequency of storms in the region has increased four fold since the 1950s. Water levels have increased by 40 centimetre in the last 30 years.
"The delta has a population of 17 million, in which about 70 per cent are farmers. If the water levels keep rising quickly, people from the countryside will migrate to cities and will become a burden to municipal policies," Vinh added.
Le Thi Thu Hanh, deputy director of central Da Nang City's department of Foreign Affairs, said, "in recent times, the climate change working group of the city has worked very hard to design its action plan for adapting to climate change. We hope this product will be a useful guide to help the city improve its capacity to cope with climate change, in accordance with the National Target Programme of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment."
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