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The journalists made a field visit to Thi Nai Lagoon. Photo: Viet Hien |
A workshop themed “Quy Nhon city by 2050: Development vision in context of climate change” was held in Quy Nhon city from 13-15 July. This is the first international workshop on climate change in Binh Dinh province, aiming to draft out first climate change scenarios for the city in the future.
Journalists participate in the anti-climate change efforts
The workshop was co-organized by Binh Dinh Coordinator Office on Climate Change and other international/local organizations, comprising Management Board of the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia, the National Institute for Science and Technology Policy and Strategy Studies (NITSPASS) – Ministry of Science and Technology, the Swedish Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Quy Nhon city People’s Committee, the Thailand Association for Communication and Advertising, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - Regional Office for Asia Pacific, Vietnam Forum of Environmental Journalists (VFEJ).
The participants included journalists and editors from more than 20 provincial, national and international media organizations.
They had been divided into 4 groups (each group had 6-9 members) before making field trips around Quy Nhon city. Their note taking and records of what they saw with their own eyes would be arranged and compiled as “archives”.
Next, they discussed on issues, like relations and interactions among localities of Nhon Hoi, Nhon Binh, Thi Nai Lagoon…; positive and negative influences among the localities…They then proposed initiatives to draft the climate change scenarios for Quy Nhon city in the future.
Through this, the journalists gained more knowledge on the climate change, improve their skills and methods on effective communication to raise people’s awareness on their climate change adaptation abilities.
The draft of climate change scenarios for Quy Nhon city
The workshop organizers had expected that after the fact-finding trips, the participants would voice about the city’s current challenges as well as how the city would overcome the difficulties in the future. Local authorities were expected to properly realize that the climate change adaptation actions weren’t just responsibilities of the municipal government but a part of wider efforts for further development of the city with participation of communities.
Through the participation in drafting long-term development plans for the city, the journalists knew how to draw out the national climate change adaptation plans through community-participatory approaches.
The 4 groups outlined the scenarios of Quy Nhon city in context of climate change by 2050. A lot of original ideas were raised, such as the idea of building resettlements on Ba Hoa mountain.
Anyhow, most of the ideas agreed on the climate change scenarios for the city in the future. Accordingly, by 2050, Quy Nhon would become a big and important city in the central region of Vietnam with strong development in industry, commerce, services and tourism (particularly historical, cultural and ecological tourism services).
At the same time, Quy Nhon would suffer impacts of the climate change, including greenhouse effects, tsunamis, sea level rise, etc. The municipal authorities and provincial agencies should prepare solutions to enhance abilities of adaptation to the climate change.
