The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment reported that different kinds of natural disasters in Vietnam create around 1.5 percent of GDP loss each year. This rate is predicted to grow in the future unless there are sound national solutions to cope with climate changes soon.
Forecasts related to grave impacts of climate change on Vietnam reveal that in 2100, the average temperature might increase by 2-3 degree Celsius, along with a sea level rise of 78-100cm.
This will result in over 10 percent, 2.5 percent, and 20 percent of the current surface area of Hong River Delta and Quang Ninh Province, the Central coastal provinces, and Ho Chi Minh City respectively disappearing.
That land loss will directly affect around 9 percent, 9 percent and 7 percent of the population in Hong River Delta and Quang Ninh Province, the Central coastal provinces, and Ho Chi Minh City correspondingly.
More severely, about 35 percent of the population in the Mekong Delta will also be influenced, as 40.5 percent of the total rice output of this region will be lost.
Vulnerable subjects of climate change are agriculture, the natural ecosystem, the biodiversity, public health, basic national infrastructure, the poor, the minority, the old, and females.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, it is high time to focus on researching and implementing advanced technologies in designing and constructing new buildings, with a high priority on proper monitoring systems to timely deliver warnings to the community about upcoming disasters.
In addition, the public’s awareness about environment protection should be raised so that they appropriately understand the nature of climate change and the methods to protect themselves from harmful impacts of that problem.
By Ha Van – Translated by Vien Hong, @SGGP
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Source: Vietnam Insider