Viet Nam News Hồ Mạnh Tuấn, deputy director general of Electricity Việt Nam's (EVN) Northern Power Corporation, spoke to the newspaper Nông Thông Ngày nay (Countryside Today) about plans to ensure constant power supply during the monsoon season What are the negative impacts of severe weather on the power sector this year? Severe weather this year has seriously impacted the power sector. In recent years, the weather pattern has changed quite a lot. As a result, the tasks of preventing and dealing with natural calamities, and search and rescue of victims, have been incorporated into legislation. If in the past we only talked about preventing and fighting typhoons and floods, nowadays the phrase natural calamity covers a wide range of issues, including heat waves, snow, heavy rains and others. I can say that the weather in 2016 in Việt Nam is rather complicated due to climate change. At the beginning of the year, many localities were hit by severe drought, whirlwinds and heavy … [Read more...] about Climate change challenges power supplies
Climate change challenges
Germany and Australia help Vietnam to protect coastal ecosystems and tackle climate change
CPV: In Kien Giang province, on June 3, Australia and Germany have signed an agreement to continue their partnership in the Mekong Delta under an expanded program to help Vietnam manage and protect its coastal ecosystems, which includes responding to the impacts of climate change. The five-year Climate Change and Coastal Ecosystems Program (CCCEP) will be implemented under a Delegated Cooperation Arrangement between Australia and Germany, and will cover An Giang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Kien Giang and Soc Trang provinces. Australia, through AusAID, will contribute 24.3 million USD to this program, while Germany commits 14.1 million USD in technical cooperation. CCCEP will be implemented by GIZ, Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit. In addition, Germany has committed 25.3 million USD of financial cooperation implemented by KfW. According to Mr. Jochem Lange, Country Director of GIZ in Vietnam, all these issues demonstrate the complexity of climate change challenges, … [Read more...] about Germany and Australia help Vietnam to protect coastal ecosystems and tackle climate change
World Bank supports Vietnam to tackle its climate change challenges
(CPV) - The World Bank approved the Vietnam Climate Change Development Policy Operation, the first of a series of three operations to support the development and adoption of priority actions to strengthen policies, strategies and institutions needed to respond to climate change. The Bank is providing a 70 million USD credit from the International Development Association -its concessional lending resource for low income countries. This credit has a 25-year maturity with 5-year grace period. The objective of this specific operation is to support Vietnam in its efforts to address climate change by adopting policies and strengthening institutional capacity to promote climate resilient and lower carbon intensity development. It focuses on four policy goals under the three thematic pillars of adaptation, mitigation and cross-cutting issues: improving the resilience of water resources, exploiting energy efficiency potentials, strengthening the capacity and preparedness to formulate, … [Read more...] about World Bank supports Vietnam to tackle its climate change challenges
Southeast Asia faces soaring economic costs if climate change action delayed
Using reviews of previous studies, impact assessment models and extensive consultations with national and regional climate change experts, the study examines climate change challenges facing Southeast Asian nations, both now and in the future. The study finds that the benefits to the region of taking early action against climate change far outweigh the costs. If the world continues with business as usual, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam could experience combined damages equivalent to more than 6% of their countries' gross domestic products every year by the end of this century, dwarfing the costs of the current financial crisis. Rice production will dramatically decline because of climate change, threatening food security. Rising sea levels will force the relocation of millions living in coastal communities and islands, and more people will die from thermal stress, malaria, dengue and other diseases. "Climate change seriously threatens Southeast Asia's families, food … [Read more...] about Southeast Asia faces soaring economic costs if climate change action delayed
Climate Change Challenging the Deltas
Climate change is affecting the economy in the deltas in Vietnam. Vietnam Economic News' reporter Khac Hieu spoke with Professor James Syvitski from the University of Colorado in the US, on the sideline of a recent international workshop in Hanoi, regarding climate change in Vietnamese deltas. What are the biggest challenges for Vietnam's deltas in the wake of climate change? Many of the hurricanes, typhoons turned when they hit the Philippines islands and go north to China but some of them come through and hit Vietnam. I think that's very difficult to predict in the future how many typhoons will be able to get through the Philippines islands and hit the Vietnamese coast. I think it's a big challenge caused by climate change. The second big challenge is that the Mekong is going to get less and less sediment from the dams that are now built in China and other ones that are being planned throughout Laos and other countries. I think that will have continuing effects on the vulnerablility … [Read more...] about Climate Change Challenging the Deltas