VietNamNet Bridge – Climate change is increasingly impacting daily life in HCM City, and Japan is helping local authorities make plans for coping with it.

"HCM City will suffer severely from climate change, and therefore finding ways to cope is a very important task," Dao Anh Kiet, director of the city Natural Resource and Environment Department, said while inaugurating an international workshop titled "Research Collaboration with HCM City and Japan Joint Crediting Mechanism" yesterday, Oct 9.

The city is drawing up a Climate Change Action Plan for 2016-2020. Assisting in the task is a computer simulation model developed by the Japan National Institute for Environment Research, Kyoto University and other Asia-Pacific institutes.

The goal of the Asia-Pacific Integrated Model (AIM) is to design and evaluate global climate stability policy in general and in the Asia-Pacific in particular.

AIM has helped HCM City calculate energy, greenhouse emissions and potential to reduce by collecting all related figures, including transport demand, current technology levels, effectiveness of energy usage, solutions to reduce greenhouse emissions.

The figures will be analysed to create technical standards for the city's Climate Change Action Plan.

AIM indicates that the city would reduce greenhouse emissions by 7.1-17.1 per cent by 2020.

"AIM supports researchers in developing national /city-level low-carbon society (LCS) plans and roadmaps and encourages policy makers to develop LCS plans, and HCM City is one of the leading cities," Aya Naito of Mizuho Information and Research Institute said.

Ho Minh Chau of the city's Climate Change Bureau told the workshop about the city's efforts to cope with climate change in 2009-2015.

"The city spent VND2.4 billion (US$120,000) to evaluate public awareness and study the impacts of climate change on all aspects of life and provide solutions."

The city also promoted co-operation with international partners to tackle climate change, especially with the cities of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Osaka in Japan, he said.

"HCM City has worked with the Asian Development Bank to implement the Technical Support for National Goal Programme project to cope with climate change and co-operated with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition."

There have been efforts to estimate greenhouse emissions, he said.

In drafting its Climate Change Action Plan 2016-2020, the city should pay attention to the rising average temperature and rainfall.

"All climate change factors must be considered in all of the city's socio-economic strategies, master plans, programmes, plans and projects.

"The Action Plan must strengthen the ability to cope with climate change, contribute to reducing greenhouse emissions and increase international co-operation."

Source: VNS