VietNamNet Bridge - The government of Vietnam, well aware of the damages that climate change can cause, has made strong commitments to take actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.


An independent research work by Prof Tran Tho Dat showed that the spring crop yield in the Red River Delta may decrease by 3.7 percent by 2020 and 16.5 percent by 2070, while the summer crop yield may fall by 1 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

Dat said that Vietnam may face a serious shortage of food by 2100 because it would lose 22 percent of food productivity because of climate change.

A report shows that agriculture made up $31 billion in Vietnam’s total export turnover in 2015 and 20 percent of the country’s GDP. 

Meanwhile, according to Vu Van Tam, Deputy Minister of MARD, the total investment capital of society in agriculture just accounts for 5.4-.5.6 percent. 

The foreign direct investment into the sector is also low, which accounts for 3.1 percent in the number of projects and 1.46 percent in investment capital. This is partially because of the dangers caused by climate change.

Research works have pointed out that the loss in aquaculture may be up to 40 percent, with 3 million workers in aquaculture losing jobs.

The Government of Vietnam has been well aware of the dangers caused by climate change. The fact that the Vietnamese delegation took action at COP21 (Conference of the Parties 21) on climate change held in December 2015 in Paris was evidence of that effort.

Vietnamese businesses are becoming more familiar with the ‘green revolution’.

According to Tran Hong Ha, head of the Vietnamese negotiators at COP21, the participants at the conference experienced a very tough 13 days to find a common voice on the issue. 

Ha said he felt thrilled and proud when French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced that the COP21 agreement had been ratified, because of the clear contributions of the Vietnamese delegation to the conference.

Vietnam thoroughly prepared and submitted the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) before the deadline to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

The Government of Vietnam made a historical statement on contributing $1 million to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for the 2016-2020 period, which aims to deal with climate change.

Vietnam will have to face very high risks from the sea water level rise, while this is mostly caused by developed countries. According to Ha, the difficulties in the 13-day negotiations at COP21 concerned the discharge of carbon into the environment.

Vietnamese businesses are becoming more familiar with the ‘green revolution’. Holcim Vietnam, for example, is considering a plan to use energy effectively to reduce carbon emissions during production.


NCDT