German agency aids climate change mitigation project

Hanoi, June 11 (VNA) - The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Germany Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) on June 10 launched a project worth 4 million EUR (5.4 million USD) supporting nationally appropriate climate change mitigation actions in Vietnam. Under the project, from now to 2018 GIZ will help improve the ministry’s capacity in coordinating and instructing other ministries and sectors to carry out climate change mitigation measures. It will also collaborate with Vietnam to conduct some projects, set up national monitoring, reporting and assessment tools, and enhance international negotiation capacity on climate change. Deputy Minister Nguyen Linh Ngoc said that climate change is posing a major threat to Vietnam’s environment and food security in the 21st century. The amount of green house gas emissions in Vietnam rose from 21 million tonnes of CO2 in 1990 to 150 million tonnes in 2000. It is predicted to reach 300 million tonnes by 2020, he noted. Owning a long coastline, Vietnam faces many typhoons and other natural disasters every year. It is one of the five countries most vulnerable to climate change. Over the past 15 years, natural disasters, including storms, floods, droughts and landslides, have killed and injured more than 10,700 people, while causing economic losses of about 1.5 percent of GDP each year, said Nguyen Van Tue, Director of the ministry’s Hydrometeorology and Climate Change Department, at a recent seminar in northern Thai Binh province.-VNA