The plan to protect Viet Nam’s majority rural population and its industry most vulnerable to global warming, agriculture, would ensure sustainable development and contribute to the National Strategy and Action Framework for climate change, he said.

The minister, who was speaking at a seminar titled, Towards Climate Change Mitigation and on Adaptation Action Plan for the Agriculture and Rural Development Sector, said his ministry was responsible for six key sectors.

These were agriculture, forestry, salt making, fisheries, irrigation and rural development.

All related directly to the livelihoods of 73 per cent of the country’s population, including a majority of the poor – the worst affected by climate change.

Kyoto signatory

The ministry’s Agricultural Science and Rural Development Department director Nguyen Binh Thin told the workshop that Viet Nam was a signatory to several international agreements to protect the environment, including the Kyoto Protocol.

The Viet Nam Government had approved the national strategy for disaster prevention and mitigation until 2020 on November 16, last year, he said.

The ministry had undertaken a variety of research and projects to treat livestock waste and generate more cleaner energy from irrigation or small hydro-power plants.

It also advised farmers how to restructure their crops and choose the most suitable plants to grow as well as animals to raise.

It would now further co-operate with other countries and non-governmental organisations in an effort to mitigate against and adapt to climate change.

But it was calling for financial support and technical help for its effort.

Effects of drought

Drought has heavily affected Viet Nam’s agriculture and forestry production during the last 10 years, especially in the centre and Tay Nguyen (The Central Highlands).

Statistics provided by the two regions show that drought cost them VND 1,400 billion (US$87.5 million) in the two years 1997-1998.

Drought has also plagued farmers of the northern Hong (Red) river delta, particularly the winter-spring crop, during the last five years.

Water in the Red River, Ha Noi, has just dropped to its lowest level in more than 100 years and farmers again face a prolonged drought as they prepare to plant their next rice crop.

General Statistics Office figures show that 435 people were killed with property losses of VND11,600 billion ($725 million), equivalent to 1 per cent of Viet Nam’s Gross Domestic Product, in natural calamities during last year alone.

Global warming is forecast to wreak major havoc in numerous countries, including Viet Nam, by 2050,

Viet Nam was hit by ten major storms in 2006 but these are likely to increase in both number and ferocity, warn Australian scientists.

Worst hit?

World Bank representative Douglas J Graham told the workshop that with 3,290 km of coast and two major deltas, Viet Nam was likely to be one of the five countries hardest hit by climate change.

If the sea rose by just one metre, Viet Nam would lose 12 per cent of its territory and about 10.8 per cent of the population would be endangered.

Poor people would be the hardest hit as the majority of them lived in the Red River and Mekong deltas.

Intergovernmental Climate Change Panel member Nguyen Huu Ninh said: "Climate change is becoming more serious, and its consequences have become heavier and heavier.

"Disasters have become more frequent and Viet Nam must take stronger action to cope with it," he said.

Natural disasters were closely associated with climate change which, in turn, was affected by the action taken by people to produce the green - house effect.

Examples were truck, car and motorbike emissions.

Source: VietnamNews.