Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh (standing) speaks at the workshop in Can Tho on October 7

A workshop was held in the MekongDelta city of Can Tho on October 7 to seek improvement of policies andlegislation in response to climate change in Vietnam.

Participants in the event, held by the NationalAssembly’s Committee on Science, Technology and Environment and the GermanAgency for International Cooperation (GIZ), discussed such issues aslegislation for promoting the business of carbon credit trading and theengagement in the world’s carbon market, renewable energy development,efficient energy use, environmentally friendly production and consumption,science-technology application promotion, and inter-regional connectivity inclimate change response.

Those opinions will be taken into considerationduring the amendment of climate change-related articles in the 2014 Law onEnvironment Protection.

According to experts, climate change is a majorchallenge affecting every aspect of life, economy and society. In recent years,climate change has become increasingly unpredictable with more frequent andserious storms, flooding, drought, saltwater intrusion, riverbank and coastalerosion, and sea level rise, especially in the Mekong Delta.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources andEnvironment Le Cong Thanh said policies relevant to climate change will be afocus of a draft law revising and supplementing some articles of the 2014 Lawon Environment Protection. 

The revision is meant to meet economicdevelopment requirements, enhance inter-regional connectivity in climate changeresponse, and perfect the legal framework for realising Vietnam’s commitmentsin international agreements. It will help not only address challenges posed byclimate change but also make use of the chances generated by this globalphenomenon, he noted.

Country Director of GIZ Vietnam JasperAbramowski said Vietnam, which has a long coastline and many deltas, is highlyvulnerable to climate change. It has been taking solutions to cope with climatechange, and the German Government has also actively helped with the making ofclimate change-related laws in Vietnam.

He added that with the support and cooperationof the GIZ, Germany’s knowledge and experience will prove useful for theamendment and supplementation of the relevant articles in the Law onEnvironment Protection, as well as for the coordination with different localagencies in dealing with climate change issues to realise Vietnam’s commitmentsin the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Marcel Reymond, head of cooperation at the SwissEmbassy in Vietnam, said every year, the Mekong Delta loses from 130 – 190million USD to climate change. He highlighted his country is willing tocontinue assisting Vietnam in implementing the Government’s resolution onsustainably developing the Mekong Delta in response to climate change./. VNA