Domestic and foreign scientists along with over 600 students from universities in Hanoi gather for a dialogue on climate change adaptation.

French Vice Ambassador to Vietnam Oliver Sigaux said the dialogue aims to raise awareness among young people about climate change and encourages each youth to become a factor for the common development of the whole society.

AFD Director Fabrice Richy said Vietnam will be the first country to be evaluated by a group of researchers from the agency.

The economic research programme on climate change (Gemmes Vietnam) will coordinate closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the National Committee on Climate Change to apply the latest research methods to study climate change’s impacts on economy as well as evaluate the possible damage and the resilience capacity of Vietnam.

These evaluations will be used to determine Vietnam’s international position in climate change negotiations and to serve internal purpose of optimising climate change adaptation at the provincial level.

According to head of the climate change department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Tang The Cuong, Vietnam is among countries heaviest affected climate change. The country has low greenhouse gas emissions, which will increase sharply due to industrialisation and dependence on fossil fuel.

Being aware of challenges posed by climate change, the Vietnamese government approved a national programme to cope with climate change in 2008, a national strategy to deal with climate change in 2011, and a national strategy on green growth from 2012.

The government called on the involved parties, especially young people, to actively join social activities in response to climate change because youngsters are the key force of the society, affecting the country’s social development.

Participants discussed the climate change situation in Vietnam, including the impacts of human activities on climate change and vice versa.

At the dialogue, the AFD and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment jointly announced the implementation of the Gemmes Vietnam.

The programme aims to facilitate the implementation of public policy dialogues relating to macro economic issues in association with climate change and energy conversion.

Accordingly, Vietnam will be the first nation in Asia to get benefits from this programme.

Vietnam experienced unprecedentedly severe natural disasters in 2017. Sixteen storms and six tropical depressions formed in the East Sea, of which five storms and three tropical depressions directly hit Vietnam.

Severe disasters resulted in 386 people being declared dead or missing, 122 more people than in 2016 and 86 more people than the average number of the past decade. Economic losses amounted to 60,000 billion VND (2.6 billion USD), a 30-percent increase compared with 2016 and 2.5 times higher than the average of the past decade.-VNA