If climate change causes sea levels to rise by one meter by 2100 as projected, it would hit around one-tenth of the Vietnamese population and take around 9% off the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) a year.

Speaking at a “Citizens ask, ministers answer” program televised on Vietnam Television on Sunday, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Minh Quang said natural calamities left around 9,500 people dead or missing from 2001 to 2010, and caused losses equivalent to around 1.5% of GDP annually in the period.

Such disasters were blamed on climate change and Vietnam is among the five countries suffering the heaviest consequences from climate change. Human economic development activities are also attributable to higher temperatures and sea levels.

A climate change scenario suggests that Vietnam’s average temperatures would rise by two to three degrees Celsius by the end of 2100, triggering sea levels to surge by a maximum of one meter. At that time, seawater would submerge 39% of the area of the Mekong Delta, 20% of HCMC, 10% of the Red River Delta and 3% of the central region.

Overall, around 10% of the country’s population would be directly impacted by climate change.

One of the solutions now is to adapt to climate change and ease its adverse impact. From now to 2020, Vietnam should focus on adaptation measures before dealing with the issue from 2050.

The nation needs to restore and develop mangrove forests in the next five years. The area of mangrove forests was vast in the past but it has shrunk rapidly due to shrimp farming.

Since 1943, around 242,000 hectares of mangrove forest have been affected by farming, so the mission now is to restore it.

The ministry will also carry out projects to build dykes and sewers in high-risk areas such as HCMC and Can Tho City, Quang said.