VietNamNet Bridge – Up to US$33 billion could be going up in smoke annually by 2030 if Vietnam does not act on climate change, said Dr Nguyen Son Tung from the Institute of Human Geography (IHGeo) at a recent climate change conference in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Each year Vietnam is hard hit by tropical cyclones, floods, drought and landslides,” said Dr Tung. Cyclones on average over have cost the nation US$4.7 billion annually while floods have racked up another US$3.7 billion in damages.

Add another US$649 million for landslides and yet an additional US$2.3 million for drought and one can start to get a clear picture of the total magnitude of the losses and the need for prompt remedial action to combat climate change, he underscored.

"'Inaction' on climate change,” is not an option Dr Tung stressed.

"What the IHGeo is trying to do is take an objective view of the economics of the situation and actually look at what the costs of not acting are, if the scientists are right," Dr Tung told those in attendance at the conference.

"And those are rather alarming numbers in themselves," he added. "I mean, the central case is that the costs in terms of lost GDP (gross domestic product) from not acting on climate change can be US$33 billion dollars by the time we get to 2030, equivalent to 11% of GDP."

"So it's not a sort of a zero sum game, as if there is a cost to not taking action, and although there is a cost to acting, what we're trying to do is to actually weigh up the different costs here."

Citing research by the southern centre for hydro-metrological forecasting, Dr Tung said the south-eastern region is hardest hit by climate change and many areas in Ho Chi Minh City and the surrounding areas are damaged each year by floods attributable to climate change.

 In addition, climate change has caused dykes to burst along the Dong Nai and Sai Gon rivers sending waters gushing through villages and agricultural lands causing insurmountable damages to property and the health of millions of people.

Climate change has also disrupted the nation’s natural salt marshes and directly had a negative impact on aquaculture productivity causing untold productivity losses, Dr Tung noted.

Regional co-ordination needed

Deputy Director Nguyen Thi Thanh My of the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and the Environment in turn emphasized the effects of climate change are the main hindrance to HCM City’s socio-economic development.

Rising temperatures, and sea levels and climate change abnormalities are all taking their toll on the local economy, he stressed.

Raising awareness about challenges of climate change is a critical challenge facing HCM City and in response the city has devised an action plan to deal effectively with it.

The city has begun implementing a program in collaboration with Rotterdam (the Netherlands) entitled ‘Ho Chi Minh City Moving towards the Sea with Climate Change Adaptation’.

The city has another cooperation project with Osaka, Japan to implement aimed at reducing low-carbon emissions.

Further, the city is in the process of hatching more policies to cope with climate change. However, regional co-ordination is absolutely essential to the success of an plan of action, Deputy Director My accentuated.

Dr Tran Ngoc Ngoan from the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) agreed with Deputy Director My.

“Though the nation has made some preliminary advances, much more needs to be done to effectively tackle climate change and mitigate its damages.”

The nation cannot afford to remain on the sidelines on an issue that has such monumental consequences to its future and relevant ministries and localities must design a local, national and regional coordinated response, Dr Ngoan concluded.

VOV