VietNamNet Bridge – “World leaders must take climate action now” is the title of an article by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and two co-authors, which has received positive reaction from scholars from many other countries and international organizations.

The article was released on the occasion of the United Nation’s Climate Change Summit held in New York on September 24.

The Prime Minister, the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and Filipino President Benigno Aquino III were the co-authors of the article which has been published on many mass media.

The World Bank and other international organizations have congratulated Vietnam on its green growth strategy and the high level of attention it has shown to building resilience of vulnerable areas to climate change and disaster risks.

East Asia will be affected seriously by climate change. Hundreds of millions of local people living in cities and low-land areas are facing high risks from the rising sea water levels, flooding, saltwater intrusion and water scarcity.

The region in recent years has been suffered from extreme weather phenomena, including super cyclones and heavy floods that have caused major casualties.

The article called on regional leaders to take action to help communities, including. The higher levels of investment in infrastructure systems, social safety networks and microinsurance, as well as programs and projects that connect communities.

Vietnam has embarked on a low-carbon growth path, while making every effort to improve energy-use efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy, as well as to develop public means of transport in cities.

Research works have found that every one meter of sea water level increase will lead to a 10 percent GDP loss.

With a one meter rise, 40 percent of the area in Mekong River Delta, 11 percent of Red River Delta, and 3 percent of other coastal provinces would be inundated.

HCM City would have 20 percent of its area inundated, while 10-12 percent of Vietnamese population will bear direct impact from higher sea water levels.

Research conducted by IPSARD, a research center, in cooperation with ActionAid, pointed out that by 2100, Vietnam would lose at least 12.2 percent of land area, where 23 percent of the total population live.

Meanwhile, a survey by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) showed that the natural calamities in 2007 led to a one percent GDP loss to Vietnam.

Vietnam, which is following a green-growth strategy, has set up the goal of reducing the emissions intensity of the greenhouse effect by 2020 and subsequent years.

Together with countries sharing the Mekong River valley, Vietnam has been gathering policymakers and scientists to discuss creative solutions to water resources and coastal area management to protect the population community now under risk.

Dat Viet