Environment

Environmental experts have just outlined the potential climate change and sea level rise scenarios for Vietnam in 2015.

Municipal officials are calling for punishment for those running illegal wharves that have been operating along rivers and canals in the city for a long time despite orders to shut down.

An August 22 high resolution weather forecast conference in Hanoi has warned Vietnam is facing higher temperatures, lower summer rainfall totals, stronger storms, and rising sea levels from now until 2050.

The Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh has been expanded to 123,326 ha from the previous 85,754 ha under a recent decision of the Prime Minister.

Human activity is almost certainly the cause of climate change and global sea levels could rise by several feet by the end of the century, according to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report leaked to media.

China, the United States and Qatar were accused of environmental plunder on Tuesday as green activists marked "Earth Overshoot Day," the date at which mankind has exhausted a year's budget of natural resources.

Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen has urged that environmental planning must be part of the country's plans for socio-economic development.

The four-month-old Mao Khe Thermal Power Plant in northern Quang Ninh Province's Dong Trieu District is said to be polluting the environment.

The annual flooding of rice fields by the Mekong River is expected to occur earlier than normal this year, according to the delta's main disaster prevention agencies.

An August 15 seminar in Hanoi has warned the 80% reduction in Vietnamese mangrove forest area and 96% of coral reefs seriously damaged over the past five decades pose significant threats to the country’s biodiversity.

As of August 16, northern mountainous provinces will be hit by thunderstorm and heavy rain while Hanoi is expected to have a rainfall of 50-100 mm.

Weather forecasters have warned there is a strong possibility that typhoon Utor will affect Vietnam after pounding China’s Leizhou Peninsula and Guangdong province.

The U Minh Thuong National Park in the southern province of Kien Giang has been given "heritage" recognition.

Hanoi's Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control yesterday opened Thanh Liet Floodgate to discharge water from Nhue River into To Lich River, to ease rising flood waters and prevent flooding in the nation's capital.

Authorities and people in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang have been equipped with fundamental knowledge about climate change and its risks through an Oxfam-funded project.

The Forest Protection Division in Dak Nong Province has granted licenses to 50 farms to raise wildlife for profit in an effort to conserve endangered species.

A flock of more than 7,000 “Oc” storks have moved in the Tram Chim National Park in the southern province of Dong Thap, the park’s director Nguyen Van Hung said.

Education for Nature-Vietnam has launched a new website that will help people identify rare wild animals being targeted by the illegal animal trade.

The Mekong River Basin has experienced increased climate and flood variability in recent decades, according to a new research report from a doctoral student at Finland's Aalto University.