The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has adopted an Action Plan to cope with climate change in the city from 2011 to 2015.
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The plan aims to effectively define and implement measures to adapt to climate change, ensuring the city’s sustainable development, reducing carbon emissions, and joining the international community in protecting the earth’s climate.
Under the plan, the city will complete qualitative and quantitative research into the impact of climate change in different fields, and assess vulnerabilities and the ability to cope with them. The plan also looks at the possibility of evacuating the city as a consequence of rising sea levels.
Many issues are taken into account such as the zoning of urban areas, water resources, energy, agriculture, and the management of waste in order to enhance individual’s and the city’s capacity to cope with unfavourable climatic changes.
It’s estimated that the five-year programme will cost approximately VND12 trillion (USD582.5 million), half of which will be sourced from foreign capital.
The Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) ranks Vietnam as one of the five nations most susceptible to climate change, and Ho Chi Minh City as one of the world’s 10 cities most threatened by it.
Sea levels in Vietnam are predicted to rise by 11-12cm by 2020, and 28-33cm by 2050.
Once sea levels rise by 65cm, a 182km2 area of Ho Chi Minh City, or 6.3 percent of its total acreage, will become submerged.
