The southern province of Binh Duong on November 5 approved a programme on the active response to climate change, natural resources management enhancement and environmental protection in the 2016-2020 period.

Accordingly, the programme aims at continuing to upgrade the capacity of coping with climate change and prevent natural disasters, reducing green house gas emissions and ensuring all locals have access to clean water.

It also wants 70 percent of urban areas to have concentrated wastewater treatment systems and 100 percent of the areas to install their own solid waste treatment systems.

The province will also strengthen water management by requiring all industrial parks to install water treatment systems and 80 percent of operating industrial clusters to have a system meeting environmental standards.

Binh Duong will also focus on personnel training on climate change response, reducing green house gas emissions and minimising the impacts of rising tides in coastal areas.

According to Tran Van Nam, Vice Chairman of the Binh Duong People’s Committee, a dyke system must be built along the Saigon River to prevent flooding in residential areas along its banks.

Climate change, which has led to increasingly irregular natural disasters, especially floods, is threatening the socio-economy and people’s living conditions in the province. Notably, rising tidal levels in Saigon and Dong Nai Rivers in mid-October flooded many localities in Binh Duong.-VNA