International experience in implementing policies on climate change adaptation was shared at a conference held in Nha Trang city in the central province of Khanh Hoa on October 16.

Organised by the National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology and the Environment, the event attracted the participation of more than 60 delegates from ministries, economic sectors and localities along with a cohort of Vietnamese and foreign scientists.

In his opening speech, Chairman of the Committee Phan Xuan Dung stressed that climate change was posing a risk to Vietnam’s socio-economic development.

In their presentations, experts noted that Vietnam was increasingly experiencing negative impacts of climate change, such as longer dry seasons, salt-water intrusion, and more frequent and more devastating storms.

Dieter Seifried, Director of the German company Eco-Watt GmbH, presented his country’s policy on environmental protection and energy, which focuses on replacing traditional energy sources with renewable ones.

As a result, Germany reduced its CO2 emissions by 75 percent and still maintain a high growth rate from 1990-2012, he said, adding that renewable energy sources accounted for 30 percent of the energy sources used in the country.

Meanwhile, Dorothea Konstantinidis, a German expert on climate change said apart from government efforts to develop effective policies, it was essential to involve the private sector and the population at large in creating effective enforcement models.

According to Konstantinidis, as many as 66 countries are actively engaging in climate change adaptation, with over 470 policies being applied. However, so far common global targets have not been reached, requiring the joint efforts of governments and non-governmental organisations to develop more far-reaching policies on the issue.

Vietnamese experts analysed and discussed measures to protect and develop forests in coastal areas in order to reduce the impacts of climate change.

On the same day, a forum was held in the central city of Da Nang to explore measures to deal with climate change in the locality and call upon local enterprises to participate in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Participants focused their discussions on the impacts of climate change on businesses’ operations in the city, and options for addressing the challenges.

Kenneth MacLue, Managing Director of the US Institute of Environmental and Social Change, pledged his agency’s support for Da Nang’s business community to help build climate change-adaptive models and projects to minimise the damages and losses caused by natural disasters.

Da Nang is one of cities most severely affected by the impacts of climate change, which in turn is limiting socio-economic development.-VNA