100 Resilient Cities programme launched in Can Tho
Can Tho (VNA) – The 100 Resilient Cities programme was launched in the
Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, which joined the programme in May this year, at a
conference on December 13.
The conference brought
together representatives from ministries, agencies, southwest localities and
the 100 Resilient Cities programme, along with domestic and foreign
environmental scientists and experts.
Discussions at the event
focused on challenges facing Can Tho City such as floods, rising sea level
caused by climate change, drought and food security, epidemics and water
management, with a view to defining the orientations of a long-term
comprehensive strategy to help the city cope with climate change.
Dao Anh Dung, Vice Chairman
of the Can Tho People’s Committee, said according to the master plan until 2030
with a vision to 2050 approved by the Prime Minister, Can Tho will become a
national-level delta city and a socio-economic centre of the Mekong Delta
region.
To realise this goal, the
city should enhance its capacity and take specific measures to address its
weaknesses and cope with negative impacts from climate change and rising sea
levels, he said.
The official stressed that becoming
a member of the 100 Resilient Cities programme is a chance for Can Tho to learn
from the knowledge and experience as well as receive assistance from other
cities in the network, especially from Da Nang, the first city of Vietnam admitted
to the network two years earlier.
Lauren Sorkin, Director of
the 100 Resilient Cities programme in the Asia-Pacific region, said Can Tho has
the chance to play a pioneering role in boosting resilience for cities in
Vietnam.
The 100 Resilient Cities
programme was an initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation, which is dedicated
to help cities around the world become resilient to the physical, social and
economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century.-VNA