Covering anarea of about 3.96 million hectares, the Mekong Delta is home to morethan 22 million residents who mainly make a living by farming. Whenclimate change causes sea levels to rise, salt water penetrates thesoil, affecting their crops and thus their livelihood. The region alsosuffers floods, droughts and unusual weather patterns.
Participantsat the workshop emphasised the necessity of attracting more investmentin eco-friendly technology and energy, as well as making changes to thelegal framework.
The country's laws and policies deal in detailwith natural disaster prevention, but only touch upon climate changeadaptation, according to the NA team supervising the enforcement ofclimate change policies and laws. Currently, there is no comprehensivepolicy on climate change adaptation.
Meanwhile, provinces and cities across the country still lack funding to enforce such policies as well as pilot projects.
"Theresult of the enforcement of climate change policies and laws can beseen mainly in quantity, not in quality and effectiveness," said NguyenDuc Ngu, former general director of the Vietnam Meteorology andHydrology Centre.
Workshop participants recommended that regionallocalities create pilot projects and models under the ongoing nationaltarget programme to respond to climate change.-VNA