Hanoi (VNA) – Projects to promote the modernisation of air quality monitoring and management system in urban areas, and hydrometeorological services in Vietnam funded by Finland is progressing effectively, contributing significantly to improving the capacity of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF) in early warning of tropical storms, strong winds, and heavy rain, according to Finnish Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen.
Talking to the Vietnam News Agency’s reporters on the sidelines of the "Climate Solutions from Finland" programme held in late April in Helsinki, the official said through the projects, workshops discussing measures to better air quality have been organised to provide support and share the best solutions and experience of Finland in designing air quality monitoring networks.
According to Mykkänen, the Northern Centre for Environmental Monitoring (NCEM) under the Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA), is focusing on expanding and modernising air quality monitoring networks in accordance with a national plan for environmental monitoring for the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050.
The official also highlighted the results of a project to upgrade the rainfall measurement, and storm and lightning prediction capabilities of the NCHMF, which was jointly implemented by Vaisala Group of Finland and the Finnish Meteorological Institute, saying that the project helped improve Vietnam's weather radar network and supported the installation of a nationwide lightning detection sensor network.
He praised the positive participation and commitment of the project’s management agency - the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration (VNMHA) and Finnish contractors, saying that the project met the requirements for improving the early warning system, thus minimising damage caused by extreme weather patterns.
Investing in meteorological services and early warning systems is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to respond to climate change, and avoid future losses and damage caused by its impacts, he stressed.
The official affirmed that the long-term cooperation between Finnish and Vietnamese partners has greatly contributed to modernising Vietnam's meteorological and hydrological observation and weather forecasting systems, thus helping Vietnam better cope with increasing climate-related risks and the impacts of climate change, and supporting other sectors such as agriculture and health care./.
