Erosion in Thanh Binh district of An Giang (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) –An inter-ministerial consultation workshop on evaluating losses due to impactsof climate change is taking place in Hanoi with both local and foreign expertsin attendance.
The two-day event,opened on June 6, was co-held by the United Nations Development Programme and theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The workshopintended to provide updates on losses and vulnerability in the UN FrameworkConvention on Climate Change, raise stakeholders’ awareness of financial risksassociated with climate change, and learn about tools for climate change riskmanagement.
It also provided anopportunity for experts to share experience and useful policies for evaluatingclimate change-related losses.
Addressing theevent, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thangsaid Vietnam is among countries heavily affected by climate change, includingsea level and temperature rise and other extreme weather events. Over the pastdecade, the country annually reported over 300 deaths and missing and economiclosses accounting for 1 – 1.15 percent of GDP.
He underlined thenecessity for having methods and tools to assess losses associated with climatechange, particularly identifying negative impacts of climate change insocio-economic development, economic and non-economic losses, residentialrelocation and resettlement, perpetual losses, recovery, social welfare, andcompensation.
UNDP Vietnam DeputyCountry Director Akiko Fujii suggested that Vietnam should also considerclimate change-related losses in the future.
She cited the factthat droughts caused by El-Nino between 2015 and 2016 have destroyed livelihoodof millions of Vietnamese farmers and severely affected the local economy.Hence, the absence of a future mechanism to cope with such unexpected eventswill ruin the country’s socio-economic achievements.
Fujii recommendedVietnam to establish an inter-ministerial working group to collect data andanalyse risks to produce more effective actions in response to climatechange.-VNA
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