Erosion in Thanh Binh district of An Giang (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – An inter-ministerial consultation workshop on evaluating losses due to impacts of climate change is taking place in Hanoi with both local and foreign experts in attendance.
The two-day event, opened on June 6, was co-held by the United Nations Development Programme and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The workshop intended to provide updates on losses and vulnerability in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, raise stakeholders’ awareness of financial risks associated with climate change, and learn about tools for climate change risk management.
It also provided an opportunity for experts to share experience and useful policies for evaluating climate change-related losses.
Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang said Vietnam is among countries heavily affected by climate change, including sea level and temperature rise and other extreme weather events. Over the past decade, the country annually reported over 300 deaths and missing and economic losses accounting for 1 – 1.15 percent of GDP.
He underlined the necessity for having methods and tools to assess losses associated with climate change, particularly identifying negative impacts of climate change in socio-economic development, economic and non-economic losses, residential relocation and resettlement, perpetual losses, recovery, social welfare, and compensation.
UNDP Vietnam Deputy Country Director Akiko Fujii suggested that Vietnam should also consider climate change-related losses in the future.
She cited the fact that droughts caused by El-Nino between 2015 and 2016 have destroyed livelihood of millions of Vietnamese farmers and severely affected the local economy. Hence, the absence of a future mechanism to cope with such unexpected events will ruin the country’s socio-economic achievements.
Fujii recommended Vietnam to establish an inter-ministerial working group to collect data and analyse risks to produce more effective actions in response to climate change.-VNA
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