Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Nam Dinh (VNA) – Enhancing climate change resilience and mitigating the risks of natural disasters to improve rural livelihoods in the delta and coastal areas were the outcomes of a US-funded project announced at a recent conference in the northern province of Nam Dinh.
The four-year-old Vietnam Forests and Deltas Programme (VFD) was sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for four provinces in Vietnam, said Director of the VFD project in Nam Dinh.
It has been carried out in 30 communes and towns in Nam Dinh since April 2014 to increase local capacity to cope with environmental changes and prevent natural disaster risks, he added.
The project also evaluates the vulnerability of communities inhabiting in coastal areas, supports prompt response activities at communal level, installs radio broadcasting systems for early warning of natural disasters, and assists the building of safe schools.
It helps farmers build adaptive models such as low-emission rice cultivation, sustainable breeding of white-leg shrimp, and disease-resistant potato plantation to improve local incomes and ensure food safety and environmental protection.
Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Phung Hoan said the VFD has helped raise public awareness of climate change, ecological protection and sustainable production, as well as supported communes to build storm shelters and early warning systems, provide rescue equipment, and hold response exercises.
Farmers have been effectively applying agricultural production models that reduce emissions and protect the environment, he added.
Director of the VFD Brian Bean said the active involvement of locals in the project proves the efficiency and feasibility of the VFD in Nam Dinh and other localities in general.
In the coming time, the project will focus on activities to create livelihood for locals while expanding high-quality and sustainable rice and potato cultivation and treat agricultural by-products, he revealed.
It will continue to evaluate the community-based natural disaster risks management, build plans to prevent natural disasters, improve early warning systems and upgrade shelters for coastal communes in the locality, he added.-VNA
