VietNamNet Bridge – Scientists have warned that the rising sea water level may threaten eight million Vietnamese people by 2070. The phenomenon is already being seen in the salted area of the Cuu Long River Delta.

At the international roundtable workshop on global climate change held recently in Hanoi, Mark Lowcock, Director of Finance and Development Policy under the Department for International Development (DFID), warned that Vietnam was a country which would be at high risk due to global warning.

12.2% of land area may be lost?

He stressed the words “big injuries”, as Vietnam is a developing country, which has a low and extensive coast line.

Scientists have estimated that in 2010, the average temperature in Vietnam will increase by 0.3-0.5oC, and the sea water level will rise by another 9 cm. By 2050, the sea water level will rise by 33 cm, and by 2070 will rise by 45 cm.

No scientific survey conducted in the last several tens of years shows that the sea water level is rising. However, as Nguyen Khac Hieu, Deputy Minister of the International Cooperation Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MoNRE), pointed out, the sea water rise is one of the factors that needs to be accounted for when surveying the salting of many areas in the Cuu Long River Delta.

“The rise of the sea water will cause terrible disasters like land loss, salted areas, drought and pandemics,” said Mr Hieu.

The sea water rise of 1m would cause the loss of 12.2% of land area, where 23% of the population, or 17mil people, live. This means that by 2070, eight million Vietnamese people may have lost their homes. There will be more typhoons and more disasters, while the temperature will increase, leading to changes in rainfall, thus badly influencing agriculture and water sources.

How to prevent disasters?

The average temperature in Vietnam increases by 0.10oC every decade (the temperature in summer increases by 0.1-0.3oC per month, and winter becomes warmer).

Mr Lowcock has stressed the need to take actions right now in order to minimise the bad impact of the global higher temperature and sea water level rise.

The solutions for Vietnam to deal with the problem are to reduce waste to the atmosphere by reducing the demand for fossil power, like coal, use low-carbon technologies, reduce methane from coal production and other activities.

Vietnam has initiated a project on collecting associated gas at Rang Don oil field which allows for the reduction of 6.7mil tonnes of CO2 in ten years, and has been highly applauded by the international community.

In 2007, Vietnam will implement a project on installing bioga shafts in many provinces and cities. The construction of 1mil bioga shafts will be supported by the Government of the Netherlands by 2010. Some 18,000 bioga shafts have been built in 10 provinces in the first period of the project, according to Mr Hieu.

(Source: Tien phong)