Vietnam General Department of Sea and Islands Deputy Director General Vu Sy Tuan elaborated on the significant impacts of Le Nino and La Nina weather patterns on Vietnam.

Climate change intensifies natural disasters like typhoons, floods, and droughts. The annual average temperature is likely to increase by as much as three degrees Celsius by 2100, with sea levels climbing an entire metre.

Around 40,000 kilometres along Vietnam’s coastal delta risks flooding and such a scenario would mean the inundation of 90 percent of the Mekong River Delta.

Soc Trang Provincial People’s Committee Vice Chairman Le Thanh Tri described the particularly serious problems his province has encountered as a result of climate change and sea level rises. Useable rice cultivation and aquaculture areas have shrunk, affecting local incomes.

Tri said international organisations and their diverse economic modelling has encouraged local residents to embrace sustainable production and environmental protection.

The four-day forum with the participation of more than 200 delegates from Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam is part of the “Building Resilience to Climate Change’s Impacts: Coastal Southeast Asia”  project, financed by the European Union.