Climate change blamed for severe drought hitting Vietnam's coffee crops

Mark Scialla in the Guardian (UK): The last time Nguyen Van Viet saw water in his well was almost four months ago. The 44-year-old has farmed coffee in central Vietnam for two decades and says that’s never happened before. “This is the worst drought I’ve seen in over a decade,” Viet, told the Guardian. “Some people don’t have enough water to drink.”

For Viet and millions of other coffee farmers, this season has been disastrous. A prolonged drought has affected all five provinces in Vietnam’s Central Highlands – a region that produces 60% of the country’s coffee. “Normally, in March or April, it should start rain, but this year it hasn’t rained until now,” Viet said. “Over the years I’ve realised it’s getting harder to grow coffee mostly because lack of water. The temperatures are getting higher and higher and the rainfall is less.”

Viet says he’s lost almost 4,000 sq meters of coffee crops on his five-acre farm in Dak Lak, a province responsible for 30% of total coffee harvests last year. At least 7,000 acres of coffee plants have died there since March, according to the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. And in neighbouring Lam Dong Province, the drought has stressed another 150,000 acres of coffee.

The result has been a five-year low in coffee exports, 40% down on the same period in 2014. The economic costs have yet to be tallied.

Vietnam is the world’s largest producer of Robusta, a tougher, more bitter bean often used in instant coffee and espresso. The French introduced the plant in the 19th century and in the post-war years it helped pull millions of Vietnamese from poverty. The industry grew rapidly in the 1990s, making Vietnam the world’s second-largest exporter of coffee and supplying around a quarter of the UK’s coffee. But success came at a cost. Deforestation, monocropping and intensive pesticide use that helped create the boom now leaves coffee farms more vulnerable to climate change....

Coffee fields in Vietnam, shot by kangotraveler, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Vietnam eyes water-saving technology for its rice farms

Fatima Arkin in SciDev.net: Agriculture experts say application of alternate wetting and drying (AWD) technology in Vietnam’s rice farms, one of South-East Asia’s largest rice-producing countries, holds great promise in cutting water use and greenhouse gas emissions from rice cultivation without sacrificing yield output.

Vietnam along with Bangladesh and Colombia recently partnered with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to introduce the large-scale application of AWD, also known as controlled irrigation in which farmers periodically drain rice paddies rather than keeping them perpetually flooded. The number of non-flooded days can range from 1 to 10 day
s. The technology can reduce water use by 25 per cent and estimated to cut methane from flooded rice field by 50 per cent.

But getting farmers to adopt it will be a struggle, Nguyen Hong Son, vice-president of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, tells SciDev.Net during an interview at the Fourth International Rice Congress in Bangkok, Thailand (27 October to 1 November).

...Aside from economic savings through lower water consumption and pumping costs, there is also evidence that AWD can help crops perform better and improve soil conditions so that machines can operate more efficiently in the fields, says Björn Ole Sander, who is coordinating the effort.

But AWD is not without controversy. Adopting the irrigation method will increase nitrous oxide emissions, which Sander himself acknowledges will be anywhere from 20 to 100 per cent. Still, given that paddy rice does not produce much nitrous oxide to begin with, the decrease in methane, which the crop produces in heaps, will more than offset any increase in nitrous oxide, says Sander. “We still have a huge overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” he adds...

A rice farmer in Vietnam, shot by Wayne77, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons 3.0 license

Domestic climate change study paints bleak picture for Vietnam

Bao Cam in Thanh Nien News: Vietnam is suffering increasing damage from climate change, according to a recent report by a parliamentary committee. A report by the Committee of Science, Technology and Environment presented to the National Assembly, Vietnam’s legislature, showed that Vietnam is among the countries to be hit hardest by climate change in the coming years.

Natural disasters have cost the country around 1.5 percent of its annual gross domestic product (GDP) in the past two decades, the report said, citing findings of a study conducted by the committee. Typhoon Xangsane, for example, caused US$1.2 billion of damage in the central region in 2006.

Officials said Vietnam has yet to become a major greenhouse gas emitter, but its emissions continue to rise. “The threat of climate change has grown more vivid in Vietnam over the past 50 years,” the report said. “The average temperature increased by 0.5 degree Celsius, the sea rose more than 0.2 meters, natural disasters, floods and typhoons grew stronger and left many dykes became more vulnerable,” it said.

“Flooding caused by high tide has worsened in Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, and the Mekong Delta’s Ca Mau and Vinh Long provinces.” According to the report, areas suffering from the salinization of ground water and/or desertification have expanded due to rising temperatures....

Flood in Vietnam, 2011, shot by European Commission DG Echo, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons 2.0 license

Ho Chi Minh Declaration dodges Mekong dams dispute: rivers group

Medilyn Manibo in Eco-Business: Non-profit group International Rivers expressed disappointment over the unresolved dispute concerning the proposed dams on the Mekong River at the second Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit held recently in Vietnam.

International Rivers, which works with an international network of organisa
tions that aim to protect rivers and local communities against unsustainable management, said that the actions and statements of government leaders in the region did not clearly denounce the current rush of dams being built along the mainstream portion of the lower Mekong river.

Ame Trandem, the environmental group’s Southeast Asia programme director, explained how the on-going construction of dams pursued by the Lao government poses a threat to local communities and their livelihood.

Government leaders from Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Thailand and Vietnam presented the Ho Chi Minh Declaration as the outcome of the summit, which concluded on April 5. The declaration set new priorities for the MRC, an intergovernmental body that facilitates regional cooperation agreements between the four member countries.

The actions proposed in this document include expediting the implementation of MRC’s basin-wide studies to reduce negative impacts of development projects in the river, including hydropower, as well as prioritising initiatives on battling the effects of natural disasters and the impact of climate change and rising sea level on the river basin...

Khon Phapheng Falls on the Mekong River in Laos, shot by Rup11, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license

Vietnam reports second bird flu death in 2014

New Vision via AFP: Vietnam has recorded its second death from bird flu in 2014, a health official said Thursday, as regional concerns over a potential resurgence of the deadly virus grow. A 60-year-old woman from southern Dong Thap province died on January 28 and tested positive for the H5N1 virus the following day, provincial medical department director Nguyen Ngoc An told AFP.

It follows the death of a 52-year-old man from the southern Binh Phuoc province on January 18. Demand for poultry in Vietnam tends to increase at the end of January as families celebrate the Tet lunar new year festival.

The H5N1 virus has caused 649 confirmed flu cases in humans since it re-emerged in 2003, resulting in 385 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact. But experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to trigger a pandemic.

Vietnam has recorded one of the highest fatality rates from bird flu in Southeast Asia.It has claimed 63 lives so far, including one in 2013, according to the WHO. The WHO figures do not include the two recent deaths in Vietnam....

A map of a 2009 outbreak of H1N1 in Vietnam, created by Zuanzuanfuwa, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Power plants add to flood woes

Eco Business via the Vietnam News: Scientists are concerned about the negative impact of hydro-power plants on people’s lives in areas hit by extreme weather, while rivers in the South become critically polluted by industrial waste.

Viet Nam River Network (VRN), a local non-governmental organization, affirmed at its annual conference held recently that power plants in the Central region had changed the natural flows in rivers and created shortages of water during the dry season.

Studies by scientists working for the network have shown that discharges by the plants’ reservoirs have worsened flood situations, which occur annually in the region. Floods in recent years have had much stronger currents and they inundated lowland areas more quickly than ever before. Local residents in the areas where power plants are located also blamed the reservoirs for waters that flooded their fields and removed top soil.

Le Thi Thu Suu, VRN’s chief coordinator, said climate change impacts had created extreme weather phenomena, including higher rainfalls during rainy seasons and critical shortages of water in dry months. “Power plant reservoirs increase the negative impacts and influence residents, as they hold back water during the dry season, worsening the shortage of water for cultivation and waterway traffic.

“Meanwhile, the reservoirs create large floods when they discharge water in the rainy seasons when lowland areas are flooded with water from high rainfalls. This affects crops and claims lives, as well as floods the properties of local residents,” Suu said, adding that she had evidence collected by local residents in Quang Nam Province....

The spillway of the Ya Ly dam in Vietnam, shot by [Tycho], http://shansov.net, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Vietnam to set up early warning system of diseases

Vietnam Net Bridge: Nguyen Huy Nga, Head of the Health Environmental Management Department under the Health Ministry, said at the fourth Asia-Pacific Conference on Public Health in the central coastal city of Nha Trang last week.

He said the country will also focus on identifying regions most vulnerable to climate change and establishing early warning and supervisory systems of climate change. Vietnam wants to work with countries and organisations in the region and the world at large in preventing and controlling diseases related to climate change, the official said.

Le Vu Anh, President of the Vietnam Public Health Association, said plans to mitigate impacts of climate change will be built based on scientific reports presented at the conference. The November 21-22 conference was organised by the Vietnam Public Health Association and the World Federation of Public Health Associations with the participation of 300 delegates from 32 countries.

The conference will hear reports on managing health risks, people’s vulnerability to climate change, climate change and its impacts on South Asian people’s health, and ecological factors decisive to human health....

Nha Trang Bay in Vietnam, shot by calflier001, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr,  under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Ho Chi Minh City suburbs incur heavier flooding

Vietnam Net Bridge: New flooded areas have appeared in the districts of Thu Duc, Binh Chanh and Nha Be. Especially, some areas in Cu Chi district, which rarely saw flooding in the past, can also be also inundated in the flood tide.

According to Do Tan Long, a senior official of the HCM City Center for Operating the Anti-flooding Program, since early November, when flood tide and heavy rains came at the same time, the water overflowed the canal edges to flood roads and houses in Binh Chanh and Thu Duc districts. New flooded areas have appeared in districts 12 and Hoc Mon.

When asked why suburb areas have incurred heavier floods, Long has attributed to the rapid urbanization in the areas. More and more houses have been built on the areas, which were once lakes and ponds, while a lot of spontaneous residential quarters have been set up, which has made the drainage capacity weaker.

Environmentalists have pointed out that thousands of hectares of land containing water in HCM City have disappeared during the rapid urbanization. A lot of canals and lakes have been filled to give place to houses....

An 1867 map of Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City

Six dead in Vietnam floods

Space Daily via AFP: Six people have been killed in severe flooding sweeping central Vietnam, local officials said Saturday, amid concerns that the inundations could continue to worsen.

Authorities have evacuated some 20,000 people as heavy rains pummelled the country from Quang Tri to Ninh Thuan coastal provinces since Tuesday, according to a regional natural disaster committee.

"The waters rose too fast and so many local residents did not have enough time to prepare," committee director Van Phu Chinh told AFP, adding that the "situation could worsen" over the weekend.

...Last week, Vietnam evacuated nearly 800,000 people before it was hit by a weakened Typhoon Haiyan -- one of the most powerful ever recorded -- which has caused several thousands deaths and huge damage in the Philippines. ...

Vietnam girds for Typhoon Haiyan after 10,000 reported dead

Ceclia Yap and Joel Guinto in Bloomberg: Super Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 10,000 people in the Philippines, the Associated Press reported, as storm surges flooded islands and strong winds knocked down buildings and destroyed an airport before moving toward Vietnam.

Haiyan, the year’s most powerful cyclone, killed as many as 10,000 people in and around Tacloban City, the capital of Leyte province, when it made landfall Nov. 8, AP reported today, citing regional police chief Elmer Soria. An additional 300 fatalities were confirmed on nearby Samar island and 2,000 others were missing, the AP cited Leo Dacaynos of Samar province’s disaster office as saying.

“It is most important now to look after the survivors; we don’t want to expose them to the elements, get sick and add to the casualties,” President Benigno Aquino said yesterday in a briefing in Manila. “It will be a second tragedy if we fail” in post-disaster management, he said. The president is in Tacloban today.

While the official death toll posted by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council was at 151 as of 6 a.m. Manila time today, the number was expected to rise as the government receives reports from provinces still out of reach, Major Rey Balido, spokesman of the disaster-monitoring agency, said in a mobile-phone message.

In addition to the central-region deaths, four people were killed in Palawan, one drowned in Batangas and one was crushed by a tree in Quezon province, according to the disaster agency. In the southern Philippines, one person was struck by lightning in Zamboanga City and one was electrocuted in Surigao del Sur, the agency said.

...Almost 603,000 people had been evacuated from provinces extending from Nghe An in northern Vietnam to Phu Yen in the southern central region as of 5 a.m. local time today. Planned evacuations now cover 13 provinces affecting almost 860,000 residents, according to a government statement posted today....

NOAA map of Haiyan's track

Typhoon leaves 74 missing in China as Thailand, Vietnam brace for floods

Reuters: Seventy-four Chinese fishermen were missing on Monday after a typhoon sunk three fishing boats in the South China Sea as Thailand and Vietnam braced for torrential rain and flooding.

The ships were hit by Typhoon Wutip on Sunday as they navigated gales near the Paracel Islands, about 330 km from China's island province of Hainan, state news agency Xinhua said, citing sources with the Hainan maritime search and rescue center.

Rescuers had rescued 14 survivors, the sources said. The boats were sailing from the southern province of Guangdong.

Rains from the storm are expected to reach Vietnam on Monday before hitting Thailand on Tuesday.

Thai officials warned that more heavy rains could inundate already flood-hit areas of the northeast. At least 22 people have been killed in this year's flooding....

Typhoon Wutip on September 30, 2013, from NASA

Vietnam estimates to lose 1.5 pct of GDP due to disasters

Global Times via Xinhua: Vietnam is estimated to lose around 1.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually due to property damage caused by natural disasters, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

MARD's Minister Cao Duc Phat made the statement at the seminar on Vietnam-Japan cooperation in natural disaster prevention and control held here on Friday, local Dan Tri (Knowledge for the People) reported on its website.

Statistics showed that in recent years natural disasters tend to occur with greater frequency and so damages continue to rise. This is suspected to be a result of climate change, said the report quoting the minister as saying.

Typhoon Linda claimed 778 lives, left 2,123 missing and 1,232 injured while causing property damage worth 593 million US dollars when it raged through Vietnam's southern region from Bac Lieu to Ca Mau provinces in November 1997.

In November 1999, several floods struck the central region from Quang Binh to Ninh Thuan provinces, causing 600 dead and missing and property losses worth 270 million dollars.

Floods in the southern Mekong Delta region in November 2000 caused property damage worth 280 million dollars. In October of the same year, floods also caused losses of 140,000 dollars in the northern province of Lai Chau....

Vietnam’s rice productivity may reduce 10% on climate change

VietnamNet Bridge: It is estimated that 90 percent of Vietnamese population would suffer from the climate change. However, the most worrying problem for Vietnam, an agriculture economy, is that the climate change would badly affect the rice cultivation.

The Mekong River Delta, the main rice granary of Vietnam, is at risk of losing 7.6 million tons per annum, or 40 percent of the total rice output of the region, according to the latest report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Vietnam is one of the countries which bear regular and heavy influences of natural calamities such as storms, floods, drought and desertification, riverbanks landslide and salinization. The sea water level rise would make 2.4 million hectares of land suffer from the salinity intrusion, of which the large 2-crop-a-year rice field areas would become unproductive. Especially, the climate changes have made the floods and pest outbreaks in a large scale in recent years.

Vietnam has been warned that the natural disasters would increase in the future in both the scope and the frequency which would bring unpredictable consequences. Natural calamities have caused considerable damages over the last 15 years, causing the death toll of 11,000 and the asset damages worth 1.5 percent of GDP per annum.

According to Pham Dong Quang, Head of the Cultivation Department under MARD, the droughts in 2010 and the droughts in 2013 in coastal provinces of the south of the central region and Central Highlands has caused the serious water shortage in some localities. This has made 16,000 hectares of rice fields unproductive....

A rice terrace in Vietnam, shot by jihadv, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Massive groundwater pumping in Asia may poison millions

IRIN: Millions of people in South and Southeast Asia may be at risk of arsenic poisoning as massive pumping of groundwater pushes tainted water closer to uncontaminated aquifers, scientists warned in a new study published in the journal Nature.

The study, published by experts from Switzerland, the US and Vietnam, examined changing groundwater flow over one decade in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi.

Hanoi is expanding rapidly, as is water demand. Pumping for municipal water supplies doubled between 2000 and 2010, to around 240 million gallons daily. In the city, water is filtered and treated, but in areas just a few kilometres outside, near the Red River, many households use private untreated wells.

In the past, higher water levels in the aquifer (underground layer of water-bearing rock, sand or silt) meant water from these wells was generally safe. But as more groundwater has been pumped, water from arsenic-rich sediments is increasingly intruding into the previously uncontaminated aquifer.

Arsenic, one of the most common inorganic contaminants found in drinking water worldwide, can be highly toxic to humans. Even in low concentrations arsenic can damage health if ingested over long periods. It is associated with cancer of the skin, lungs, bladder and kidneys.

At some sites in Vietnam investigated for the study, arsenic concentrations were up to 50 times higher than the internationally recommended limit of 10 micrograms of arsenic per litre....

A bridge over the Red River in Hanoi, shot by Luigi Guarino, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Rising sea levels put Mekong Delta at risk

Vietnam Net Bridge: This is revealed in a World Bank report titled Turn down the heat: Climate extremes, regional impacts and the case for resilience, which was released globally last week. The report said the rapid rise would mean a loss of about 12 per cent of crop production due to inundation and salinity intrusion. It was projected that rice production could drop by about 2.6 million tonnes per year.

The report said the Mekong Delta and two other Asian river deltas in Asia were particularly at risk because they were less than two metres above sea level. It said that rising sea levels, more intense tropical cyclones and land subsidence caused by human activities, would disrupt the main economic activities of the delta - agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and tourism.

The Washington-based development bank estimated the cost of adapting shrimp and catfish aquaculture in the Mekong Delta would range from US$130-190 million per year. HCM City was also declared to be among coastal cities in Southeast Asia hardest hit by rising seas and increased storm surges. The report claimed that up to 60 per cent of the built-up area could expect rises of up to one metre.

Ajali Acharya, the World Bank Viet Nam's environment cluster leader, said the report provided scientific evidences on which Viet Nam and development partners could help the country move along the low-carbon, climate-resilient, sustainable-development path.

Tran Thuc, director of Viet Nam's Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment, agreed with the World Bank's recommendation that Southeast Asian countries intensify actions to address the impacts of climate change. He said Viet Nam had made remarkable efforts, with short-term priority going to climate adaptation...

Across the river from Ho Chi Minh City, shot by Violetbonmua, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Coping with climate change in Vietnam

VietnamNetBridge: Eighty local and foreign experts in global-warming adaptation are in Can Tho for a regional symposium that involves government partners, non-government organisations (NGOs), donor agencies and corporate partners. Experts at the three-day event are discussing innovative climate-change mitigation models that have been successfully implemented in Southeast Asia.

The goals of the symposium include creating a dialogue between partners in the ASEAN community and designing effective community-based climate-change adaptation models. Two to three possible adaptation measures will be taken back to each partner office to share with the local community in Can Tho. The community partners will then help design the preferred adaptation models.

Based upon the local context in Laos and Viet Nam, the symposium will place a specific focus on climate-change mitigation in agriculture and natural-resource management at the community level.

A low-lying, densely populated area, the Mekong Delta is the heart of rice production in Viet Nam and is one of the world's most vulnerable regions to climate change. "Our side of the project will be based in Can Tho, where 84 per cent of its area is used for agriculture, with more than 90 per cent of it for rice production," said Nguyen Minh The, deputy director of Can Tho's Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

"The average alleviation of the province lies between 0.6 and 0.8 metres above sea level and it is particularly susceptible to river and seawater intrusion," he added. Experts predicted that a possible 30-cm rise in sea levels could destroy the city's rice crops, he added....

Near Can Tho, shot by Bùi Thụy Đào Nguyên, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

International Finance Corporation and Deutsche Bank bankrolling Vietnamese land grabs in Cambodia and Laos

Global Witness: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Deutsche Bank are financing Vietnamese rubber companies driving a wave of land and forest "grabs" in Cambodia and Laos, according to a new report and film by Global Witness.

The report, “Rubber Barons”, reveals how a pervasive culture of secrecy around plantation investments in the region has allowed two of Vietnam’s largest companies, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and the state-owned Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG), to acquire more than 200,000 hectares of land through a series of deals with the Lao and Cambodian governments that lack transparency.

It details how these rubber giants, with close links to the region’s notoriously corrupt political elites, operate with complete impunity, devastating local livelihoods and the environment in the process. Deutsche Bank has significant holdings in both companies, while the IFC invests in HAGL.

“We’ve known for some time that corrupt politicians in Cambodia and Laos are orchestrating the land grabbing crisis that is doing so much damage in the region. This report completes the picture by exposing the pivotal role of Vietnam’s rubber barons and their financiers, Deutsche Bank and the IFC,” said Megan MacInnes, Head of the Land Team at Global Witness. “Both companies are having severe impacts on the human rights of ordinary Lao and Cambodian citizens.  Often, the first time people learn of a plantation is when the company bulldozers arrive to clear their farms.”...

Vietnam's satellite launch postponed due to bad weather

Saigon GP Daily: As planned, this morning, May 4, the first remote sensing satellite of Vietnam (VNREDSat-1) would be launched into orbit in the French Guyana Space Centre. Accordingly, the Arianespace company (France), the contractor's performance satellite launch VNREDSat-1 project would launch the satellites into orbit at 9 am on May 4, 2013 (GMT). However, the launch of the satellite was delayed because of bad weather.

Not only the launch of VNREDSat-1 of Vietnam, the launch of two other satellites Proba-V of the European Space Agency ESA and ESTCube-1 belonging to Finnish Meteorological Institute in partnership with Germany’s Space Center was delayed as well.

About one hour before the scheduled launch, SGGP reporter observed a live Arianespace program on the internet TV channel (www.arianespace.tv) with the image of VV02 Vega rocket ready on launch. However, when the expected launch time came (9 pm this morning) there is no signal in the TV channel about 20 minutes.

Later, the Twiter page of Arianespace announced the news "VV02 Vega rocket launch has been postponed due to unfavorable winds in high atmosphere."

This event was later confirmed by the Universe Institute of Technology (the Academy of Science and Technology of Vietnam), the sponsor of the project of Vietnam Satellite observations of natural resources, environment and natural disasters (VNREDSat-1). “The date for VNREDSat-1 satellite launch will be determined later”, it said....

The Ariane 5 launch pad in French Guiana, shot by Philippe Semanaz / Philou.cn (username on Flickr), Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Greater Mekong countries 'lost one-third of forest cover in 40 years'

John Vidal in the Guardian (UK): Five Asian countries have lost nearly one-third of their forests in the last 35 years and could be left with little more than 10-20% of their original cover by 2030 – with devastating effects on wildlife and humans, a new report suggests.

Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam have lost nearly 40m hectares (ha) of forest cover since 1980 but have retained about 98m ha of natural forest, just over half of the region's land area.

Using satellite data, the WWF researchers calculated that since 1980, Cambodia has lost 22% of its 1973 forest cover, Laos and Burma 24%, and Thailand and Vietnam 43%.

The report on ecosystems in the greater Mekong area warns that these countries risk losing more than one-third of their remaining forest cover within the next two decades if they fail to increase protection.

"The greater Mekong is at a crossroads," said Peter Cutter, landscape conservation manager with WWF-Greater Mekong. "One path leads to further declines in biodiversity and livelihoods, but if natural resources are managed responsibly, this region can pursue a course that will secure a healthy and prosperous future for its people."...

A Thai rain forest, shot by Michael Cory, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Vietnam must adapt to climate change

Viet Nam News: Viet Nam's response to climate change will focus on adaptation, which would be mainly funded by State budget. This left the other approach to climate change, mitigation, open for engagement by the private sector as it concerns technology changes, and low-carbon energy technologies in particular.

These remarks were made by Truong Duc Tri, deputy director of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change at the press briefing on the national action plan for climate change in the period of 2010-20 held in Ha Noi yesterday.

As part of on-going efforts, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved 61 climate change projects that aim to deal with urgent matters. As many as 15 projects have received funding from the State to start their working plans, Tri announced.

Viet Nam has also received considerable amounts of international support. From 2010 to 2012, aid for climate change stood at US$500 million and Viet Nam was expected to receive an additional amount of $830 million.

Tri said that since the first script about climate change and sea level rise for Viet Nam by the end of this century was introduced in 2009, there has been an increased awareness about the seriousness of the issue of climate change across different stakeholders in Viet Nam, particularly local authorities. "This has been reflected in the fact that 45 provinces out of the total 63 have finished compiling their action plans to cope with climate change," he said....

A dike in Vietnam, shot by Nguyễn Thanh Quang, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license