Vietnam's rich Mekong and Red River deltas face severe flooding from climate change

UN Environment Programme: Climate change will have serious consequences for Viet Nam's Mekong and Red River Deltas - two key rice and agricultural producing areas in the country - unless global warming is addressed. The Red River Delta, particularly Quang Ninh province, and the Mekong River Delta are densely populated areas and home to over 40 percent of the country's population.

Both have emerged as the most vulnerable areas in the Viet Nam Climate Change Assessment Report. The Report has been compiled by the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

"These two Deltas play an important role in the economic health of the country and in the livelihoods of the people who live there. More than one-third of the Mekong Delta, where 17 million people live and nearly half the country's rice is grown, could be submerged if sea levels rise by one metre. Even under a low emission growth scenario, a fifth of the delta could be flooded," said Dr. Young Woo Park, UNEP's Regional Director for the Asia-Pacific Region.

Viet Nam is considered one of countries in the world which will be most severely impacted by climate change. Over the last 50 years, the country has been experiencing increases in temperatures ranging from 0.05 - 0.20 Celsius per decade, rainfall patterns have also changed, with increasing rainfall in the northern region and decreasing rainfall in the southern region, and sea levels have risen between 2-4 centimeters per decade….