Climate change an ongoing threat

A man tries to shove a car in the historic flooding that killed 22 people in Hanoi last November. The impact of rising sea levels has been significant, but awareness is low even among people most vulnerable.

Even as authorities try to come to grips with the challenges posed by climate change, local residents in coastal and low-lying areas are unaware of the magnitude of the threat facing them. Although there are no official statistics for the damage caused, the rise in sea level has already eroded or submerged housing and arable land over the past several years and the damage is forecast to increase every year. International agencies have warned of a one-meter rise in sea level by 2100 as a consequence of global warming. Vietnam is considered one of the top countries most at risk from its impacts. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in January warned that a one-meter rise in sea level could flood up to 12 percent of arable land and affect nearly 10 percent of the population, now estimated at about 86 million people. The flooded area would equal 4.4 percent of the country’s total land mass of 331,690 square kilometers. However, in a random survey of residents in the coastal province of Bac Lieu in the Mekong Delta, Thanh Nien found they were still unaware of the damage caused by climate change. Le Van Sua, 61, of Hoa Binh District said his family of seven has been living in an area surrounded by mangrove forest for the past 40 years. High tides have been flooding his house of late, but the family still lives on picking oysters or gathering firewood. In the coastal Dong Hai District, rising sea levels haves eroded land and cost 400 homes in Ganh Hao Town. Ho Van Long said his family had migrated there in 1970, but the erosion has never been worse than recently. His house now stands on a few pillars after the sea water had eroded the foundation. “When we first migrated here, the coast was still some 50 meters from the house,” he said. “My house kept shaking anytime there were strong winds and high tides.” The erosion is threatening many other houses in the neighborhood, but no one wants to move out of the place. Thousands of houses in other coastal provinces in the Mekong Delta are also facing the problem of erosion, including those in Cai Nuoc, Nam Can and Ngoc Hien districts in Ca Mau Province; Vinh Chau and Cu Lao Dung districts in Soc Trang Province and Bac Lieu Town and Dong Hai District in Bac Lieu Province. Recent damages Authorities in Ca Mau Province are saying a 10 centimeter rise in sea levels in recent years has already caused significant damage. The province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has reported a high tide peak of up to 30 centimeters higher than in previous years. The rise in sea level has inundated 16,300 hectares of aquaculture ponds in several districts since early this year, with losses estimated at about VND3 billion (US$172,000). Floodtides have spilled over more than 45,000 meters of dike in Dam Doi District, affecting 670 families. The fight against impacts of climate change is not something that the province can manage on its own, said Ca Mau People’s Committee Vice Chairman Nguyen Xuan Hong. He said the government and related agencies should offer more support. The committee has also started to reinforce the dike system on 150 kilometers of the province’s total of 254 kilometers of coastline. Hong also said they were constructing four resettlement projects for residents living on the coast. In Bac Lieu Province, local authorities report hundreds of residents have had to relocate because of erosion and large areas of crops have been flooded. The dike system near Nha Mat resort in the province’s Bac Lieu Town has been destroyed at several sections. Luong Ngoc Lan, deputy director of Bac Lieu Department of Agricultural and Rural Development, said the province has 56 kilometers of dike to protect thousands of households and nearly 90,000 hectares of farming land. However, the dike system cannot withstand strong storms and could break at any time, he warned. He also said it was beyond the capacities of provincial authorities to effectively deal with the impacts of climate change but they were committed to do their best in the field, including planting more protective forests, enforcing dike systems and relocating residents from coastal areas. More threats The Mekong Delta, the country’s largest area of rice paddies and fishery farms, is forecast to suffer the most, with up to 90 percent of land set to go under with a one-meter increase in sea level. The South Western Environment Protection Agency has reported the area of rice fields had reduced to 3.77 million hectares in 2006 from 3.94 million hectares in 2000. With increasing encroachment of saline water, wet rice cultivation will become impossible. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment last month reported the rise in sea level is expected at 15 and 90 centimeters by 2070, with Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces most at risk. The Southern Sub-institute for Hydro-Meteorology and Environment has forecast the one-meter rise in sea level will submerge 40 percent of land in the Mekong Delta. Some provinces may have between 45 and 50 percent of the areas inundated, including Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, Hau Giang, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh and Vinh Long. In Ho Chi Minh City, authorities have warned of an abnormal increase of floodtide peaks on the Saigon River over the past three years, believed to be an impact of the rise in sea level. The Prime Minister last October approved a plan to fight regular flooding in HCMC. The VND11.53- trillion ($660 million) project will install sluice gates, sewer systems and pump stations. Meanwhile, a seminar last month in the central city of Da Nang estimated up to 170,000 people will lose their homes over the next 30 years as the sea level rises by 30 centimeters. The encroachment of seawater inland will damage crops, and an estimated 700,000 residents in the city will suffer water supply shortages. The Da Nang Committee for Flood Control and Prevention has reported that over the last few years, the locality has been hit by an increasing number of storms coming from the East Sea. Da Nang City, Can Tho City and Binh Dinh Province’s Quy Nhon Town, are three localities that have received assistance from the Rockefeller Fund for projects strengthening the capacity to adapt to climate change. The Binh Dinh Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center, meanwhile, has warned that the rise in sea level was threatening the whole of Quy Nhon Town, as it is located just a dozen meters from the sea with a coastline of more than 40 kilometers. Statistics show only 25 percent of the dike system in Quy Nhon Town area are relatively safe, while more than 8,500 residents live near the coast or in temporary houses. In January, Vietnam launched the National Target Program In Response To Climate Change to protect the nation from the effects of climate change. The VND1.96 trillion ($112.44 million) program will fund technology development and increase the capacity of local agencies by training more specialists in environmental sciences. Reported by Thanh Nien staff