VietNamNet Bridge - Life was beautiful in Thuan Commune - once. Now it floods in the winter, broils in the summer, lies wreathed in mist for the rest of the year, and the children have to scavenge for food. "Previously, there was no fog and the weather in our village was much better, but in recent years, fog covers our village every morning, the temperature gets hotter in the summer and floods, droughts happen more frequently." … [Read more...] about Children taught how to survive climate change
Committee climate change
Experts say climate change demands a sea change in planning
International experts have called for Vietnam to establish a national platform for disaster risk reduction within the next year as the effect of climate change loom ever larger on the horizon. Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, said a “nationally owned and nationally led forum” for advocacy, analysis, and advice on disaster risk reduction could help improve disaster response and prevention efforts in Vietnam. The UN official was speaking at the Vietnam National Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Hanoi on Wednesday, which attracted officials from the highest levels of government, international agencies working on climate change reduction in the country and representatives from 20 provincial flood and storm control steering committees. “We need to be very clear that these losses can be reduced,” Wahlstrom said. “We need to be very clear also that it is … [Read more...] about Experts say climate change demands a sea change in planning
Getting adapted to climate changes: both the state and people take actions
State management agencies, local authorities and people all have geared up to get adapted to the climate changes. However, they need to take long term strategies instead of following temporary measures. Lacking long term vision Hearing about the climate changes, orchards' owners have been trying to do anything they can to rescue themselves. Tran Van Dong, a farmer in My Hiep commune of Cao Lanh City in Dong Thap province, tried to re-plant the 500 square meter of guava orchard which was inundated in the floods. Right in 2000 - 2001, when seeing the water level rising and falling unexpectedly, Dong tried to build embankment to prevent the orchard from the flood. However, he could not do anything in the latest flood which killed 1/3 of the guava plants. Meanwhile, gardeners in Lai Vung district lost 372 hectares of orchards in the flood. It is necessary to draw up long term plants to get adapted to the climate changes, because not only in Dong Thap, but in the whole Mekong … [Read more...] about Getting adapted to climate changes: both the state and people take actions
Weather project helps minority women battle climate change
VietNamNet Bridge – The climate in the valley of Muong Phang in the mountainous Dien Bien Province is no longer as it was over previous centuries. But the change has brought some benefits to local farmers.The valley, roughly 21 km to the northwest of Dien Bien Phu City, has gotten warmer over the last decade. The ethnic minority families who were born and grew up in the valley, in poverty, had relied mainly on a single summer-autumn rice season to make a living as the winter was too cold to plant anything. Now they have managed to double their incomes as the rising average temperatures in the coldest months allowed another rice harvest in winter and spring.This kind of climate change is, of course, not all good news. Alongside warmer temperatures, it has brought about more flash floods that bury the village under mud, unexpected drops in temperatures, hoar frost that freezes crops and heavier rains that flood the fields.It became harder for the locals, who had little idea about … [Read more...] about Weather project helps minority women battle climate change
Trà Vinh City farmers adapt to climate change
TRÀ VINH – The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta city of Trà Vinh is restructuring its agricultural sector in an effort to increase farmers’ income, especially southern Khmer farmers. The city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has encouraged local farmers to cultivate other food crops instead of rice on 7,900 ha of land affected by drought and seawater intrusion caused by climate change. The department also plans to build dykes, bridges, sluice gates, irrigation works, a clean water supply system and resident relocation areas. Authorities have encouraged farmers to replace rice with short-term industrial plants, organic rice, coconut trees, sugarcane and fruit trees, in combination with aquaculture. Trương Thị Ngọc Ánh, a farmer in Trà Cú District, who has shifted to other plants, said: “I and 21 households as a group invested in an irrigation dyke around rice areas to create a water supply system and to … [Read more...] about Trà Vinh City farmers adapt to climate change