The Vietnamese leader cited research showing the top 10 countries produced 40 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.

According to the World Bank, Vietnam, the Bahamas, Egypt, Suriname and Bangladesh will be the five countries most affected by rising sea levels after 2050.

A World Bank report said if the sea level rises by one meter, coastal areas in Vietnam will be submerged, including up to 90 percent of the Mekong Delta, where most of the nation’s rice is grown. The damage bill from such a scenario was estimated at about US$17 billion a year, or 20 percent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product.

If such a rise in the sea level occurred, Nhan said, Vietnam could lose 12-15 million tons of rice per year, making the importation of 10 million tons of rice a year necessary, Nhan said.

“These challenges will undermine efforts for poverty reduction and the attainment of the millennium development goals in Vietnam,” he said. “Therefore timely and effective adaptation to climate change is now considered as both an urgent and long-term issue in Vietnam.”

Nhan expressed hope that the Poznan conference will make constructive progress in drafting a new agreement for the post-2012 Kyoto Protocol period.

Source: VNA