Flooding at the Bui Vien-Do Quang Dau intersection in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1.

The Netherlands is at the end of many rivers that cross Europe. It is also has a major delta and many rivers and tributaries. It is also a low-lying country with almost half of the country living below the sea.

Experts have noted that embankments from Quang Ngai Province in the central region to Kien Giang in the Mekong Delta are rundown with many sections often breached. The threat to public safety could worsen if sea levels rose, they’ve warned.

Schellaars agreed that flooding in HCMC over the past years has impacted the daily lives of its citizens, adding the Netherlands is also preparing plans to deal with the flooding in close cooperation with the municipal People’s Committee.

“This support was discussed during the visits of the Vietnamese ministers of Foreign Affairs and Agriculture and Rural Development to the Netherlands last October,” he said. “And another opportunity could be the high-level delegation from HCMC led by the city party unit chief Le Thanh Hai who is visiting the Netherlands, probably this May.”

Since early this year, the high tides and storms have caused flooding in more than 100 areas in the city and its outskirts, mostly in districts situated along rivers and canals and low-lying areas, badly disrupting daily life and business.

Schellaars said the Dutch Embassy was preparing a support package for the National Target Program in Response to Climate Change launched last month in Vietnam.

The package includes climate adaptation and mitigation activities focused on capacity building, raising awareness and increasing resilience, he said.

Climate change and rising sea levels are inevitable, and Vietnam need to prepare for the worst, says Dutch diplomat.

The Netherlands is willing to share with Vietnam its experience in tackling the impact of rising sea levels and has already chalked out major plans for this, says Jos Schellaars, Consul General of the Netherlands in Ho Chi Minh City.

Whether the rise was caused by the environment or by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions was not the point of discussion, Schellaars told Thanh Nien Daily.

Climate change and the rise in sea levels were inevitable and “we are preparing for the worst,” he said.

Experts have forecast that by 2100, Vietnam’s average temperatures would have risen by three degrees Celsius and the sea level by one meter, affecting at least 10 percent of the Vietnamese population, now estimated at about 86 million people.

The National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would also drop by 10 percent as a result, they say.

Given the Dutch topography, Schellaars said, his country has been fighting against the rising waters for centuries and has built a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the area of flood prevention and control.

Since the Netherlands is in a similar position to many parts of Vietnam, “Vietnam is very welcome to learn from the Dutch experience and benefit from its technical know-how, especially in the field of delta-technology and sea dike protection,” he said.

Reported by An Dien