The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and the Danish Embassy in Vietnam jointly organised a regional workshop on climate change in Hanoi on January 20.

Under the theme of “Climate Change Adaptation in Land and Water Management”, experts from Southeast Asian countries and international organisations discussed recommendations for climate change adaptation and the management of land and water resources, which are under severe pressure in most developing countries.

The pressure will be further aggravated by the impact of climate change.

According to Danish Ambassador to Vietnam Peter Lysholt Hansen, the one and a half day workshop is part of a Strategic Policy Dialogue Process on Climate Change initiated by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Recommendations from the process will serve as input to the climate change negotiations in the upcoming 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the UN Climate Convention, scheduled to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December this year, he added.

Speaking at the event, Danish Development Minister Ulla Tornaes highly valued the Vietnamese government’s strong commitments to climate change prevention.

“We expect Vietnam to play an increasingly strong role in international efforts to meet the challenges of climate change,” she said.

MONRE Minister Pham Khoi Nguyen said that Vietnam, one of the most vulnerable countries to the impact of climate change, is actively conducting research in effective measure to cope with climate change.

The country is envisaging three scenarios regarding the rise of sea level in order to work out suitable counter measures, Nguyen said, adding that measures to raise public awareness of climate change are also being implemented.

To help Vietnam deal with climate change, in December 2008, Denmark decided to provide a US$40 million grant for the country’s Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Programme in the 2009-2013 period.

(Source: VNA)