The HCM City People’s Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan has told relevant agencies to study the impact of climate change on the city and given his consent to a US$640 million scheme for flood control, according to the statement released recently.

Ho Chi Minh City is one of the 10 cities in the world most vulnerable to climate change along with Dacca in Bangladesh, Shengzhen and Guangdong in China, Bangkok in Thailand, and Yangon in Myanmar.

The remark was made by the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in a press release for the World Environment Day, June 5, quoting from a report by the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

The peak tide level in HCMC has risen in the last two years and hit 1.55 meters last December, a record hike in over half a century. The city authorities worry that the phenomenon is the impact of climate change.

The 2007-2008 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said Vietnam is one of the four countries most vulnerable to climate change.

With the earth’s ocean currents warming up, the sea level is forecast to rise by one meter by 2100, inundating one-fifth of Vietnam and causing 22 million people to lose their homes and farmland.

The Vietnamese Institute of Hydrometeorology and Environment said the average temperature in HCMC, Vung Tau and many other places has increased by 2 degrees Celsius since 1960.

Just as noticeably, the sea-level has risen by 20 centimeters over the past decade.

VietNamNet/TN