HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - As one of the cities affected by climate change,Ho Chi Minh City has for many years been making plans to cope with it.

Duringthe rainy season from May to October, the city experiences regular flooding. Acombination of high tides in the Sai Gon and Dong Nai rivers, heavy rains andland subsidence puts it in the list of 10 cities most vulnerable to sea-levelrise.

Accordingto the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the city’s rivers couldrise by about 30cm by 2050 and 75cm by the end of the 21st century.

By2050 the number of communes and wards affected by tidal flooding will rise to177, equivalent to 61 percent of the city's total area.

Itwill affect transportation, industrial activity, and agriculture. Itcomes as a wake-up call.

Themunicipal People’s Committee has worked with related agencies to make plans tocope with climate change.

Thereare 56 plans and projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mobiliseresources to be able to respond promptly to climate change.

Thecity will focus on preventing natural disasters and relocating people living inplaces at risk of being affected by climate change. It will use itsbudget to carry out these plans.

Natural disasters

Naturaldisasters could shave 1.5 percent off annual GDP or even more if no appropriatemeasures are taken in response to climate change, the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment has said.

Theaverage temperature in Vietnam is predicted to increase 2-3oC by2100, while sea levels will rise from 78-100cm.

Sucha rise would submerge more than 10 percent of the Red River Delta and Quang Ninhprovince in the north, and 2.5 percent of central coastal localities.

Itwould directly affect 9 percent of the population in the Red River Delta and QuangNinh, and nearly 9 percent in central coastal localities.

Ofparticular note, some 35 percent of the population in the Mekong Delta would beaffected and 40.5 percent of its rice output lost.

Theagricultural sector, the natural ecosystem, the poor, the elderly, women, andethnic minority groups are all vulnerable.

Theministry emphasised the need to research and apply technical solutions and newtechnologies in designing and construction works.

Priorityshould be given to investing in early warning and monitoring systems in urbanareas and concentrated residential areas, and raising public awareness aboutclimate change./.