Bernama 30 Apr 09;
HANOI, April 30 (Bernama) -- There are no fears of tsunamis in the fishing village of Hai Ly Commune. The sea is calm and bountiful for the fishermen who come back to shore with nets full, reported the Vietnam news agency.
"But under the surface there is a problem," warns Nguyen Quang Thanh, 77, a villager of Nam Dinh Province's coastal Hai Hau District, 150km south of Hanoi.
"The sea level is rising and has caused a huge loss to my village," Thanh says.
The dyke has been breached three times since 1947, forcing two villages and three churches to be moved.
Thanh was among 82 families living outside the sea dyke eight years ago.
"Luckily, we were displaced before our villages were inundated," he says.
But he and his neighbours are not safe yet. While part of the dyke has been rebuilt to make it strong, Thanh and his neighbours' homes are located at the foot of the part, which is still earthen.
Nguyen Thanh Sy, who is in charge of transport and irrigation works in the district, says the council is aware it's very dangerous for those living by the coastline, particularly in the flood and storm season.
"However, there's no way that we can move them to higher ground," Sy says. "It'll be very costly, you know."
The rise in sea level and other impacts of climate change are a threat to Vietnam.
A new Asian Development Bank report, released in Hanoi recently, said Vietnam's rice production could "dramatically decline" and rising sea levels could submerge tens of thousands of hectares of crop land by the end of the century.
The report, entitled The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Review, also warned that climate change could force the relocation of thousands of families living in coastal communities when its adverse impacts hit the country by 2020.
Understanding the threat, Thanh, Sy and other residents of Hai Ly Commune in the Red River Delta know that sea level rise and its impacts on their lives are related to global warming and climate change.
"Yes, people have heard of climate change. They understand that climate change is real and it is happening now," Ha Noi-based Oxfam Great Britain country director Steve Price-Thomas said.
"But they are not quite sure what to do about it. They don't know where it comes from. They need to understand options to deal with it," Price-Thomas said.
How to explain to the public how climate change originated and what it means are questions Viet Nam aims to address, said Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Deputy Director of Meteorology Hydrology and Climate Change Department Nguyen Khac Hieu.
"It's crucial for the public to be aware of climate change so they can learn how adapt to it and mitigate its potential consequences.
"There's no doubt that prevention will cost us much less than repairing the damage.
"The mission to raise public awareness is one of key activities we'll deploy in the national target programme to respond to climate change," Hieu said.
The US$112 million programme was approved last year.
As part of the measures, Hieu said climate change would be introduced at high schools and some universities.
Danish Embassy programme officer for climate change Nguyen Thuy Trang said it was important to change people's behaviour, which was contributing to the increase of greenhouse gases emissions.
"There should be more advocacy for the use of public transport instead of private vehicles, one of the main culprits creating air pollution in big cities," Trang said.
Meanwhile, the poorest people, who commonly live in rural areas, are the most vulnerable to climate change, especially those living in coastal and mountainous areas.
However, as Thanh from Hai Ly Commune said, they lacked the assistance necessary to adapt to climate change, even though they knew how dangerous it would be for them.
"Everybody in our village is scared of storms, floods and the rise in sea level. It's another enemy after the foreign invaders during the war. But what can we do?" Thanh said.
In 2005, the Government decided to grant each household with home located at the foot of the dyke in Hai Ly Commune VND4.5 million (US$257) to move to a higher place.
"That sum is not enough," Thanh said, adding that even if it was enough, there is no land available for us to move to, except in the cemetery.
Even the re-construction of the dyke could not be finished because of the shortage of funding.
Poverty is also a problem. Price-Thomas said that though awareness of climate change was increasing, people had too many immediate challenges in their lives.
"Some people think it's a long-term problem and they worry more about short-term concerns, for example their poverty.
"It's rich countries that cause the problem. They need to help poor countries like Vietnam to adapt to climate change. "
-- BERNAMA
