Climate Change in Vietnam: A Study of Impacts and Government Actions

This report provides an in-depth analysis of climate change in Vietnam, highlighting its significant impacts on agriculture, GDP, and the population. It examines the adverse effects of rising temperatures, altered weather patterns, and increased sea levels. The report further assesses the government's response through programs like NTPRCC, NTPEE, and SPRCC, evaluating their effectiveness and the challenges faced in implementation. The study reveals that, despite the establishment of these programs, the government's efforts have been insufficient, leading to unfulfilled targets and continued environmental degradation. The report underscores the urgent need for improved strategies and resource allocation to effectively mitigate the effects of climate change in Vietnam.

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CLIMATE CHANGE IN VIETNAM
Introduction (Slide 3)
Vietnam, a country located in the south-eastern region of the Indochinese Peninsula,
is the most vulnerable country in terms of climate change not only in Southeast Asia but also
in the entire world. The country is becoming more vulnerable day by day due to various
reasons states USAID as, “Exposure to natural hazards, its geography, pattern of economic
development, and densely populated deltas and areas, as well as vulnerable minority
populations in remote upland watersheds”. This study aims to highlight whether the Vietnam
government is doing its part correctly in order to control the drastic climate change moreover
the disasters that the country is experiencing year after year.
Climate change in Vietnam (Slide 4)
Vietnam has experienced adverse hike in the temperature and whether patterns in last
five decades. The annual increase in the temperature of the country has seen a change of
about 0.5 degrees compare to the last two decades. This has led to global warming and
draughts in some areas. The country is experiencing heavy downpour in the southern region
whereas in the northern region there is hardly any rain. The heavy rainfall leads to increase in
sea level around the coast mentioned in the next point. The zones in southwest regions and
coastal regions is rising about 2.9mm per year.
Impacts (slide 5)
Major impacts of climate change are on the following:
1. Agriculture- Due to change in whether patterns, crops do not get desired climate in
which it can grow. This affects the agricultural sector of the country by bringing down
the annual production and revenue. Research shows that 7% of the agricultural
activities are impacted because of the challenges faced by the climate change.

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CLIMATE CHANGE IN VIETNAM
2. GDP- Gross domestic product of a country is the total amount of goods and services
produced by the country. This helps in evaluating the development of the country, its
growth year after year. Vietnam, due to climate change is losing its GDP drastically.
10% decrease in the GDP of the country is seen every year.
3. Population- Due to rise in the sea level and heavy downpours the country loses a large
amount of landmasses and infrastructure, which leads to loss in population of the
country. Research shows that 11% of the population gets affected due to climate
change.
Programs and challenges (Slide 7 and slide 8)
1. NTPRCC (National Target Program to Respond to Climate Change) - This program
was established in the month of December in 2008. The aim was to increase the total
forest cover from 37% when it was established to 47% by the year 2020.
The government has not done enough to follow this program. Due to the ignorance
and lack of resources by the government, the target set by the committee was not met.
Current forest cover of the Vietnam is around 39.7%, which is a lot low than the
estimated one, implying the government ignorance in these sectors.
2. NTPEE (National Target Program On Energy Efficiency) – Observing the loss in
economy due to climate change the prime minister of the country in the year 2006
established this program to increase its growth by improving the energy efficiency
and conservation in all the sectors.
However, due to lack of research and technology the implementation was program
was not implemented in a structured way. This lead to a fall in growth of the country
from 2017 to 2018. The prime minister of the country however aims at to exceed the
growth above 6.8%, which is not possible if the government is not taking initiative to
implement it well.

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CLIMATE CHANGE IN VIETNAM
3. SPRCC (Support Program for Response to Climate Change) – This program based on
the policy matrix serve as the indicator between the donors and the government of the
country. It attracts other country or stakeholders to donate money to the country so
that it can overcome the challenges faced due to climate change.
The government fails to create a sense of belief in the minds of the donors because of
which not enough donors’ are willing to join hands with the government.
Hence, the study is designed to convey that the government has not done enough to control
the challenges of climate change.