Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Chu Pham Ngoc
Hien has appreciated efforts made by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in helping Vietnamese officials and people
increase their climate change adaptation.
Hien
made the praise at a working session between his ministry and the IUCN
in Hanoi on August 26 to seek cooperation for the continued
implementation of the union-funded regional projects, which assist
people in coastal areas in improving the ecosystem in front of the
impacts of climate change.
He affirmed the Ministry
of Natural Resources and Environment will solve difficulties for the
IUCN in implementing its small-scale projects, adding that the Vietnam
Administration of Seas and Islands (VASI) will serve as a coordinator
for specific cooperation between the two sides.
According to an
IUCN representative, the project “Building Resilience to Climate Change
Impacts- Coastal Southeast Asia” (BCR), which started in September
2011, has been implemented in the Mekong Delta provinces of Soc Trang,
Ben Tre and Kien Giang and Can Gio district in Ho Chi Minh City.
In 2012, the project helped these localities train 79 state officials on conducting vulnerability assessment.
In the coming time, within the framework of the project, the IUCN will
sign cooperation agreements with the localities to provide local
residents with effective activities to cope with climate change.
The union plans to organise a meeting of the regional Steering
Committee on the future mangrove initiative in the central province of
Quang Nam next month, and a regional forum on coastal areas in Soc Trang
province in October.-VNA