U.S. helps cope with climate change in Red River Delta

Illustration photo

The second Red River Delta Climate Change Symposium, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) with support from the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID), is also expected to to enhance awareness relative to the critical vulnerability of the Red River Delta and advocate for increased investment in responding to climate change impacts that this region has been facing.

The negative impacts felt by the people living in the Red River Delta are shared by many communities in the U.S., said U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius, adding that the similar experience is in part why the U.S. and Viet Nam have a strong shared determination to reverse the course of climate change and effectively adapt to its impacts.

The Red River Delta is particularly at risk to the impacts of climate change but often receives less attention than the Mekong Delta. This symposium fosters better understanding of climate change implications in the Red River Delta and a call for more relevant investment for the region, particularly at the whole-of-delta level.

The first Red River Delta Symposium, organized in 2014 in Nam Dinh, offered the five coastal provinces the first-time opportunity to discuss the common challenges they all face and the need for coordinated responses at the delta-level.

Since then, USAID’s Viet Nam Forests and Deltas program has supported updated provincial climate change action plans, which have been shared at the second symposium so they will be implemented in a more concerted way.

The Red River Delta is a priority for U.S. support. Currently, the active cooperation programs in the region include the Viet Nam Forests and Deltas Program, the Ha Long Bay – Cat Ba Alliance, the Red River Delta Adaptation and Youth program, and U.S. Sister Cities Disaster Preparedness initiative, all managed through USAID.

By Thuy Dung