France will keep joining hands with Vietnam in responding to climate change, which is expected to heavily impact the Southeast Asian country in the future, said the chief of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Vietnam this week.

In a summary of 20 years in Vietnam, particularly in the field of climate change, the AFD said it has developed 33 projects with a total value of 830 million euros (US$907.88 million), accounting for 51.8 percent of the 1.6 billion euros ($1.75 billion) the agency was originally committed to investing in Vietnam, said Rémi Genevey, AFD Vietnam director.

Those 33 projects have helped Vietnam reduce two million tons of CO2 emissions each year, and supported 30,000 Vietnamese people most vulnerable to climate change in stabilizing their residence and income, he told Tuoi Tre News on Monday.

From 2005 to now, the AFD has invested 600 million euros ($656.3 million) of the total 1.6 billion euros committed to lend to Vietnam, 90 percent of which are loans with preferential interest rates.

At the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, at Vietnam's booth, there will be a presentation on the results of an AFD-funded research project on climate change jointly conducted by the Hanoi-based Water Resources University and a French research unit.

The COP21, held from November 30 to December 11, is the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The conference’s objective is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate from all nations of the world with a goal to limit global temperature increase to a maximum of 2°C by the end of the 21st century.

In addition to projects funded by the AFD’s soft loans at national level and AFD support in the policy-making process to ease the impact of climate change, the agency also has other projects to support the rehabilitation of irrigation systems in the Red River Delta and Mekong Delta, as it is very concerned about issues surrounding rising sea level.

Olivier Tessier, researcher and representative of the French School of the Far East in Vietnam, said that the Southeast Asian country should build model scenarios to cope with the impact of climate change more close to reality, especially for the two areas most vulnerable – the Red River Delta and Mekong Delta.

According to Vietnam’s forecast, by the end of the 21st century, average temperatures worldwide will have risen by 2-3 degrees Celsius, while rainfall is also anticipated to rise 5-10 percent, with sea level surging 75cm higher than the average level of 1989-90, Tessier said.

But the forecast for Vietnam does not calculate newly-arisen factors, including 23 hydropower plants on the mainstream of the Mekong River and 120 smaller ones planned for construction around the branches of the waterway.

Compared with 1950, the volume of silt deposits in the Mekong Delta, a region created by the buildup of silt deposited by the river, was down by 50 percent in 2000, and now sits at 60 percent less than that historic level.

If 120 hydropower projects are completed, sediment volume will fall by more than 90 percent, according to a separate study by the French School of the Far East in Vietnam.

As the Mekong Delta is formed by the gradual buildup of sediment from the river, such a large drop in sediment will dramatically increase the salinity of the soil, increasing the intrusion of salt water, causing massive water shortages for local residents, Tessier said.  

This will in turn increase the necessary exploitation of underground water, which will lead to rapid subsidence of the whole region, and amplify the harmful effects of salinity, he added.

It is encouraging that the Vietnamese government last year had a policy and legislation specifically focused on the protection of the environment, suggesting a proactive cognitive standpoint held by the Vietnamese leadership, he said.

The fight against climate change in Vietnam will be largely decided by internal efforts, and foreign financial and technical support will be secondary, said Rémi Genevey, the chief of AFD Vietnam.

Self-determination

“An important message for Vietnam, and other countries as well, is to look at what you know and what you can do yourself for solutions, because fighting climate change is not all about technology and money, but about many other internal factors like better organization and new rules for buildings and homes to reduce CO2 emissions,” said Emmanuel Ly-Batallan, Consul General of France.

“I think Vietnam has many capable researchers and research centers to work on preventing the adverse impact of climate change, as the country has many good examples of local people with good knowledge about fighting against or adapting to climate change,” the diplomat said.

For example, there is a bamboo growing project that is helping to store more CO2 in the body and complex root systems of the plant, while providing materials for making handicraft products in the southern province of Binh Duong, he said.

“You can ask for support and technology transfer from foreign donors and organizations, and this is good, but relying on others, who do not know as much about Vietnam as you do, to change your way of life is not as effective as doing it yourself,” Consul General Ly-Batallan said.

“After three years living in Hanoi and one year in Ho Chi Minh City, I’m confident that with Vietnamese dedication, competence and energy that I understand, Vietnam can build on that to design its own solutions effectively.”

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