Special edition  » The climate for change

Ordinary people must be informed about the relationship between the unusual weather phenomena in the past few years and climate change to know how to respond to a rapidly changing environment.

Climate change is a serious threat to social development, people’s lives and the environment. During recent years, climate change-related natural calamities have caused gigantic damage to Vietnam. Specifically, in 2007, residents in Ho Chi Minh City and several southern provinces encountered the strongest tides in 48 years. However, such records have been beaten this year with even stronger tides.

During the same period 2007-2009, central provinces’ residents suffered from dozens of serious floods, which caused massive damage. Huge floods have also taken lives and assets in northern mountainous provinces, particularly due to landslides.

As people increasingly have to cope with serious calamities due to climate change, it is essential to raise their awareness about how to safeguard themselves from natural threats.

Climate change education has recently been introduced in Vietnam as an important part of the public’s awareness raising programmes. Promoting climate change education and awareness has been recognised as society’s responsibility, with information activities having been strengthened across the board, from central to grassroots levels, entailing the provision of general information for the general public and in-depth knowledge for selective audiences.

In recent years, Vietnam has incorporated environmental education into schools’ curricular, especially at the tertiary and high-school level. “People and the Environment”, “Basic Environmental Awareness” and “Ecology” are now compulsory subjects in relevant universities. Environment and climate change education will be undertaken throughout the education and training systems.

Many seminars and short-term training courses have been held for policy-makers and senior managers from the Central Party Committee Office, the National Assembly Office, the Government Office, provincial people’s committees, social organisations and businesses.

However, these activities need to be strengthened and foreign financial support will be very helpful for capacity-building projects. The establishment of more climate change research institutions also needs to be integrated into capacity-building projects given the small number of such institutions.

Awareness raising focused on the NTP

Under the National Target Programme to Respond to Climate Change (NTP) ratified by Vietnam’s prime minister, the nation considers the response to climate change as the responsibility of the entire political system and the whole of society.

With awareness raising and human

resources development identified one of the NTP’s focal points, since 2010, action plans will be created and followed in localities and sensitive sectors highly vulnerable to climate change.

Awareness raising action plans will also be implemented throughout the education and training system and related documents will be widely distributed. The Vietnamese government has targeted at least 10 per cent of the population and 65 per cent of civil servants to have basic climate change understanding and knowledge of its effects by 2010. By 2015, the figures are expected to increase to 80 per cent and 100 per cent respectively.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) has started to train provincial and district staff, providing basic theoretical and practical knowledge of the causes and effects and responses to climate change. The MoNRE has also attempted to help provincial Natural Resources and Environment Departments to build, implement and manage local-level action plans as part of the efforts to undertake the NTP.

Vietnam’s response to climate change needs to be done in a global context. International experience, overseas financial assistance and technological support and know-how will bring benefits and opportunities to local people.

Nonetheless, responses to climate change should begin from daily activities and people’s awareness and behaviour, and needs to focus on short-term targets to adapt to climate change

and natural calamities to fit the specific development requirements of different localities and communities.

Capacity-building and awareness raising are to enable the public to access information and analyse climate change related problems. These activities will be aimed at all stakeholders, including state authorities, the private sector and non-government organisations as well.

All ministry and government line agencies, particularly the ministries of Education and Training, and Information and Communications should bear the responsibility of developing training curricular for various courses and learners, transfering technologies, including related documents, and using the media for promoting climate change awareness.

Improving awareness is an experience exchanging process through which ordinary people can learn more about their needs, threats, vulnerable areas and sectors, and the economics of climate change.

Yet, they also need technical assistance and objective views from external experts. In return, the experts can discover new ideas and even practical experiences in working together with local people and authorities.