Dak Lak (VNS/VNA) - The Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen) regionwould be affected by the El Nino phenomenon this year, Tran Trung Thanh, DeputyDirector of Hydro-Meteorological Station in the region, has said.

He told the news website vov.vn that in the course of the dry seasonlasting from November to April, some areas would suffer serious watershortages.

In the eastern and south-eastern districts of Gia Lai province and the easternpart of Dak Lak province, the possibility of serious water shortages and severedrought were likely to occur, Thanh warned.

In those areas, rainfall in 2018 was about 60-70 percent against the averagelevel in previous years.

Last year’s water levels in reservoirs were much lower than previous years. Atthe end of last year, serious water shortage occurred in the Ba River,according to Thanh, and Ka Nak Hydropower Reservoir’s water levels were only at10 percent of its capacity.

“The region is now under the influence of El Nino. In February, Marchand April, rainfall was forecast to be lower than usual, and the rainy seasonwas expected to come later than usual.”

Climate change is no longer a small issue. Its adverse effects are increasingat an alarming rate, and affecting all areas of life.

According to the International Water Resources Association, Vietnam was amongthe water shortage-facing nation group. About 63 percent of the total flow ofrivers came from neighbouring countries.

The country was also one of the five countries most seriously affected byclimate change.

In the northern delta and central coastal regions, high rainfall has causedflooding, but poor infrastructure had affected water sources.
In addition, pollution in downstream areaswas making the problem more serious.

Surface water pollution in rivers, lakes, canals and ditches in urban areas andresidential areas was still common. Air pollution in urban areas, in industrialzones and handicraft villages remains high while plastic waste was alarming.Many unexpected storms, landslides, prolonged heavy rain, flash floods inmountainous areas had caused significant damage to both life and property inthe localities.

The biggest flood in the Mekong River since 2011 occurred, causing seriouscoastal erosion.

Talking about natural disaster prevention and climate change response, DeputyMinister of Science and Technology Pham Cong Tac said the negative impacts ofclimate change were on each person, each family and every nation in the world.To minimise the negative impacts, every region, every country needed to worktogether. It would require community communication so that every Vietnamesecitizen had a sense of environmental protection to cope with climate change,along with technological innovation and application that ensured sustainableeconomic development.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha said the country’sclimate change response and natural disasters-prevention scheme needed about 15.5trillion VND (664.8 million USD), including 1.5 trillion VND (64.3 million USD) for emergency recovery of rivers and coastal erosion; 3.7 trillion VND (158.7million USD) for medium-term projects in Mekong Delta provinces.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has signed a resolution on sustainabledevelopment in the Mekong Delta as part of an effort to cope with climatechange. Under the resolution, by 2050, the region’s sustainability would beensured with high-quality agriculture, eco-tourism, services and industry,especially the processing industry. The latter would increase the value andcompetitiveness of the area’s agricultural products. The infrastructure systemof the delta would also be greatly improved by that time.-VNS/VNA