PrefacePrefaceThe purpose of this document is to inform policy makers, community leaders and other concerned individuals in Vietnam and elsewhere about one of the global environmental issues which will affect the lives and livelihoods of the people of Vietnam in years and decades to come.
Global environmental change is the term used to describe the large-scale problems that have been created by the ill-judged use of the Earth's resources during the development of industrial society over the past three centuries.
As a result of over-exploitation of the water, air and land of the planet, humanity faces climatic change, sea level rise and ozone depletion, species extinctions and the loss of biodiversity, soil erosion and desertification.
According to Dr Ha Nghiep, Assistant to the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, "humanity has abused the process of improving nature, posing danger to the ecology and creating a threat which the present as well as future generations have to endeavour to overcome."
Vietnam has only played a small part in creating these problems and faces many other challenges, but it cannot avoid the consequences of global change. Long-term development plans will not be sustainable if they do not take into account the possibility of climate change, sea level rise, biodiversity loss and the many other impacts of global environmental change.
For a nation such as Vietnam, responding to global change is complicated by many factors.
For example, scientific uncertainties mean that it can be difficult to identify how a particular geographical region or sector of activities might be affected. Because of more immediate development priorities, the human, technical and financial resources needed to identify and implement appropriate policies may not be available.
Despite these difficulties, prompt action is needed.
This briefing document presents a practical assessment of the threat of one aspect of global change - climate change and sea level rise caused by greenhouse gas emissions - to assist the formulation of sustainable policies which are appropriate to the present-day needs and capabilities of Vietnam.
The production of this briefing document is the result of collaboration between the Center for Environment Research Education and Development (Hanoi, Vietnam), the International Institute for Environment and Development (London, United Kingdom) and the Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, (Norwich, United Kingdom). The material presented is largely based on research and policy analysis conducted by Vietnamese experts. Material not otherwise attributed has been written by the editors.
"Introduction: Global Warming"
Index