Vietnam Mekong Delta May Need Nearly $7B for Climate Change Response: WB

It may cost Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region between $4.7 billion and $6.7 billion to give smart responses to climate change in 2021-2025, The Leader newswire cited the World Bank (WB) as estimating. The region is determined as one of the most vulnerable areas by climate change, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) predicted that by 2050, between 60% and 75% of areas of several localities might be underwater. Currently, many policies for the regional development remain scattered and unsynchronized, the WB said, illustrating that those about climate change, the use of land and clean water, transport, urbanization, and investment show inefficiency and do not take into account extra costs. WB recommended the Vietnamese government consider deploying some tools that have been widely applied in other countries to address its financial target under Resolution 120 on sustainable regional development. Fiscal distribution should be made based on added factors, including ecological or climatic indicators, the organization tipped. Other measures, such as carbon pricing, risk-sharing instruments, green banks-credit-bonds, need to be taken, apart from integrated tools, to mobilize capital for climate change response. (The Leader, theleader)