A programme to heighten the capacity of the agricultural sector to meet climate change challenges during the 2008 - 20 period was officially announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Friday.
The goal of the programme is to ensure safety and stability for residents in coastal, mountainous areas, central and Mekong Delta provinces.
It aims to maintain 3.8 million hectares for rice cultivation of two crops each year, protect dyke systems, infrastructure facilities as well as public works.
To achieve this goal, the ministry will set up detailed action plans and come up with policies to support sustainable production in areas most affected by natural disasters.
A main task of the programme is to establish national technical standards on master plans, designs and construction for infrastructure facilities in the agricultural sector.
It also seeks to improve research capabilities and forecast impacts of climate change for agriculture, irrigation, forestry, aquaculture and rural development projects.
It will also speed up flood prevention and research projects for central provinces, the Hong and Mekong deltas as well as forest protection and development in upstream areas.
Viet Nam is one of the countries in the world facing a large number of natural disasters every year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, over the last 10 years, Viet Nam has lost 1-1.5 per cent of its GDP and 700 lives each year due to natural disasters.
"The Vietnamese Government has paid attention to reducing and coping with climate change. The country has released a national programme to deal with the situation. From this, each ministry will develop its own plans," said Nguyen Xuan Hoc, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development