The Can Tho Steering Committee for Climate Change recently made the decision to create the maps in order to identify areas which will be impacted the most by climate change and minimise the consequences of natural disasters.

With technical support provided by the World Bank (WB), the new urban area in the south of Can Tho river, Tra Noc ward and other ancient wards in the city centre will each have a set of maps which include four digital maps on current material facilities, economic regions, the history of natural calamities in the past, and a map including future development plans.

These maps are expected to be used to develop priority programmes on coping with climate change and to call for investment and assistance, according to the WB.

Ky Quang Vinh, director of the city’s Natural Resources and Environment Monitoring Centre, said the steering committee chose those three locations for the initial mapping, because they had high residential density, important infrastructure and were considered most vulnerable to climate change.

“Creating a scenario for people to cope with climate change based on the maps is urgent. The sooner the risks of climate change are uncovered, the sooner people are provided with guidelines to prevent and mitigate the consequences of climate change,” said Vinh. He said the set of maps would definitely be completed by the end of the month despite lack of staff and financial shortages.

The WB has already published a handbook detailing plans to make Can Tho, Ha Noi, and Dong Hoi the nation’s first climate-change resilient cities by reducing vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters.

This practical guide to reducing disaster risk is meant to provide city planners, administrators and communities with a better understanding of climate change.

By 2100, the average temperature in Viet Nam would increase by 3 degrees Celsius and the sea level would rise by an additional one metre, predicted director of the Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment Tran Thuc.

“Then, the entire Mekong Delta would be inundated and 1,700sq.km of the Red River Delta would be affected,” said Thuc.