News
Mekong Delta steps up climate change fight

The Cửu Long (Mekong) River Delta needs to be more innovative in production and development to grow sustainably in the context of climate change and environmental and integration challenges, a conference heard. Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Trần Văn Tùng told the Mekong Connect-CEO ...
Facing donors, Vietnam urged to rethink coal-fueled growth

Vietnam seeks financial support for its ‘black to green’ transition, but international partners say what’s needed is better policy. International development partners and donors have called on Vietnam to commit to bigger greenhouse gas emission reductions, warning that fueling growth with coal will hurt the ...
Vanishing Mekong? shifting tropical storms threaten a great river delta

Recent changes in the patterns of tropical storms are threatening the future of the Mekong River delta in Vietnam. This is one of the world’s great deltas. It is home to more than 20m people and the rice that is grown on its fertile land ...
Mother Nature and a hydropower onslaught aren’t the Mekong Delta’s only problems

Early this year, many Mekong Delta farmers fought a losing battle against an epic drought, the worst since 1926. Was the drought a harbinger of climate change? Perhaps it was, but more certainly it was an artifact of El Niño. The same ocean-warming phenomenon that ...
PM welcomes new WB Country Director in Vietnam

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc congratulated Ousmane Dione on his appointment as new Country Director for the World Bank in Vietnam at a reception at the Government’s headquarters in Hanoi on October 4. He said the WB is important to Vietnam and bilateral relations are being ...
Warmer oceans bringing more severe tropical cyclones to land

Human-caused climate change has made certain typhoons more frequent and severe. Tropical cyclones can cause devastating and lethal damage to East and Southeast Asian countries. But accurately tracking changes in the frequency and intensity of typhoons is challenging in part because the data on these storms hasn’t ...
Why natural gas is a bridge fuel to nowhere

For decades, coal-fired power dominated the U.S. energy supply—and was a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. But a combination of factors including cheap natural gas, stronger pollution controls, increasing investment in renewable power and improved energy efficiency have pushed coal’s share of the energy market ...
How to increase REDD+ benefits to indigenous peoples and other traditional forest communities

To meet the target of limiting global warming to 2-degrees-Celsius established in the Paris Climate Agreement, it is crucial to curb tropical deforestation and encourage the reforestation of tropical forests that have already been cut down. Not only is tropical deforestation and forest degradation the source ...
Climate change could cause rice prices to nearly double by 2030: study

Climate change is threatening the Cambodian rice industry, and it is marginalised communities that will be worst affected unless the government takes action, according to a new study. The study’s authors, Sokuntheavy Hong and Jun Furuya, took historical climatic, socioeconomic and rice-yield data as their benchmark, ...
Human-induced climate change began earlier than previously thought

Signs of warming appear as early as 1830 say researchers, whose analysis will help build accurate baseline of temperature before influence of human activity. Continents and oceans in the northern hemisphere began to warm with industrial-era fossil fuel emissions nearly 200 years ago, pushing back the ...