VGP - Climate change is one of the biggest challenges to mankind in the 21st century. The escalation in both frequency and severity of natural disasters and other extreme climate phenomena is the talk of the day in many countries around the world. Responding to climate change requires not only efforts from individual countries, but also the joint actions on the global scale for both mitigation and adaptation.

PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng made the remarks on the official website of the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15).

Prior to COP15, PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng sent a message, calling for greater consensus and stronger actions at the event, where over 110 heads of states and 30,000 delegates are expected to figure out new ways to deal with climate change.

Việt Nam urges all countries to join hands in protecting the “roof of the world.”

Developed countries should provide proper financial and technical supports for developing countries, which are badly-affected by climate change and sea level rise, via new regulations on finance and technology as well as the disbursement of the United Nations adaptation fund.

Meanwhile, developing countries should participate in the joint efforts by formulating and realizing their action plans on voluntarily reducing carbon dioxide emissions for sustainable growth; and making full use of preferential credits, technical transfer and international donations.

The international community should establish a coordinating mechanism and an assistance program which would help the worst-affected countries to mitigate severe impacts of climate change, especially sea level rise.

The financial issue and cooperative mechanism agreed in COP15 are expected to guarantee that every country shares fair responsibilities for coping with climate change. Hence, Vietnamese people will have chances to access to financial and technical sources to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change in their lives. 

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol are fundamental legal documents, paving the way for the international community to tackle the global issue. However, it is necessary to amend the Kyoto Protocol to make stronger commitments to reduction of carbon dioxide. These quantitative commitments have to be verified in order to prevent the global temperature from rising by 2^oC at the end of this century. 

According to Việt Nam, solutions to sea level rise are regarded very important to secure sustainable development. 

Joining COP15, the Vietnamese delegation plans to attend all formal and informal rounds of talks; hold bilateral and multilateral contacts; host a seminar on “Việt Nam’s responses to climate change”; and introduce its pilot projects on climate change.