This budgetary support comes in addition to the 10-billion-Yen loan (around 85 million euro) already granted by the Japanese government to support this initiative, said a press release issued by the French Embassy to Vietnam on May 14.

This programme aims at promoting the development of a legal and regulatory framework to foster climate change mitigation and adaptation measures as well as facilitating the implementation of pilot projects.

If the sea-level rises 1 metre, close to 5 percent of Vietnam’s land, 11 percent of the country’s population and, 7 percent of its agricultural land would be affected.

Vietnam’s GDP would suffer a 10 percent drop, the press release said.

To deal with these challenges, the Vietnamese Government has approved the National Target Programme to Respond to Climate Change (NTP-RCC) in December 2008.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and AFD will support NTP-RCC implementation through their commitment to financing SP-RCC.