Hanoi (VNA) – The Embassy of Japan and UNICEF Vietnamhas announced a four-year project to enhance resilience to disaster risks andclimate change for children.

The project aims to strengthen the capacity of institutionsto support child-centred and climate-sensitive actions through policy, advocacyand regulatory interventions, which will benefit children in Vietnam.

The project interventions are designed to enhance thecapacity of key sectors to effectively respond to children's needs in anintegrated manner, with focus on climate change, nutrition, water andsanitation, social and child protection.

“The climate crisis is a child’s rights crisis,” said RanaFlowers, UNICEF Representative in Vietnam. “Vietnam has been facing climatechange related natural disasters such as drought and saltwater intrusion in theMekong Delta Region and consecutive storms that caused heavy floods andlandslides in Central Region last year.”

“Children are the least responsible for climate change, yetthey will bear the greatest burden of its impact,” she emphasised.

UNICEF’s global report issued this year on the Children’sClimate Risk Index shows that children and young people in Vietnam are amongthose most at risk of the impacts of climate change, threatening their health,education, and protection. Many communities affected by climate change havepre-existing vulnerabilities and have been severely impacted by the COVID-19pandemic.

“Vietnam has its own vulnerability to the impact of climatechange, and in fact, we have already witnessed the damages caused by severedroughts, heavy floods and landslides in Vietnam,” said Yamada Takio, Ambassador of Japan to Vietnam.

“We also need to give due consideration to vulnerable peopleincluding children, by improving coordination between the local community andthe authorities of the related sectors such as health, sanitation, water, andeducation,” he stated.

The project plans to equip children, families andcommunities with knowledge and life skills to cope with climate change andnatural disasters in Central and the Mekong Delta regions, especially in SocTrang, Ca Mau, and Bac Lieu provinces.

An estimated 20,000 people including 9,000 children willbenefit from increased access to improved water, sanitation, and hygieneservices, and 10,000 children under five years old will be screened for severeacute malnutrition for possible interventions by 2025.

Children will play a central role in this project as agentsof change for a safe, clean, and green community. The project aims atdeveloping climate change and environmental policies with and for children,enabling children’s participation, and reducing children's vulnerabilities anddeprivations while advancing progress against international commitments such,particularly the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework and the SustainableDevelopment Goals./.