ASEAN to take immediate steps to combat drought in SE Asia
By Bồ Xuân Hiệp
ASEAN-member countries have vowed to take immediate action to resolve problems caused by worsening drought in Southeast Asia, especially in Việt Nam’s Mekong Delta region, which is especially susceptible to global warming.
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Speaking at a meeting on Tuesday in Cần Thơ, Intani Nur Kusuma, senior officer at the Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance Division of the ASEAN Secretariat, said that a declaration on drought would be adopted by leaders at the ASEAN Summit to be held in Việt Nam in November next year.
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To mitigate the impact, drought risk assessment and early-warning services should be improved through the sharing of data from space-based technologies.
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“Regional co-operation, especially among nations benefiting from the Mekong River, is needed to support national efforts to manage drought through data, technology, innovations, policy and financing options” [Tiziana Bonapace, director of the Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESACP)) said.
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