More fund for climate change response  Around 6,000 communes which are mostly vulnerable to climate change will get US$5 million to mitigate natural disaster risks. This is part of the Project on “Raising institutional capacity on management of natural disaster risks in Viet Nam, especially climate change-related risks” - Second phase. The project was sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Program. In 2012-2016, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development works with the Viet Nam Red Cross, the Viet Nam Women Union and the Oxfam in Viet Nam to implement the project. The project will support institutional building at central and local levels to develop legal policies in favor of disaster risk mitigation. Under the project, 20 provinces in the areas which are mostly affected by natural disasters will formulate their action plans in response to natural disasters. In addition, the project will assist the Natural Disaster Management Center and the provincial Committees on Flood and Storm Control in supervising community-based risk management programs. It also takes into consideration other factors such as gender and most vulnerable subjects including immigrants as well as ethnic minority people.   Statistics show that Viet Nam has lost 1-1.5% of GDP yearly to natural disasters over the last 20 years. In 1990-2009, the country ranked 5th in the world in terms of losses in lives and property to natural disasters. Source: VGP