The World Bank (WB) will help Vietnam strengthen its climate change and green growth agenda with a 90-million-U.S. dollar credit for policy reforms, said WB Vietnam on Saturday.

This is the first in a series of three credits that will support climate change and green growth policy actions in Vietnam, said the WB, adding that it will fund implementation of policies to improve integrated coastal zone planning and management, public investments related to climate change and green growth, protection of water resources and greater water use efficiency, as well as coastal forest development.

In addition, the funding also supports policies in transportation and industrial production with an aim to improve air quality, as well as in energy efficiency and renewables that will mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, according to the WB.

In Vietnam, since the end of 2015, the drought and decrease in groundwater levels have resulted in the most extensive saltwater intrusion in 90 years, the worst since records began.

While saltwater intrusion is an annual phenomenon, this year it started nearly two months earlier than normal and has penetrated an average 20-30 kilometer further inland, according to a joint rapid assessment undertaken by Vietnamese government, United Nations and non-governmental organizations in March.

As of May 20, 2016, in such areas of Vietnam, as many as 288,300 households were short of water, while 249,900 hectares of rice, 19,000 hectares of vegetables, 30,500 hectares of fruit trees, 149,700 hectares of industrial trees and 6,900 hectares of aquaculture were damaged.

Total damages were estimated to cost around 15.2 trillion Vietnamese dong (over 681.6 million U.S. dollars), according to Vietnam's General Statistics Office. Endit

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