coverage of resource and environment issues in the vietnamese press

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This article was downloaded by: [The Aga Khan University] On: 11 October 2014, At: 03:56 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Asian Geographer Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rage20 COVERAGE OF RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENT ISSUES IN THE VIETNAMESE PRESS Le Thi Van HUE a a Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES) , Vietnam National University Published online: 03 May 2011. To cite this article: Le Thi Van HUE (1999) COVERAGE OF RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENT ISSUES IN THE VIETNAMESE PRESS, Asian Geographer, 18:1-2, 111-122, DOI: 10.1080/10225706.1999.9684052 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10225706.1999.9684052 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: COVERAGE OF RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENT ISSUES IN THE VIETNAMESE PRESS

This article was downloaded by: [The Aga Khan University]On: 11 October 2014, At: 03:56Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office:Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Asian GeographerPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscriptioninformation:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rage20

COVERAGE OF RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTISSUES IN THE VIETNAMESE PRESSLe Thi Van HUE aa Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES) , VietnamNational UniversityPublished online: 03 May 2011.

To cite this article: Le Thi Van HUE (1999) COVERAGE OF RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENT ISSUES IN THEVIETNAMESE PRESS, Asian Geographer, 18:1-2, 111-122, DOI: 10.1080/10225706.1999.9684052

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10225706.1999.9684052

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”)contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and ourlicensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, orsuitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publicationare the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor &Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independentlyverified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilitieswhatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantialor systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and usecan be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: COVERAGE OF RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENT ISSUES IN THE VIETNAMESE PRESS

COVERAGE OF RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENT ISSUES IN THE VIETNAMESE PRESS

Le Thi Van HUE Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES) Vietnam National University

Abstract: This paper reports thefirst survey of coverage of resource and environment issues in the Vietnamese press. It provides a snapshot of current attention to environmental problems and a baseline against which to measure future change. A systematic content analysis is made of the national daily Nhan Dan, the most influential newspaper in the country. Thirty out of a total of 21 0 articles were selected at random for intensive review. Topics covered include agriculture, biodiversity consen*ation, environmental education, environmental protection, environmental r i sk , forestry, urbanization, and the urban environment. The level of attention given to the environment in Vietnam's press appears to be less than in a comparable study of Malaysia from the 1970s. Furthermore, although Vietnamese journalists tried their best in the reporting of environmental topics, most articles were handicapped by low intelligibility and lack of scientzfic accuracy.

Although many scientists believe that public concern with environmental problems has increased markedly in Vietnam over the past several years, no empirical studies have been made of this question. This paper reports the first survey of coverage of resource and environment issues in the Vietnamese press. It serves to provide both a snapshot of current attention to environmental problems and a baseline against which to measure future change.

Introduction

In Vietnam until recently, ecological problems associated with development were of concern only to a relatively small group of scientists and academics. Discussion of environmental and resource issues was carried on only in the scientific newspaper, which was called Khoa hoc va Doi song (Science and Lge). Most of the articles were directly translated from foreign magazines without screening. The terminology used was highly technical and strange to a majority of people, including well-educated non- specialists.

In recent years, the Vietnamese government has made strong efforts to industrialize and modernize the country. Many leaders have recognized that long-term success depends on maintaining the integrity and productivity of the natural environment. Therefore, conserving resources and protecting the environment have been assigned a high priority by the government. This concern seems to be accompanied by increasing coverage of environmental issues in the mass media. For example, the press has begun to carry extensive reports on the current status of forests in Vietnam, and the relationship between forest loss, reduction in groundwater, and

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112 Resource and Environmental Issues in Vietnamese Press

losses of rice crops and fisheries downstream. A number of television shows also feature the state of the environment.

No studies have been done on the extent to which newspapers influence public opinion in Vietnam. It seems probable, however, that the quantity of newspaper coverage of resources and environmental issues provides insight into the probable direction in which Vietnamese public opinion will move in the near future. This reflects the fact that basic literacy is very high with more than 80 per cent of the Vietnamese people able to read a newspaper. It thus seems worthwhile to review the coverage of resource and environmental issues in the press for 1997.

To study coverage of resource and environmental issues in the wide range of mass media in Vietnam would be a major undertaking, well beyond the resources available for this study. Therefore, this study is based on systematic analysis of only a single newspaper, the national daily Nhan Dan (The People). Although there are many different newspapers published in different localities in the country, the choice of Nhan Dan for this analysis is not an arbitrary one. Nhan Dan is the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam (hereafter, the Party). It can be said that Nhan Dan is the most powerful newspaper in the country with the widest circulation, 175,000. It is read regularly by party members, central government officials and authorities at the local levels, including hamlet leaders in rural areas, scholars and scientists, and members of the military and police. It is the only newspaper which reaches those who live in remote areas where the newspaper is displayed in public places, for example, schools, libraries, hospitals, market places, and the People's Committees, for everybody to read. Additionally, all articles are read daily on public loudspeakers to provide information of what is happening not only in the country, but also in the world, to those who are not able to read or who don't have a chance to read the newspaper during the day. It therefore seems likely that the extent to which Nhan Dan devotes coverage to resource and environmental issues will greatly influenc~ public perception of such issues, especially among political elites, at both nationhl and at local levels.

Content Analysis of Press Coverage of Resource and Environment Concerns

A content analysis was done of the types of natural resource and environment issues that were of concern to Nhan Dan in 1997. The basis assumption is that a topic that is discussed frequently and at length is more significant than a topic mentioned infrequently.

We selected 210 articles published from March through November 1997 for analysis because copies of the newspaper were readily available for that period, not because of any particular environmental event that might bias the selection. Each newspaper was carefully read and all references to natural resource and environment concerns marked. We then measured each topic using the basic space unit, a standard unit of content analysis that is an area one column wide and one-twentieth of a column long (Budd, Thorp and Donohew, 1967: 28-29). We also measured total space devoted to other news (excluding advertisements and television programming) for comparative purposes.

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The articles accounted for more than 1.9 per cent of total news space. Great variation was shown in the amount of space and the number of articles devoted to different resource and environment issues. Agriculture, environmental risk and forestry received the greatest amount of attention. Figure 1 shows the number of basic space units devoted to each topic.

a) Agriculture was mentioned in 40 separate pieces that constituted 18.9 per cent of space devoted to resource and environment issues and 0.36 per cent of total news space.

b) Biodiversity took up 10.7 per cent of space devoted to resource and environment issues and was mentioned 29 times.

c) Environmental education was discussed in three articles constituting 0.7 per cent of space devoted to resource and environment issues. This lack of coverage is surprising given the fact that environmental education has been introduced widely in schools and universities.

d) Environmental protection took up 6.6 per cent of space devoted to resource and environment issues and was mentioned eleven times.

e) Environmental risk was ranked first as the most covered issue being mentioned in 37 articles accounting for 21 per cent of space devoted to resource and environment issues and 0.4 per cent of total news space.

f) Forestry was the third most covered issue being mentioned in 34 articles and taking up 16 per cent of the space devoted to resource and environment issues and 0.3 per cent of total news space.

g) Urbanization was the subject of 2 articles taking up 0.8 per cent of space for resource and environment issues.

h) Urban environment was mentioned in 28 articles accounting for 10.4 per cent of resource and environment issues and 0.2 per cent of total news space.

Coverage Given to Different Resource and Environment Issues

Of the 210 articles on resource and environment issues, 30 were selected at random for intensive qualitative analysis, dealing with each of the above 8 topics. These will be discussed in turn.

Agriculture

Three articles in the sample were devoted to agriculture and employment creation, a major area of concern to Nhan Dan because of the need to alleviate rural poverty by generating local income. Emphasis was placed on the need for crop diversification, especially for cash crops for export.

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Resource and Environmental Issues in Vietnamese Press

ural D

Urban En!

Pollution

isasters 21

Water Resources 4.8ghers

Con! Natu

6%

tal HE

sctior

Forest Resources 16%

Figure 1. Space devoted to R & E issues in Vietnam in 1997.

Socio-economic development was linked to the household economy and the need to diversify Vietnamese agriculture, which has been tied to growing rice and cash crops for export by expanding total cultivated areas. The household economy was the topic of a number of articles. Farmers have widely adopted a diversified farm economy of grain, fish and livestock, known as the VAC (garden, pond and stable) model, that has helped improve their living standards.

Particular stress was placed on developing cash crops for export, especially in the upland areas. Forest products, the main export products there in the past, have become less viable with depletion of sources and the government's closing of remaining natural forests. As a result, other cash crops have found a niche. In particular, the area devoted to coffee beans has been expanded as favorable treatment has been given to farmers growing them. Growth in such cash crops has created jobs, ensured incomes and stabilized the livelihoods of thousands of people.

Exports of non-timber forest products from the highlands were also addressed. The articles demonstrated that jobs, food, and especially markets for their products need to be provided ethnic minority groups who live around the forests in order to induce them to protect the forests and stop further shifting cultivation ("slash and bum" agriculture). Emphasis was placed on the need for the government to create more favorable conditions for wood products made of non-timber products -- farmers' products were not bought unless the markets were stable.

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Biodiversity conservation

Biodiversity conservation was mentioned in six articles, as was habitat preservation. It was pointed out that loss of natural forests and habitat degradation led to extinction of a number of species, such as tigers, lion, bear and rhinoceros, among others. Additionally, articles claimed that degradation of the environment resulted in natural catastrophes, such as floods, drought and pests, all of which in turn caused severe consequences for human beings. The messages to the reader were that the government's forest land allocation policy was correct and would not only benefit local people, but also wildlife, and that people and wildlife could coexist in harmony. Coordination among different sectors and disciplines, and local participation combined with professional guidance, were stressed as offering the solution to the problems.

Although nature reserves and national parks have been established throughout the country to better protect wild animals, which are of scientific, economic, social and tourist value, an inventory last year revealed that the country had 12,000 species of wild animals, of which 7,000 species had been identified. These included 275 mammals, 800 birds, 180 reptiles, 80 amphibians and 2470 fishes, accounting for 10 per cent of the world's total identified species of birds and mammals.

Particular stress was placed on protection and management of these species and medicinal plants, as well in a rational and scientific way that would benefit the country. The fact that wildlife had been daily shot, trapped, traded, exported and killed illegally at restaurants was a major concern of the articles. This resulted in extinction of many endangered species. It should be noted that even though the government had passed regulations on protection and management of wildlife, illegal shooting of these species increased at an alarming rate. A number of species faced extinction because their habitats were destroyed as a result of logging, shifting cultivation, and clearance of natural forests. The articles called for the urgent development of action plans to protect wildlife.

To protect and develop forest fauna and flora, the government issued its Forest Protection and Development Law and Decision 18/HDBT, listing endangered species. The Prime Minister has recently issued Instruction No. 359, on urgent measures to protect wildlife.

The government has encouraged increased research to find alternative crops to opium in the northern uplands of Vietnam. Robbery and theft are increasing throughout the country as a result of the widespread use of opiates by both senior citizens and teenagers. All of these are considered social evils.

Several articles dealt with the overharvesting of lobsters and frogs, both of which could face extinction if urgent action is not taken now. Frog legs and lobsters are gourmet foods that fetch a high price in both domestic and international markets. As a result, lobster and frog farming has become very popular in the central coastal areas and in the Mekong delta. Although this is quite profitable, it comes at a cost because immature lobster and frogs are collected from the wild to be raised in captivity. As consumption has grown, the number of households raising lobster and

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frogs has increased. The number of immature lobsters and frogs in the wild has been greatly reduced, raising the possibility of extinction in the near future and with it the collapse of production. A sustainable solution can only be obtained by developing artificial breeding, which is presently absent.

Environmental education

Environmental education was mentioned in only one article. The Environmental Law has been in effect for four years. It is the time to look back at what has been done, upon which lessons can be drawn, so that appropriate environmental protection can be designed for each locality and industrial zone. Environmental education was stressed as offering the solution to most environmental problems facing the country. Public awareness of the environment should be heightened in each residential area. This should be considered a primary health care program for the whole community. Enforcement of the Environmental Law should become a must for each individual, as it benefits the community's residents. Introduction of environmental education into schools was not mentioned, however.

Environmental protection

The need to protect the environment was mentioned in three articles. On World Environment Day, the topic was especially highlighted under the title "For a Healthy Environment on Earth". Environmental protection is the job of everyone in Vietnam, especially as our country is facing a particularly difficult tradeoff between growth and the environment. Vietnam's forests have declined from 43 per cent of the land area in 1943 to 28 per cent in 1993. The Vietnam-US War is reported to have destroyed nature and people's health, for example, through the spraying of Agent Orange. Air and water pollution are obvious in areas located around poorly equipped factories and industrial zones. Waste water and solid waste management, clean water supply and sources of energy were challenges facing the government. The need for environmental protection has become more urgent than ever.

The Party and the government have promulgated laws and policies and engaged in capacity building for environmental protection. The National Assembly passed Vietnam's first Environmental Law in December 1993. Since that time, the private and governmental sectors have become more environmentally aware and environmental protection has been integrated into socio-economic activities, laying the first bricks in the foundation of sustainable development. No research has been done on the effectiveness of the law, however.

Environmental risk

A total of four articles were devoted to environmental risk, focusing on dike repair prior to the rainy season. Dikes play an extremely important role in protecting people, rice paddies, crops and infrastructure from the damage of drought, floods, and typhoons. Vietnam's system of interlaced rivers and streams has dozens of thousands of kilometers of dikes. The central government manages the central dikes while local governments take care of small and coastal dikes. The most critical dikes are located

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in northern provinces, with a total length of more than 7,000 km, 3,000 km of which are managed by the central government. The vital Red River Delta has more than 2,000 km, almost all managed by the central government, since if they were breached serious damages would occur, affecting a huge area.

The weather in Vietnam has been changing over the last few decades. The depletion of the natural forests that used to cover the watersheds has been blamed for the increasingly common natural hazards, such as typhoons, floods and drought, that have caused ever more severe damage. The typhoons and floods of 1996, affecting vast areas of north, central and south Vietnam, left 1,000 people dead and inflicted damage in the thousands of billions of Vietnam Dong (1 VND = USDl3,OOO).

The Party and the government have long put major efforts into the prevention and mitigation of natural hazards. The annual state budget includes allocations for dike repair: 70 billion VND in 1996 and 78 million VND in 1997. Nonetheless, funding for repairs was short in those provinces with the most critical dikes, resulting in patchwork repairs. The articles recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development spend more on dike management, and provide training courses for those in charge of typhoon and flood prevention, including dike protection and patrols.

The subject of oil spills was a new topic in the newspaper, based on the threat of an ecological disaster. Vietnam presently has hundreds of gas and oil exploration and production wells managed by the Vietnam and Russia Gas and Oil Joint Venture, Shell, British Petroleum, Total, Petro-Canada, Ong-India and Enterprises British. According to Mr. Dang Huy Huynh, Director of the Research and Development Center for Petroleum Safety and Environment (Petrovietnam), oil spills and gas leakage can occur in offshore gas and oil exploration and production, no matter how qualified the contractor. Offshore transportation activities have increased in pace with the country's economic development, resulting in increasing numbers of vessels and ships passing through or spending time in port. Consequently, consideration must be given to the risk of oil spills, with their potential to cause economic and environmental havoc.

During the previous five years, 93 accidents were reported in the marine environment. The worst oil spill happened on October 3 1, 1994 when a Singaporean oil tanker hit Saigon Petro's pier while landing to load crude oil, spilling nearly 2,000 tons of oil and petrol into the sensitive ecology of the Nha Be River, causing severe and enduring environmental damage. The oil drifted over an area of 300 km2 and affected the aquaculture on the Nha Be River and agricultural activities of the surrounding areas.

Although Vietnam has passed laws covering the protection of the environment in marine petroleum operations, it still lacks a complete legal framework. Vietnam participates in only four out of 10 International Marine Safety Conventions issued by the International Marine Organization, including the Marine Environment and Marine Compensation Conventions. In consequence, Vietnam was only compensated 4.2 million USD for the oil spill on the Nha Be River, well below the damage caused by the accident and one-tenth what it would have been compensated had it joined the International Convention on Marine Compensation.

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118 Resource and Environmental Issues in Vietnamese Press

According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Sinh, Director of the National Environment Agency, if an average oil spill occurred off the Vietnamese coast, there would be no response as there was no planned course of action. This definitely places the ecology at risk of disasters.

Nhan Dan emphasized the urgent need to participate in all international oil spill conventions. It also called for high priority be given to creating a national oil spill contingency plan to minimize the risks of oil spills and their economic impacts on coastal, sensitive ecological, aquacultural, tourist and salt producing areas, mangroves and river mouth ecosystems. Such a contingency plan has subsequently been submitted to the government.

Forestry

Nhan Dan expressed particular concern for afforestation and the protection of existing forests, with a total of seven articles in the sample devoted to these topics. Particular stress was placed on implementation of Decision 821lTTG to close natural forests, act urgently to protect, restore and develop the rest of the forests, and most importantly, to prosecute criminally those who infringe or fail to implement laws for forest protection and development.

It was reported that despite a major effort, afforestation has not kept pace with deforestation, badly affecting our living conditions. Professional poachers appear to be the most dangerous threat of forest degradation. They live on illegal logging and are ready to fight anybody who tries to stop them. The poachers have killed many foresters, without being punished by law. In 1993, 47 out of 49 forestry agencies reported 67,000 cases of infringement of forest law; of these, 16 per cent or 11,000 cases involved professional poachers. A majority of foresters have been beaten with canes, hammers, or glass bottles or attacked with stones. Many foresters' families have been threatened by poachers who are equipped with modem weapons, means of communication, and transportation. Some of them even carry guns. The article recommended that these poachers should be punished by law as soon as possible. Yet even though there have been many criminal prosecutions it appears that the number of cases is not diminishing.

As forestry stations are in remote areas, neither well-staffed nor well-equipped, they are sitting targets for well-armed and well-organized poachers. A majority of foresters say that they cannot cope with the poor living conditions, and are resentful that those foresters who were killed or injured in action are not recognized as martyrs.

Various governmental sectors and levels do not coordinate effectively in dealing with poachers, resulting in the ineffective punishment and inefficient re- education of poachers. The forestry inventory and planning forces need to improve their coordination with the local government to educate local people about forest protection in order to involve them in the fight against poachers.

The allocation of forested land to households was stressed as offering the solution to most problems of forest destruction. It appears that local participation

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played an important role in forest planting, protection and management in northern Vietnam. The article pointed out that in order to protect and restore better its natural forests, jobs should be created with particular attention paid to income generating activities, especially for ethnic minority groups in remote areas. The role of research in promoting the development and efficient utilization of Vietnamese forests was not mentioned.

Urbanization

Urbanization was mentioned in a single article. Migration from the rural areas is necessary for major urban areas with acute labor shortages , but when uncontrolled it is reported to cause many urban management, education, health care, environmental and aesthetic problems in big cities, especially Hanoi. Since 1986, 22,000 people moved to Hanoi from the countryside. Most of these were farm laborers looking for off-season work, but some of them have intended to reside permanently in the city. Most of the total, 63 per cent, were from the Red River Delta, while 24 per cent were from the midlands and 10 per cent from the center of the country. Most were young and healthy, between 13 and 39 years old. Most had low educational levels and were engaged in poorly paid heavy work. The Hanoi People's Committee established a committee to take charge of the employment of migrant farm labor. Job application stations were set up on a pilot basis in Hai Ba Trung District, where labor cards were given to those who were provided jobs.

The article also mentioned the need to formulate a national rural development policy in order to create well-paying jobs and to diversify agriculture. At the same time, it recommended that the city take measures to manage voluntary migration.

Urban environment

The urban environment and improvement of urban infrastructure were of major concern to the newspaper. Five articles in the sample were devoted to the topic, with stress placed on wastewater, urban landscape, open green space and social order in big cities.

Wastewater. Hanoi is facing a big problem with its wastewater -- its drainage systems are very old, some built during the French period with no subsequent maintenance. Hanoi's population has been growing rapidly while its infrastructure is very poorly developed. Furthermore, Hanoi has not developed a master plan, so construction has been poorly managed and supervised, with new residential and manufacturing areas mushrooming all over the city, often affecting existing houses adversely.

Hanoi consumes 350,000 m3 of clean water a day and discharges a comparable volume of waste water into its underground sewage systems, rivers, canals, and ponds. The city's drainage system, much of it built in 1939 and seriously degraded, the rest totally unrnaintained, is able to drain only 40 per cent of the wastewater produced.

Hanoi is known for its many natural lakes, averaging 2-3 m in depth, which not only improve the landscape of the city, but also play an important role in regulating

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and treating wastewater. For the last few years, the city's drainage systems have been overloaded as the number of the rivers and canals has dramatically declined, leading to increasing pollution and floods over large areas when it rains.

Most of the city's wastewater is not treated. Domestic wastewater is given primary treatment only and then discharged directly into the rivers, canals and lakes. Industrial wastewater from 5,318 industrial manufacturing enterprises is discharged untreated into the city's drainage system.

Although the Hanoi Water Drainage Company has put a lot of effort into dredging water gates, lakes, ponds and rivers, there has been little improvement in the system's capacity or heavy pollution load. It was recognized that the funds needed to clean up the environment and treat wastewater will be much greater than the cost of prevention would have been at the outset.

Drainage. At the end of 1996 the government approved a project designed to improve the drainage system and to build a wastewater treatment system for Hanoi. As a temporary measure to stop further discharge of trash and construction waste into the city's drainage system, the Hanoi People's Committee has issued a decree to fine individuals and organizations who do such dumping up to 3 million VND.

Urban landscape. Hanoi has reduced its number of trees and lakes, which maintain air circulation, freshen the air and drain wastewater. West Lake is one of the most affected areas. The most recent figures from the Department of Science, Technology and Environment showed that over the previous five years, 40 ha of the lake was filled in by the people living around it. This is an astonishing rate, given that it took over 900 years for the West Lake to shrink from 500 ha to about 400 ha.

Apart from the problem of excessive reclamation, the discharge of domestic, industrial and other untreated waste into the lake was reported to be causing varying, though uniformly alarming, levels of water pollution. No short-term solutions were mentioned, however.

Open space. The articles expressed the need to build and improve parks, playgrounds and zoos in cities and industrial areas. In the last few years, industrial development and population growth has been rapid in big cities and new industrial zones. Meanwhile, open green space and public parks for recreation such as on holidays and festival days have been shrinking. Those parks built in industrial zones are so small that they cannot meet these local recreational needs. Old parks, which were once ideal places with lakes and tree-lined expanses, have been turned into restaurants.

The 20-ha Hanoi Zoo has been greatly improved, and now contains 93 species' of birds and mammals. Thirty of these, such as the southeastern tiger and lion, are endangered species

Although the budget for the zoo's improvement has been increasing annually, there is still a major shortage of a clean, quiet and safe place for birds and mammals to survive and breed. The city plans to move the playgrounds out of the bird and mammal

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areas in order to provide them improved habitats, but it was not mentioned when this is to happen.

Improvement in infrastructure. Improvement in Hanoi streets and pavements was also of interest in 1997, especially just before the Francophone Summit. Many throughways were improved, notably 33 sidewalks and streets around the areas where the summit's activities took place, such as the Opera Theater, the Cultural Palace, the International Conference Center and international hotels. Old light bulbs were changed. The pavement around the popular Hoan Kiem Lake was repaved with bricks, grass watered and new flowers and ornamental plants planted. Additionally, the Department of Transportation installed 88 tourism signs and 36 traffic signs and billboards. Motorbikes and bicycles were not allowed to park on the pavement of main streets.

Conclusions

The 1.9 per cent of all news space devoted to resource and environment issues indicates a low level of attention compared to Malaysia two decades before, when Teny Rambo (1978) found over 8 per cent of news space devoted to these topics. This is the only study we are aware of using a comparable survey method (Figure 2).

Malaysia 1977 1 Vietnam 1997 1

Agn. and Forest Conservation Pollutron Envir Envlr Others Food Resources of Nature Pmtectlon Health

Suppl~es

Figure 2. Space devoted to K & E issues in Vietnam in 1997 and Malaysia in 1997.

Although the writers tried their best in reporting environmental topics, most of the articles suffered from low intelligibility and lack of scientific accuracy. Resource and environmental issues were poorly described and related problems were only discussed in general terms, with no solutions offered. Technical terms were not explained in a way that the average reader could understand. For instance, no definition was provided of the key concept of ecological efficiency in developed

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122 Resource and Environmental Issues in Vietnamese Press

countries. Few journalists have been trained to interpret scientists' statements on the environment in such a way as to be comprehensible to the public. More training in environmental studies should be provided for journalists.

The greatest shortcoming in press coverage of resource and environment issues, however, was a general failure to provide more opinions from different sources and to provide more analysis. Journalistic methods need to be improved so that the reader can take away more than a list of figures and facts. In an article on biodiversity, for example, one journalist reported that an inventory the previous year revealed that the country has 12,000 species of wild animals, of which 7,000 species have been identified. The reader is left to wonder how scientists know there are 5,000 species that have not yet been identified, or even what is meant by a species.

When a journalist does not have enough evidence to provide the reader with a clear analysis, he or she can go and ask specialists to make an explanation that can be quoted.. In keeping with government policy as well as to avoid excessive emphasis on the negative, success stories of environmental preservation or environmentally-sound agriculture should be reported.

The present study is only a first step toward understanding public concerns with resources and the environment in Vietnam. A longer term assessment of press coverage on the environment would help track trends in official concerns. Further surveys on public opinion are needed to see if the emphases of the media match with opinions of the public.

Acknowledgments

Support for writing this paper was provided by a grant to the East-West Center from the Ford Foundation. Dr. Terry Rambo provided advice on study design. Dr. Neil Jamieson kindly reviewed the manuscript. Measurements of space units were done with meticulous care by Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Hieu, to whom the author wishes to express her sincere thanks.

References

Budd, Richard, Thorp, Robert and Donohew, Lewis (1967) Content Analysis of Communications. New York: Macmillan.

Rambo, Terry (1978) Falling trees and rising consciousness: An analysis of Malaysia public concern with resource and environment issues in 1977, manuscript, January.

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