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C O N T E N T S

EDITORIAL COUNCILAssoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Cach Tuyen(Chairman)Prof. Dr. Dang Kim ChiProf. DrSc. Pham Ngoc DangDr. Nguyen The DongAssoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van PhuocDr. Nguyen Ngoc SinhAssoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Danh SonAssoc. Prof. Dr. Le Ke SonAssoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van ThangAssoc. Prof. Dr. Tran ThucAssoc. Prof. Dr. Truong Manh TienProf. Dr. Le Van TrinhAssoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Anh TuanDr. Hoang Duong Tung

EDITOR - IN - CHIEF

Do Thanh ThuyTel: (04) 61281446

OFFICEFloor 8 - 22 Yet Kieu - HanoiTel: (04) 66569135Fax: (04) 39412053Email: [email protected]://www.vea.gov.vn/tapchi

PUBLICATION PERMITNo 21/GP-BVHTT Date 22/3/2004

Design and printed by STAR BOOKS.,JSC

English edition II-2012

STRATEGY - POLICY

[2] Developing plan for radically dealingwith serious polluters by 2020

[5] Vietnam Strategy and PrioritizedPolicy on Green Growth

[7] National Report on Biodiversity2011

[11] Lauching National Strategy onEnvironmental Protection until2020, vision toward 2030

SOLUTION - TECHNOLOGY

[12] Solid waste management: currentsituations, challenges anddirections

[16] From safety culture toenvironmental security and thecommunity’s role

[18] Vietnam EnvironmentProtection Fund: 10 years ofbuilding up and developing

INTERNATIONALCOOPERATION

[22] Sweden to help Vietnam to growthe environmental-friendly biogastechnology

[24] Great potential for Polish-Vietnamese cooperation in thefield of environmentalprotection

[26] Promotion of EnvironmentalIndustry and Technology toensure the sustainabledevelopment in Republic ofKorea

[28] Japan supports Vietnam tostrengthen capacity ofwater environmentalmanagement

GREEN BUSINESS

[31] Vinamilk supports the “fund forone million green trees forVietnam”

[33] The first Panasonic “eco ideas”Factory in Vietnam

[34] The Vietnam Heritage TreeInitiative - 3 years recollection

NATURE ANDENVIRONMENT OFVIETNAM

[36] Cat Tiên national Park[39] The National Park of Xuan Thuy

2 Environment English edition II-2012

Developing plan for radically dealing

with serious polluters by 2020

Ass Prof. Dr. Bui Cach TuyenVice Minister cum Director General of Vietnam Environment Administration

1. Rationale for the planTogether with socioeconomic

development, a large number of seriouslypolluting establishments remains a pressingissue to be addressed. However, an optionof closing down these facilities wouldcreate social disruptions such asunemployment, poverty and social evils.Therefore, a road map for these facilities totake radical pollution remediationmeasures is a suitable measure for meetingrequirements of environmental protectionand socioeconomic development.

On 24th April 2003, Prime Ministerissued Decision 64/2003/QD-TTgapproving a plan for radically dealing withseriously polluting establishments. So far,after nine years of implementation, thisDecision has been highly regarded by thesociety and achieved some initialimportant results. Some mechanisms andpolicies to provide finance, land andresource support as well as regulations havebeen issued. Environmental awareness ofregulators, citizens and business has beenraised. A large number of serious pollutershas been remediated. Among 439polluting establishments that need toremediate in the first phase (2003 - 2007),370 establishments have finished theirpollution remediation, accounting for84.3%. Of 3,856 polluting establishments,including those added in the list in thesecond phase of 2008 - 2012, so far only372 polluters have not finishedremediation but they are in the final stageof the remedy process.

In a national video conference"Reviewing the implementation ofDecision 64/2003/QD-TTg on radicallydealing with serious polluters" held on 2ndApril 2011, Deputy Prime MinisterHoang Trung Hai directed that based on

the achievements, MONRE would take aleading role and coordinate with otherministries and localities to review, classifyand draft a plan for 2020 with an objectiveof having no serious polluters by 2020. Theplan is based on Point 3, Article 49 of Lawon Environmental Protection as well asChapter 3 of Decree 117/2009/ND-CPdated 31 December 2009 on handlingenvironmental violations.

2. Some main contents ofthe plan

2.1. Goals and objectives

A goal of the plan is to continuecompleting mechanisms, policies andregulations on radically dealing withserious polluters, strictly dealing with thepolluters and working toward the targetthat after 2020 there will be no seriouspolluters in public services.

Objectives by 2015: Finishing theremediation of serious polluters identifiedin 2012; Continuing completingmechanism and policies to support seriouspolluter remediation; And controlling andstopping the addition of new seriouspolluters.

It is envisaged that by 2020, seriouspolluters identified in 2015 will have beenradically dealt with; There will be no newserious polluters and in particular noserious polluters in public services.

2.2. Principles

Radically dealing with seriouslypolluting establishment needs to beundertaken based on the following fourprinciples: i) Remediation needs to becarried out in parallel with control for newpolluters; ii) Serious polluters which neednot to cease their operation as regulated inPoint 48, Article 51, Decree

117/2009/ND-CP dated 31 December2009 will need to take remedy measures ina suitable timeframe. In this timeframe, theestablishments need to take sometemporary pollution control measures suchas reducing operation capacity and storingwaste properly and are subject to strictsupervision by state authorities andcommunity; iii) State continues to givepriorities to allocate budget forremediating serious polluters in publicservice sectors, to allocate soft loans toserious polluters; iv) Ministers, chairmenof Provincial People's Committees andequivalent counterparts are responsible toPrime Minister for directing theremediation of serious polluters undertheir management, including the controlof new serious polluters.

2.3. Contents

The plan has two phases: From now to2015 and from 2016 to 2020.

In the first phase, a list of seriouspolluters as of 2012 and a relevantremediation plan will be reviewed andupdated. In addition, the list will beupdated regularly. Chairmen ofProvincial People's Committees shallcoordinate with ministries to review andidentify serious polluters, take measuresfor the establishments under theirmanagement and report to MONREthose under the Prime Minister'sauthority. Minister of MONREapproves the list of new serious pollutersunder Prime Minister authority.

For serious polluters in the list,temporary pollution mitigation measureswill be applied. They need to develop theirremediation plans, inform localenvironmental management authorities tomonitor, supervise and publicize the plans,

STRATEGY - POLICY

3Environment English edition II-2012

S T R A T E G Y - P O L I C Y

and make regular reports to localauthorities about their remediationprogress.

State management authorities shallpublicize polluting establishments that aretaking remediation measures, monitor theprocess and take measures for mitigatingpollution. In the meantime, the State’senvironment management authorities willinspect and check the remediation process,including the review and update of the list,the implementation of temporarymitigation measures; inspect and supervisethe implementation of supporting policyand usage of state budget for pollutionremediation.

In the period between 2016 and 2020,strong actions will be taken to control theaddition of new serious polluters inministries and localities. A criterion of thenumber of new serious polluters will beadded into socioeconomic developmentcriteria of Ministries and localities. Annually,lists of serious polluters will be reviewed,updated and publicized in mass media.Mechanisms for clarifying responsibilities inpollution remedy will be created.

In addition, other strict measures willbe taken such as inspections and operationsuspension of those who miss deadlines forpollution remediation, and informing localauthorities and community aboutadministrative decisions so that they canhelp supervise the decisions. In themeantime, enforcement measures will beapplied to the facilities that do not followsuspension decisions.

2.4. Implementation measures

To achieve the objectives of the plan, itis necessary to implement concurrently thefollowing tasks:

Propaganda tasks: Conduct publicdisclosure on serious polluters to attractattention and supervision by community,to create pressure on the polluters to investin the remedy on time; To continueenhancing information dissemination andawareness raising for governmentauthorities at all levels as well as polluters;To develop and implementcommunication programs on theimplementation of the plan, which

includes roadmaps and priorities of eachyear to suit annual objectives of eachperiod; To disseminate policy andmechanisms to facilities, as well as goodexamples of pollution remediation; Toincrease meetings and workshops toexchange information and experience tosolve practical problems in dealing withserious polluters.

Institution and policy tasks: Tocontinue develop, revise andcomplement regulations and policies tosupport seriously polluting facilities totake radical remedy measures, inparticular support to those belonging topublic services, focusing on some issuessuch as tax preferential conditions(business income taxes, environmentaltechnology and equipment import tax),land leasing, land tax (for those that haveto relocate); Support to those receivingsoft loans from Vietnam EnvironmentalProtection Fund and other funds;Mechanisms to support workers inserious polluting facilities, includingregulations related to retraining andunemployment subsidy in cases oftechnology changes or closing down; Todevelop mechanisms to clarify roles andresponsibilities of organizations andindividuals in generating new seriouspolluting facilities, missing deadlines ofremediation; To develop enforcementregulations for those who fail to obeydecisions on operation suspension; Andto develop mechanisms for community

supervision on compliance of decisionson operation suspension.

Financial resource tasks: Diversifyinvestment sources to implement the plan(existing funds, state funds, loans andother funds). State gives priority toallocating state budget and establishingspecific funding for remedying seriouspolluting facilities, in particular givingpriority to public service facilities.Owners of serious polluting facilities(excluding those of public services) areresponsible for investment in theirpollution remedy. They can use fundingfrom sponsors of international anddomestic organizations and individualsand can apply for soft loans fromVietnam Environmental ProtectionFunds and other funds, following currentregulations. Ministries and localitieswhich have serious polluting facilitiesshall allocate part of state budget forimplementing the plan (the items that areunder their responsibilities). It isnecessary to complete mechanisms andpolicy to promote socialization of dealingwith seriously polluting facilities, inparticular, those are public services.

Technology transfer tasks: To clarifyresponsibilities of each ministry inappraising pollution treatmenttechnology, including domestic andimported technology; To furtherstrengthen appraising and introducingpollution treatment technology; To studyand draft a list of technologies which are

Coc Sau Coal Joint Stock Company applied the coal mine’s water treatment automaticsaving, from the list of establishments which cause serious environmental pollution


recommended for application to remedypollution to facilitate technologyselection. Tax preferential conditions willbe applied, including income tax andimport tax, to facilitate technologytransfer of clean and environmentallyfriendly technology. Information on newtechnology will be disseminated throughtrade fairs.

International cooperation tasks:Enhance international cooperation to takeadvantages of supports in forms ofexperience sharing, capacity building,research and development, technologytransfer and financial support frominternational organizations and individualsto finish the plan early. To promoteintroduction of international cooperationand support in the pollution remediationprocess; Strengthen capacity in developingand implementing internationalcooperation projects for environmentalmanagers and owners of serious pollutingfacilities. To develop and implementprograms for calling for support fromgovernments of other countries,international organizations and non-governmental organizations to invest in thepollution remediation process. To developand implement ODA programs andprojects to support serious pollutingfacilities in public service sectors. Tofurther develop mechanisms fordeveloping and efficiently and effectivelyusing resources (budgets, human resourcesand technology) and internationalcooperation to implement the plan.

2.5. Implementing arrangements

To implement the plan, an inter-ministerial steering committee will beestablished. The committee will be basedon the previous Committee 64. However,the new committee will be headed by adeputy prime minister. Minister ofNatural Resources and Environment willbe deputy head of the committee. Thecommittee will comprise ofrepresentatives of leaders of Ministries ofNatural Resources and Environment,Planning and Investment, Finance, PublicSecurities, Industry and Trade,Transportation, Science and Technology,and Labor, Invalids and Social Issues.

An assistance office of the committeewill be established at Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment (VietnamEnvironment Administration) by itsMinister. The plan also sets out tasks andresponsibilities of Ministries and provincialpeople's committee to implement the tasks.

3. Some issues arising inthe development of theplan

First, how the measures are to be takento harmonize objectives of environmentalprotection and socioeconomicdevelopment. Strong measures such asclosing down or operation suspension ofserious polluting facilities could be applied.An alternative option is imposing fines andgiving the facilities time to remediate andsupervise their compliance. However, doesthe alternative option encourage delays incomplying with the law? This issue needsthorough considerations.

Second, to achieve the target of havingno serious polluting facilities in publicservices by 2020 nationwide, it is necessaryto implement measures to deal withcurrent polluting facilities as well as toprevent new serious polluting facilities.Therefore, what are mechanisms forpreventing new serious polluting facilities?What are responsibilities of stakeholders?If suitable mechanisms are not in place, itwould be impossible to achieve the targets.

Third, in reality, it is difficult for publicservice facilities such as hospitals,rehabilitation centers and landfills to take

remediation measures. Passive attitudesand low awareness remain in some peoplewho are responsible for pollutionremediation. Therefore, in the future, whatare solutions to these facilities? What areresponsibilities of the heads of thesefacilities?

Fourth, one of the reasons for lateimplementation of Decision64/2003/QD-TTg is a lack of financialsource for remediation. Obviously, limitedstate budgets cannot meet demands.Therefore, it is necessary to implementeffective measures to mobilize resourcesfrom society and internationalorganizations. A "polluters pay" principleneeds to be well followed. This requiresactive participation of ministries, localitiesand facilities.

Firth, cooperations among ministriesand localities in directing, checking andsupervising the remediation of seriouspolluting facilities, in particular, the facilitiesunder Ministries' management but locatedin provinces, remain limited. This issueneeds to be addressed in the new plan.

Environmental protection is one ofthree pillars of socioeconomicdevelopment and a crucial factor of humanrace in the future. This also applies to VietNam. The development of the planreaffirms determination of thegovernment, ministries and provincialpeople's committees in removing seriouspolluting facilities step by step and strivingfor the target of having no serious pollutersby 2020 nationwide.�

STRATEGY - POLICY

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has approved the proposal by Ministryof Natural Resources and Environment to review, assess, classify, expand a scopeand develop a plan for radically dealing with serious polluters by 2020. Objectivesof the plan are to continue completing mechanisms, policies and regulations forradically dealing with serious polluters, to strictly handling serious pollutersnationwide and to have no serious polluters in the public sector.

The plan has two stages. In the first stage, from now to 2015, a list of seriouspolluters and a handling plan will have been reviewed, updated and approved. Inthe stage of 2016 - 2020, strong measures will have been taken to control for newpolluters. A criterion of the number of new environmental polluters will have beenadded to socioeconomic criteria of Ministries and provinces. To achieve theseobjectives, five measures are specified in the plan: Propaganda, institutions andpolicies, financial resources, technology transfer support and internationalcooperation.



Vietnam is implementing thesocial-economic developmentplan for 2011-2015, the socio-economic development

strategy for 2011-2020 with challenges onmacro-economic stability, environmentalquality assurance and social security in theinternational context that is not favorableand is suffering negative impacts caused bylow growth, the debt crisis in manycountries and climate change.

To achieve the development goals,improving quality of growth andmaintaining environmental protection andecological sustainability, accessing to greengrowth are essential requirements in thenext decade to help realizing sustainabledevelopment in Vietnam. After a quicklyprepared stage with active participation byinvolved ministries, agencies and localauthorities to contribute to the draft of theGreen Growth Strategy, on September 25,2012, the Prime Minister issued theDecision No. 1393/QD-TTg approved bythe National Strategy for Green Growth(hereinafter referred to as the Strategy).

1. Viewpoints, goals,strategic tasks

The strategy is built on the followingviewpoint: Green growth is an importantcontent of sustainable development, toensure rapid, effective, sustainableeconomic development and makingsignificant contribution to theimplementation of the national strategy onclimate change; green growth based onincreasing investment in conservation,development and efficient use of naturalresources, reducing greenhouse gasemissions, improving quality ofenvironment; thereby stimulating

economic growth; at the same time, it isthe cause of the entire our Party andPeople, local authorities, ministries,agencies, businesses and socialorganizations…

On such basis, the strategy towardsthree specific objectives, namely:Restructuring and improving economicinstitutions towards greening existingindustries and to encourage the economicdevelopment of efficient use of energy andnatural resources with highly added value;study and increasingly widespreadapplication of advanced technologies withaim to better efficient use of naturalresources, reducing the intensity ofgreenhouse gas emissions, contributing tothe effective response to climate change;improving people's lives, building upenvironmentally friendly lifestyle throughcreating more jobs from related industries,agriculture, green services, investing innatural resources, development of greeninfrastructure.

To achieve the above three goals, theStrategy also set out three important tasks:

The first is to reduce the intensity ofgreenhouse gas emissions and promotingthe use of clean energy, renewable energy.Accordingly, for the period 2011 -2020: Reducing greenhouse gasemissions intensity from 8 to 10%compared to 2010, reducing energyconsumption on GDP of 1 - 1.5% peryear. Reducing greenhouse gasemissions in energy activities from 10%to 20% compared to the normaldevelopment plan. Of which, thevoluntary level is around 10%, theremaining 10% is the striving levelwhen getting more support from

international parties; Orientationtowards 2030: Reducing greenhousegas emissions each year at least 1.5-2%,reducing greenhouse gas emissions inenergy activities from 20% to 30%compared to the normal developmentplan. Of which, the voluntary level isaround 20%, the remaining 10% is thestriving level when getting moresupport from international parties;Orientation towards 2050: Reducinggreenhouse gas emissions each yeararound 1.5-2%,

Secondly is production greening.Implementation of a strategy as "cleanindustrialization" through reviewing andadjusting the existing industries planning,saving and efficient usage of resources,encouraging the development of greenindustry and agriculture with properstructure on industries, technologies andequipment to ensure the environmentallyfriendly principle, investing indevelopment of natural resources; activelypreventing and treating pollution.

The key targets by 2020 include: Thevalue of high-tech products industry, greentechnology in GDP is 42-45%; rate ofproduction and business establishmentsmeeting environmental standards is 80%,application of 50% of cleaner technologies,investment for development sectors tosupport environmental protection andenrichment of natural resources reaching3-4% of GDP.

Thirdly is greening lifestyle and topromote sustainable consumption.Combination of traditional healthylifestyle with modern civilized means tomake life comfortable, high quality withdeep national identity to the modern

Vietnam Strategy and PrioritizedPolicy on Green Growth

Nguyen Tuan Anh, Deputy DirectorDepartment for Science, Education, Natural Resources and EnvironmentMinistry of Planning and Investment


STRATEGY - POLICY

Vietnamese society. Making fast andsustainable urbanization, maintaininglifestyle in harmony with nature in ruralareas and to create sustainableconsumption habits in the context ofintegration with the global world.

The key targets by 2020 include:the rate of grade III cities with standardcollection and wastewater treatmentsystems: 60% of cities classified as gradeIV and V and traditional jobs villages:40%, improving heavily pollutedenvironment area 100%, theproportion of waste collection,treatment following the standards asstipulated in the decision No.2149/QD-TTg, green area to coverequivalent to standards in urban areas,rate of urban public transport service inlarge and medium cities is 35-45%, thepercentage of large and medium-sizedurban areas meeting the criteria as greenurban areas will be 50%.

2. Recommendations on anumber of prioritizedpolicies for theimplementation of GreenGrowth

To implement the targets set out in theStrategy for Green growth, currently theMPI is working with relevant Ministries,the construction industry and suggestingto the government on issuing a number ofprioritized policies for implementation ofthese tasks, namely:

For the task of reducing the intensityof greenhouse gas emissions andpromoting the use of clean energy, energy:To study and propose to plans to reducegreenhouse gas emissions, promotingthe use of clean energy and renewableenergy in the framework of the VIIgeneral electrical diagrams; to study andpropose policy to encourage buses,taxies to use fuel energy saving, lesspolluting, environmentally friendly;

Developing Decree on renewableenergy; developing and promulgatingnational standards on quality ofequipment, labeling save energyequipment; Construction andimplementation of the project asmanagement and control of greenhousegas emissions using market instruments.

For tasks on green manufacturing:Developing policy framework and actionplan on development of green industry,green transportation, green agriculture,saving and efficient use of resources;supporting the development of greentechnology to study and promulgateeconomic and financial policies of recoveryand development of "natural capital".

For the task of greening lifestyle and topromote sustainable consumption:Developing policy framework and actionplan to develop green urban areas;Developing and implementing local greengrowth action plan.�

The PM ratified the negotiation forthe Industrial Wastewater Management inthe Basins of Nhue-Day and Dong NaiRivers Project, which is funded by theWorld Bank (WB).

The PM assigned the Governor of theState Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) to sign the

Sponsorship Agreement and relateddocuments.

Ministries of Planning and Investment,Natural Resources and Environment andthe Viet Nam Environmental ProtectionFund and relevant localities will coordinatewith the SBV, Ministries of Foreign Affairs

and Justice to complete legal documentsfor the agreement.

The aim of the project is to controlindustrial pollution in industrial parks locatedin these river basins and encourage businessesto build wastewater treatment stations.�

SGP

Scientists from Vietnam, Laos,Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, theRepublic of Korea (RoK) and Chinagathered for a workshop “Mekong - Greengrowth centre in Asia Pacific” in theNorthern province of Quang Ninh onSeptember 25, 2012.

Jointly organised by the Global GreenGrowth Institute (GGGI) and theVietnam Academy of Social Sciences(VASS), the event aims to promoteacademic exchange and experiencesharing and raise policy makers’ capacityin green growth promotion in thesubregion.

In his opening speech, VASS PresidentNguyen Xuan Thang stressed that theprosperity of the region depends onmanagement of issues related todevelopment. It is necessary to furthercoordination between the countriestowards sustainable exploitation of naturalresources, ecosystem and environmentprotection, in order to meet currentdemands without harming future demands.

Cae-one Kim from GGGIhighlighted the difficulties in coordinationbetween countries in the Mekongsubregion to promote green growth in thearea, due to a lack of technology and

capital. He said the RoK Government willsupport the countries in implementinggreen growth in the region.

Participants expressed their hope thatpolicy makers will make every effort todevelop the region into not only anoutstanding area of fast economic growth butalso a model of green growth in Asia Pacific.

Over the two recent decades, theMekong Subregion has seen remarkabledevelopment achievements. However, italso faces great challenges, especially inenvironmental protection and sustainabledevelopment.

VNA

Negotiation for wastewater management project approved

Green growth promotion workshop



According to the Law onBiodiversity, the biodiversityreport is a component ofthe National State of

Environment. To meet the requirement ofthe Law on Biodiversity and to fulfillobligations of a party member to theConvention on Biological Diversity, theMinistry of Natural Resources andEnvironment (MONRE) assigned theVietnam Environment Administration(VEA) to develop the national report onbiodiversity 2011. This is the secondreport after the first report published in2005.

The National Report on Biodiversity2011 is developed based on DPSIRapproach (D - Driving forces: Direct orindirect driving forces, P – Pressures, S –State of biodiversity, I – Impact: correlativeimpacts of biodiversity changes with socio-economic development, R – Response:activities and measures for conservationand sustainable usage of biodiversity).

The report consists of 4 chapters:Chapter 1: Overview of biodiversity status;Chapter II: Causes of biodiversity loss;Chapter III: System of legislations, policiesand resources for biodiversityconservation; Chapter IV: Trends inbiodiversity change and orientations forconservation in the next five years.

The report is a scientific document onbiodiversity conservation. Of which, thereport has reviewed, updated and assessed,in a comprehensive and subjective manner,biodiversity values in Vietnam atecosystem, species and genetic levels.Regarding objectives of biodiversitymanagement, based on comparison tobiodiversity status in 2005, the reportindicates achievements and challenges onperformance of biodiversity conservationin Vietnam in the last five years.

1. Achievements inbiodiversity conservation

There are significant changes inbiodiversity during the socio-economicdevelopment in Vietnam. In the last fewyears, there are considerable achievementsin biodiversity conservation, such as:

Increasing forest cover

Since 1990, the forest plantation hasbeen implemented in almost all provinces.As a result, the forest area and cover increasesannually. Within the framework of the 5year reforestation program, during 2006-2008, about 620,188 ha was planted (ofwhich, protection forest and special useforest are 139,625 ha, production forest of480.563 ha). According to statistics, in 2010,the national forest cover is about 13,390,000ha with the cover rate of 39.5%. Althoughthe forest cover increases, the area of bareand denuded land and hills is high (morethan 2 million ha). The quality of rich forest,medium forest and mangrove forest of thenatural forest continues to degrade.

Thanks to forest development,biodiversity in some areas has started torestore. The proportion of indigenousspecies increases in the forest plantationstructure. Many tree species that werepotential to extinct in nature has grownrapidly through reforestation program suchas Chukrasia tabularis, Aquilaria crassna….

Expansion and development of naturalprotected area system

Terrestrial protected area system:According to the Report on assessment ofthe special use forest system, there arecurrently 164 special use forestsnationwide, with the area of 2,198,744 ha(accounting for 7% nationwide), consistingof 30 national parks, 58 nature reserves, 11species conservation areas, 45 landscapeprotected areas and 20 scientific researchforests. Special use forests preservebiodiversity and genetic resources that areused for the socio-economic developmentprocess of the country in a long-term andstable manner.

National Report on Biodiversity 2011

Pham Anh Cuong - Ngo Xuan QuyBiodiversity Conservation Agency

Tram Chim National Park (Tam Nong district, Dong Thap province)


Inland water protected area system:According to Decision No. 1479/QD-TTg dated 13/11/2008, the Governmentapproved the planning of the inland waterprotected area system to 2020 with 45protected areas including critical rivers,natural lakes, artificial ponds, lagoons,estuaries, bird yards, mangroves, andseasonal grass-plots. From 2009 to 2011,the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment has developed detailed plansof five national inland water protectedareas namely: T-junction Da – Lo – ThaoRiver inland water protected area, LacLake inland water protected area, Ca Maucoastal inland water protected area, RedRiver estuary inland water protected area,Hau river inland water protected area. Inaddition, there are four internationalimportance wetland sites (RAMSAR),namely: Xuan Thuy, Bau Sau, Ba Be andTram Chim.

Marine protected area system:According to Decision No. 742/QĐ-TTgdated 26/5/2010, Prime Ministerapproved the planning of the marineprotected area system to 2020 with 16protected areas with the total marine areaof 169,617 ha. According to this planning,by 2015, there are at least 0.24% of themarine areas of Vietnam located in marineprotected areas and approximate 30% ofmarine protected area areas to be strictlyprotected. Currently, there are five marine

protected areas that are operatingincluding: Vinh Nha Trang, Cu LaoCham, Nui Chua, Phu Quoc and Con Co.

Gradual development of Ex-situconservation methods

Ex-situ conservation methods havedeveloped gradually with theestablishment of vegetation gardens,including: botanical gardens, gardenscollecting flora plants, medicinal plants,industrial plants, seedlings for forestplantations…; zoo, aquarium; animalrescue center; genetic conservationactivities (gene bank) in terms of seedpreservation storage, preservation ofasexual plants in test-tubes, preservation ofreproductive products and tissues in coolstorage, preservation of trees in farms...However, some zoos and aquarium,particularly private ones only focus onrecreational objectives not on conservationof rare species.

By 2011, 11 botanical gardens havebeen established including: botanicalcollection gardens, medicinal plant,industrial plant and seedling gardens…Typical is botanical garden at nationalparks that collects representative species atregional and national levels namely: CucPhuong, Tam Dao, Ba Vi, Pu Mat, BachMa, Chu Mom Ray. Two largest botanicalgardens are zoological and botanicalgarden in Ho Chi Minh City (about 200

species), Botanical Garden in Hanoi(about 200 species). Collected species inthese gardens are mostly indigenousspecies. In addition, genetic resources ofsome rare indigenous species (fruit treesand medicinal plants…) are being plantedand conserved in household gardens.

Development in multiplication of someendangered, rare, precious and high-valuespecies

Thanks to policies promoting thereproductive breeding of rare andthreatened species, some species still exist.Typically, the Cervus nippon was extinctin nature in Vietnam for a long time. Someachievements in breeding of rare wildlife inlocalities such as: Crocodylus siamensis,Python molurus, Python recticulatus, Najanaja, Sus scrofa, Cervus Nippon,Trionychidac, Testudines…

The fishery sector continues toimplement the project “Preservation offishery genetic resources and breeding” byimplementing scientific research onartificial reproduction of indigenous fishesand invertebrate species that are rare, higheconomic value and high extinction-prone.By now, 50 types have been preserved withabout 60 fishery species. Recently, there isa success in research on artificialreproduction and active production ofSemilabeo obscurus, Catlocarpio siamensis.These are rare species in the Red List andVietnam Red Book (2007). In 2010, theNha Trang Institute of Oceanography hasprimarily succeeded in artificialreproduction of Hippocampus kellogi withbiggest size of up to 35 cm. This is a rareseahorse in the Vietnam Red Book andRed List of IUCN (2007) and AppendixII of CITES Convention. The successfulreproduction of wildlife has created socio-economic opportunities for localities,contributing to conservation of geneticresources and reducing pressures onexploration of wildlife in the nature.

2. Remaining andchallenges in biodiversityconservation

Affected natural ecosystems

Terrestrial ecosystems: The area ofnatural forests with high biodiversity is

STRATEGY - POLICY

Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) - a particularly rare species in need of protection



being narrowed and the habitat of wildlifeis being lost or narrowed. In fact, althoughthe forest cover increases but mostly inplantation forests while the area of naturalforests with high biodiversity has decreasedrapidly and it is unlikely to restore due tofragmentation and isolation. Thenarrowing of natural forests has taken awayor narrowed the habitat of wildlife,particularly large-size animals such aselephants and tigers… or movement speciessuch as migratory birds or fishes. As aresult, the number of rare, precious andvulnerable species reduces.

Degraded inland freshwaterecosystems: River, ponds and lagoonecosystems are being overexploited andsignificantly threatened due to largeinfrastructure development projects suchas damps for irrigations and hydropower.This causes the loss in living environmentsof many aquatic species and reduces theecological function of lagoons. Changedlagoons lead to the loss of regulatingfunctions which result in salinization ofrivers affecting the livings of local people.

Marine and coastal ecosystems areseriously degraded: Almost all coastalecosystems in Vietnam are seriouslydegraded due to overexploitation andsevere waste pollution, sedimentation andoil spill pollution. The marineenvironment is seriously polluted by wastesfrom industrial, agriculture, aquacultureand domestic activities. The quality ofseabed sediments and the habitat of manybenthos are polluted over almost allinternational standards.

Number of endangered, rare andprecious species is increasing

In the Vietnam Red Book 2007, thetotal number of threatened wildlife innature is currently 882 (418 fauna and 464flora species), an increase of 161 comparedto 1992. In the Vietnam Red Book,regarding fauna (1992), the danger level ofanimals is just up to “endangered”; by thetime of Red Book 2007, there were up to 9species are considered to be extinct innature in Vietnam, specifically:Dicerorhynus sumatrensis, Bó sauveli,Tapirus indicus, Cynogale lowei, Procyprismerus, Anguilla japonica, Cyprinus

multitaeniata, Cervus Nippon, Crocodylusporusus. In terms of flora, Paphiopedilumvietnamense was extinct in nature. Thevolume of aquatic species, particularly higheconomic value prawn and fish species isdecreasing rapidly. The volume of rarefreshwater, high economic value andmigratory fish is reducing.

Based on the status of biodiversity andassessed achievements as well as challenges,the Report presents trends in biodiversityin Vietnam. This is an important base fororientations on biodiversity conservationin the next five years

Regarding trends in biodiversity inVietnam, the Report has indicated maintrends: The forest cover increased as aresult of forest plantations; Ecosystem ofhabitats still affected; Reduction innumber of rare, precious, threatened toextinctions; Increase in eutrophication ofwater bodies; Continual reduction incapacity of fishery exploitation overcapacity.

Regarding orientations on biodiversityconservation in the next five years, basedon the status, assessment and trend inbiodiversity, the Report has proposedorientations: finalize legal documents onimplementation of the Law onBiodiversity; Develop and implement thenational master plan on biodiversityconservation; Strengthen and develop statemanagement agencies on biodiversityconservation; Implement socialization ofbiodiversity conservation; develop thefinancial mechanism on biodiversityconservation; Integrate biodiversityconservation into environmentalprotection objectives; Develop and unifydatabase on biodiversity; Strengtheninternational cooperation on biodiversityconservation.

3. General review andassessment

Seven conclusions have beenwithdrawn from the general assessment onthe content of the Report:

• The 2006 – 2011 periods marked avery important milestone to thebiodiversity conservation. This is thepromulgation of legal bases on biodiversity

with many important documents: Law onBiodiversity, Decree 65/2010/ND-CPdated 11/6/2010 by the Governmentregulating and guiding theimplementation of some articles of the Lawon Biodiversity and Decree 69/2010/ND-CP dated 21/6/2010 by the Governmenton biosafety on genetic modifiedorganisms, genetic samples and geneticmodified products, Decision no.79/2007/QD-TTg dated 31/5/ 2007 bythe Prime Minister on approving the“National Action Plan on biodiversity to2010 and orientations towards 2020implementing the Convention onBiological Diversity and CartagenaProtocol on biosafety” (Decision 79). Thisis considered as an important legal basis forbiodiversity conservation from central tolocal levels which are structured andstabilized gradually.

• The system of protected areas interms terrestrial, inland water and marineprotected areas is being improved in orderto improve the effectiveness in biodiversityconservation. The development of ex situconservation and establishment ofprotected areas and reproduction of rareindigenous and high economic valuespecies has led to success in production ofsome rare and valuable species to becommercial products. The development ofmodels on sustainable usage of biologicalresources based on communities andbenefit sharing of biodiversity resourceshave brought positive results on protectionof living environments and biodiversity andcreated conditions for local people livingsurrounding natural protected areas withjob opportunities and enhanced income.

• Thanks to the forest development,the forest cover rate increases annually.However, the increase occurs mostly inplantations therefore biodiversity is poor.The area of natural forests with highbiodiversity is decreasing.

• The propaganda and awarenessraising on biodiversity for managers, localpeople and students have beenimplemented. Many propaganda,education and communication program,publications and information onbiodiversity conservation, biosafety havebeen developed and propagated.


• In addition to achievements, somequantitative criteria to 2010 mentioned inDecision 79 has not been achieved such as:The forest cover rate in 2009 was only39.1%, in 2010 was 39.5% compared tothe plan of 42 - 43%; Five new protectedareas to be recognized as ASEAN Heritagesites have not been newly established; Thearea of inland water protected areas andmarine protected areas is less than 1.2million ha as planned; Five wetlands havenot been developed to meet requirementsand conditions to be recognized as aninternational importance wetland site.However, it could be seen that somequantitative criteria proposed in theDecision is not feasible with practicalconditions which is impossible to beimplemented in 3 years.

• Although the structure onbiodiversity conservation has beenstrengthened and improved but there areshortcomings in state managementresponsibilities. This leads toshortcomings in functions and tasks ofministries, sectors, even managementagencies within one Ministry, sector,which constrains biodiversityconservation to some extent.

• The current biodiversity status,opportunities and challenges onbiodiversity conservation, particularlytrends in biodiversity changes in theupcoming time have formed key prioritieson biodiversity conservation in the nextfive years. That is: Finalization of the legaldocuments on implementation of the

Law on Biodiversity; Development andimplementation of the national strategyon biodiversity on 2020 implementingthe Convention on BiologicalConvention and Cartagena Protocol onbiosafety; Development andimplementation of the nationalbiodiversity master plan; strengtheningand development of state managementagencies on biodiversity conservation;Socialization of biodiversityconservation; development of thefinancial mechanism for conservationactivities; Integration of biodiversityconservation into environmentalprotection; Development andmanagement of database on biodiversity;Enhancing international cooperation onbiodiversity conservation.�

STRATEGY - POLICY

The Government has released Resolution 45/2012/ND-CPon industrial promotion to replace Resolution 134/2012/ND-CP dated June 9, 2004 on encouraging rural industrialdevelopment. One of the most outstanding points of the newresolution is the promotion of cleaner rural industrial production.

The efficiency of rural industrial production activities isundeniable as they have created large amounts of jobs for ruralworkers and made a big contribution to the State budget and localeconomic development. The biggest problem of this productionmethod, however, is environmental pollution. For example, overpast years the environmental pollution in Hanoi's 272 craft villageshas become a big problem. Polluted air including CO2; NH3 andCH4 originating from craft villages processing foodstuff, makinghats, rattan products and toothpicks and dying fibers have not onlybadly affected the environment but also increased ill health in craftvillages, especially among those of working age.

According to statistics, the potential for Cleaner Production ofVietnamese craft villages could reach 15 to 40 percent dependingon each craft.

It can be seen that the approval of Cleaner Production inResolution 45/2012/ND-CP dated May 21, 2012 will mark adefinite improvement in the situation. It will encourage andsupport Cleaner Production application in industry productionunits to improve the efficient use of natural resources and othermaterials. In addition, it will help to protect the environment andpeople's health and encourage sustainable development.

There are also some changes in international cooperationpolicies in the field of industrial promotion regulated in the newresolution. More specifically, it encourages Vietnamese individualsand organizations to exchange experience and studies with foreign

parties about industrial promotion and industrial clustersdevelopment and management in accordance with Vietnamese law.

As for the craft villages, the biggest difficulty for the applicationof Cleaner Production application is capital shortages. Withexperience in implementing Cleaner Production activities for craftvillage businesses for a period of time, Dao Hong Thai, the Directorof the Hanoi Energy Conservation Center, which is applying CleanerProduction solutions in Hanoi said that local craft villages could takesimple operational measures before innovating technologies to savecosts. Another important point of this new resolution is its supportfor enterprises in craft villages being encouraged to apply CleanerProduction measures to deal with environmental pollution inindustrial clusters and rural industrial production bases on the basisof enjoying preferential provisions, especially in terms of funding forindustrial promotion activities. This is regarded as the most efficientsolution to promote cleaner rural industrial production./.

V.E.N

Promoting cleaner rural industrial production

The Van Phuc traditional rustic village, in Thuong Tincommune, Ha noi city



The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmentheld a ceremony to announce the NationalEnvironmental Protection Strategy to 2020 with avision to 2030 on December 12th, 2012. Vice Minister

of Natural Resources and Environment - Bui Cach Tuyen, Directorof the Institute Natural Resources and Environment Policies andStrategies Nguyen Van Tai, a representative of the Hanns SeidelFoundation Ludwig Graf von Westarp presided over the ceremony.

Vice Minister Bui Cach Tuyen said the NationalEnvironmental Protection Strategy to 2020 with a vision to 2030by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment isformulated and approved by the Prime Minister on 5/9/2012.The goal of the strategy to 2020 is to basically control, restrictand to 2030 prevent and reverse the trend of increasing pollution,degradation and depletion of natural resources and biodiversity,improve the quality of the living environment and build capacityin response to climate change.

Accordingly, the strategy has been developed based on thepolicies of the Party and State. At the same time, it inherits andpromotes the results achieved in the period 2001 - 2010, and addsthe new task-oriented solutions to promote green growth anddevelopment of the green economy and cope with climate change.

The strategy launched four major orientations for theenvironmental protection including: Prevention and control ofpollution sources; Renovation and restoration of the environmentin polluted and degraded areas, enhancement of water supply andsanitation services; Efficient and sustainable use of naturalresources; Nature and biodiversity conservation; capacity buildingto cope with climate change, greenhouse gas emissions mitigation,

etc. The strategy puts forth a comprehensive environmentalprotection, contributing to the successful implementation ofsustainable development objectives of Vietnam.

The orientation focused on specific goals: Not to generate newpolluting facilities, reducing the polluting; Restoringcontaminatedlakes, ponds, canals, river; Improving air quality inurban and residential areas; efficient and sustainable use of landresources; Increasing the forest coverage and quality; Curbing thedecrease in wildlife number. At the same time, the strategy focuseson raising awareness, understanding and knowledge among thepeople on climate change, to adapt and to live with climate change...

VEA

Vice Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bui CachTuyen announced the National Strategy for Environmentalprotection until 2020 and vision toward 2030

Launching the National Strategy forEnvironmental protection until 2020and vision toward 2030

VGP – P.M Nguyen Tan Dung hasagreed with the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment’s proposal toorganize the 4th Regional 3R Forum inViet Nam.

The Government chief tasked theMinistry to closely collaborate with theUnited Nations Center for RegionalDevelopment (UNCRD) and relevantagencies to prepare well for the event.

The 3rd Regional 3R Forum was heldin Singapore on October 4, 2011 with theparticipation of high-level policy makersfrom Governments of 23 Asia-Pacificcountries representatives of UN,international and non-governmentalorganizations, as well as internationalexperts in waste and resource managementto promote 3R technologies in the Asia-Pacific region.

The 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycling)

initiative put forward by JapaneseGovernment in 2004 is of importantsignificance to environment protection.

In Vietnam, P.M Nguyen Tan Dungratified the National strategy for solidwaste management until 2025 and visionto 2050 with an aim to equip solid wastetreatment facilities in all urban areas by2025 among many other objectives.

By HG

Vietnam to host regional 3R Forum


1. Mechanism and policieson solid waste have beenbasically built and put intolife, however, is still notcomplete and has not beenthoroughly implemented

Over past years, the management ofsolid waste has been received muchattention by our Party and the State,represented by relating managementpolicies and laws on solid waste have beendefined in the Environmental ProtectionAct 1994, the Environmental ProtectionAct 2005, the National Strategy onEnvironmental Protection to 2010 andorientations towards 2020 and involvedlegal documents system. Most recently isthe National Strategy on generalmanagement of solid waste to 2025 andvision towards 2050. Accordingly, policiesapplied 3R management mechanism(reduction, reuse, recycle), policy onsocialization of management of living solidwaste, industrial development, processingtechnologies of solid waste, policy onenvironmental friendly nylon bags… havebeen encouraged to develop. TheseStrategies, policies have set out specificgoals with guidelines for the managementof solid waste at present.

However, the results obtained in

practice have been still limited comparedto requirements by the proposed strategy,the objectives set out on management ofsolid waste have been also facing lots ofdifficulties in implementation as well ascompletion of such objectives. It is causedby a number of policies issued, but lackingof mechanism for implementation as wellas specific guidelines documents, leadingto inefficient implementation or notsuitable to reality. In addition, the currentlegal documents on a number of key issueson management of solid waste such ashuman resources, organizational structure,qualifications, technical guidance are stilllacking, leading to the fact that it is difficultto implement activities, particularly for themanagement of hazardous waste.

2. Organizational systemand responsibilityassignments on solid wastehave been finalized andassigned in a relativelyspecific way from thecentral to local levels butstill fragmented,overlapped and showedmultiple vulnerabilities

At the central level, the managementof solid waste has been assigned to 5

relevant Ministries including: Ministry ofConstruction in charge of urban solidwaste management; the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade in charge of industrialsolid waste management; the Ministry ofHealth medical in charge of medical solidwaste management; the MARD in chargeof management of solid waste arisen fromagricultural activities and the Ministry ofNatural Resources and Environment incharge of managing hazardous solid waste.However, also from such assignment alongwith the lack of the focused generalmanagement unit have led to overlappingin the implementation of solid wastemanagement programs at national andsimilar local level in provinces. In addition,currently living solid waste in rural areasand local villages has been not yetdetermined the management units, itshowed shortcomings in management.

At the local level, depending on eachlocal regulations, solid waste managementis assigned to either the Department ofConstruction (in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hue,etc.) or directly managed by the cityPeople's Committee (in Da Nang, Ho ChiMinh city). It is due to the current separatemanagement model by each urban area hasled to a lack of cohesion and cooperationon solving inter-regional and inter-

Solid waste management:current situations, challenges anddirections

Hoang Duong Tung - Nguyen Van ThuyVietnam Environment AdministrationIn recent years, along with the process of industrialization and modernization of the country,the development of economic sectors such as industry, agriculture and tourism, services hasbeen caused increasingly growing volume of waste. Along with generation of volume is thecomplexity, the hazardous nature of kinds of waste. To meet practical requirements, themanagement of solid waste has been gradually changing, from mechanism, policy,organization and management system to issues on planning, socialization of management,inspection and handling of violations as well as financial investment issues ... to betterstrengthen and promote the role and effectiveness in implementation.



provincial problems, the solid wastemanagement is hard to find a commonviewpoint.

3. Regional solid wasteplan was built, but lackedof planning at local level

Since 2008, the Government hasissued the planning on eight inter-regional,inter-provincial solid waste treatmentzones for four key economic areas in orderto ensure thorough treatment, recyclingand reuse of waste, landfill restrictions,improving efficiency on solid wasteprocessing. But the reality showed that theconstruction of inter-regional, inter-provincial solid waste treatment model isinconsistent with the management ofurban solid waste but only suited to themanagement of hazardous waste.Therefore, the review and adjustment ofplanning and re-zoning of the constructionof inter-regional, inter-provincial solidwaste treatment zones for hazardous wasteis in deed necessary.

At the local level, anotherindispensable issue is regardless that theMinistry of Construction has issuedtechnical guidance document on planningfor management of urban solid waste, mostlocalities have not yet built plans on localsolid waste management, leading to a lackof basis for the implementation of specificprogram and projects. Currently, only afew localities have built up planning onsolid waste management as Ho Chi Minhcity, Binh Dinh, Quang Ninh, some otherlocalities have only completed planning onsolid waste collection and treatmentsystems as in Thua Thien - Hue.

Another issue of concern is thatcurrent solid waste management plans havenot yet mentioned the closed solid wastelandfills, while the majority of theselandfills continued causing pollution to theenvironment. The reason is that previously,these landfills have been not buried in asanitary way, after closing, these landfillswere assigned to administrative units formanagement. These units is notsufficiently functional as well as capacity tomonitor, control and treatment ofpollution. Therefore, this is still theenvironmental hot spots.

4. Community participationhas made significantprogresses, however, thesocialization of the solidwaste management is stillweak

In most localities, Urban EnvironmentCompany (SOE) is the unit mainlyresponsible to collection, transportationand treatment of local urban solid waste,besides is active participation by system ofpublic service companies at districts,precincts, cooperatives and the privatebusiness sector. These included a numberof private companies that have successfullyimplemented and provided more efficientand benefits to the community intransport and treatment of living urbansolid waste namely: Huy Hoang Co., Ltd.(Lang Son); Oriental Environment Co.,Ltd. (Dak Lak); Cam Pha Industrial JSC(Quang Ninh)... In rural areas, teams,cooperatives have been formed to collectand transport rural living solid waste.

Besides the involvement by businessessector, in recent years, solid wastemanagement method with community-based approach was interested forimplementation by involved projects andobtained good results. Typically is the pilotmodel on waste collection, treatment forprocessing of organic fertilizer in Tao Phu

hamlet (Tam Hong, Vinh Phuc), theproject to improve environment in ChinTe channel, Ba Ren market (Ben Tre)...

However, an undeniable challenge onmobilizing community participation is theweak socialization. The problem arisesfrom both the community and thegovernment. Community awareness andcapacity is not guaranteed to perform theirrights and obligations in the managementof solid waste, especially in poor, densely-populated areas. People's awareness tomaintaining public sanitation is still verylow, they always litter in the streets, sewersor secretly pouring construction solidwaste to river banks, public areas... causinga negative impact on environment sanityand urban landscape. In contrast, on thepart of management leaders, there is still alack of appropriate legal documents toattract the participation of the unions, thepublic and the entire society as a whole,lacking of many community mobilizationprograms in management of solid waste.

5. Inspection, checking andhandling of violations havebecome a useful tool butresources are limited,especially not preventedthe increase of illegalimport of scrap

S O L U T I O N - T E C H N O L O G Y

It is necessary to increase quantities of garbage collection youth self-managed teams.


In recent years, the inspection andsupervision from the central to local levelsis frequent tasks and held every year,mainly focusing on the inspection andchecking urgent environmental issues,thoroughly handling facilities whichcaused serious environmental pollution,inspecting environmental protection inenterprises in economic zones, industrialparks and villages ... However, because theworking force is still thin, not havingsufficient staff or necessary equipment,these tasks have still faced many difficultiesin solving practical problems. Emergedproblem is the prevention of illegal importof scrap has not achieved desired results.

Scrap volume that was forced todemolish and the number of violations inthe import and export of scrap discoveredwere only a small number compared toactual situation. This has increased theburden on the handling and disposal ofsolid waste at present. For example, ifcomparing 6,200 tones of imported wastelead batteries forced to destroy to annually40,000 tones of waste lead batteries inVietnam, this is totally not a small number.The problem is not merely a negativeimpact of imported scrap to theenvironment but it has become hotterwhen creating bad public opinions onmanagement, inspection and checkingsolid waste.

6. Financial resourcesinvested for solid wastemanagement are diversebut lacked of balance

Financial resources invested solid wastemanagement is increasingly diverse.Investment capital to build up solid wastetreatment facilities and supporting worksfrom central, local budget, foreign-fundedsources, long-term loans and other lawfulsources. With different levels, urban areasand business enterprises have invested onsolid waste management. In addition,funding from the Vietnam EnvironmentalProtection Fund is also included as animportant source of investment,supporting for the waste treatmentprojects. As of November 2011, the Fundhas given loans of 260 billion VND for 24projects related to the field of industrial

waste treatment, living waste, producingenvironmentally friendly products,socialization of garbage collection ... .

However, financial resources investedfor solid waste management is still seriousshortage and unbalanced among relatedfields. For example, funds from theEnvironmental Protection Fund is nowfacing many difficulties in raisingadditional annual capital sources, or totalrevenue from fees on solid wastemanagement services has only met notmore than 60% of total cost on operation,maintenance and maintenance ofmanagement systems. In addition, thebudget allocation mechanisms is nowspending more than 90% for wastecollection and transportation. Therefore,the cost for treatment and disposal of wasteis now very low.

7. Internationalcooperation has diversifiedinvestment sources but notreally promoted the roleand effectiveness

ODA is one of the major funding forenvironmental projects in Vietnam ingeneral and for the solid wastemanagement projects in particular. JapanInternational Cooperation Agency(JICA), the World Bank (WB) and AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) are the largestdonors, plays an important role to solidwaste management projects in Vietnam. Inparallel, projects / programs on solid wastemanagement in Vietnam have alsoreceived bilateral aids from countries suchas: Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Korea….It can be seen that the funded projects havebeen implemented are quite diverse,including projects on planning and


National Strategy Objectives on integratedmanagement of solid waste to 2025, with a visiontowards 2050

- Toward 2015: 85% of generated urban living solid waste is collected andtreated to ensure the environment, of which 60% is recycled, reused, energyrecovered or produced organic fertilizers; 85 % of non-hazardous medical solidwaste and 70% of hazardous medical solid waste are collected and treated toensure the environment; 40% in solid waste arisen in rural population areas and50% in industrial villages are collected and treated to ensure environmentalprotection; 100% landfills causing serious environmental pollution as per theDecision No. 64/2003/QD-TTg dated 22/4/2003 by the Prime Minister have beenhandled.

- Towards 2020: 90% of total urban generated living solid waste is collectedand treated to ensure the environment, of which 85% is recycled, reused, energyrecovered or produced organic fertilizers; 100% of generated non-hazardous andhazardous medical solid medical facilities, hospitals are collected and treated tohave environmental protection; 70% of solid waste arisen in rural populated areasand 80% in industrial villages are collected and treated to ensure theenvironment.

- Towards 2025: 100% of total urban generated living solid waste is collectedand treated to ensure the environment, of which 90% is recycled, reused, energyrecovered or produced organic fertilizers; 90% solid waste arisen in ruralpopulated and 100% in the industrial villages will be collected and treated toensure the environment.

Vision towards 2050: it is strived that all types of generated solid waste arecollected and re-used, recycled and thoroughly treated by advanced andenvironmentally friendly technologies and suited to specific conditions by eachlocality, limiting to minimum volume of solid waste to be buried.

(Source: Decision No. 2149/QD-TTg by the P.M issued on 17/12/2009)



improving urban environment; developingstrategies and plans on solid waste;pollution control and management of solidwaste in urban centers; providing solidwaste treatment equipment.

Although funds from internationalcooperation projects and programs arequite large and diverse, but not alwayseffective. A number of projects invested ondevice and processing technology of solidwaste are not modern or not matched toconditions in Vietnam. A problem leftopen now is the international cooperationprograms are not interested in investing inthe field of management and treatinghazardous waste, even this is a high-techinvestment and are in need of internationalcapital sources.

Another indispensable issue is that thesustainability and effectiveness of theinternational collaboration projects. Manyprojects and programs when all sources offunding are ended and meaning that theend of operations to maintain the results,just stop at the level of trial and applicationin a small range, not become a driving forcefor continuing to maintain, develop andexpand.

8.The directions for thenext phase

It can be seen that efforts on solid wastemanagement have brought many positiveresults. However, to make solid wastemanagement achieving the desired effect,several solutions must be synchronouslyconducted. These tasks are the

responsibility by legislated agencies issuingpolicies such as the Government,Parliament and the agencies responsible forenforcement such as ministries / sectorsand localities.

In respect of policies, institutions andlegal documents related to solid waste: it isnecessary to review and adjust accordinglyto match to actual conditions in each stageof the objectives related management ofsolid waste in the National Strategy onEnvironmental Protection to 2010 andorientations towards 2020 and theNational Strategy on integratedmanagement of solid waste to 2025 andvision towards 2050. In particular, thebuilding up and issuing guidelines, rulesand regulations on the management ofhazardous waste should be made soon.

In respect of organization andmanagement system of solid waste, it isnecessary to be strengthened from thecentral to local levels, clearly defining thefunctions, tasks and powers between theMinistries / Agencies, determining thefocal state management unit on solid wasteat central and local level. Strengthening themanagement capacity by authorities atdifferent levels.

In respect of planning on solid wastemanagement, it is necessary to consider onadjusting inter-regional, inter-provincialsolid waste management planning towardbuilding up conventional solid wastetreatment areas specifically to localities,inter-regional, inter-provincial hazardouswaste treatment areas. At the local level, it

is necessary to make solid waste planninglinked to the master plan on socio-economic development and theenvironment.

In respect of socialization of solid wastemanagement: Adding additionalmechanisms and policies needed topromote socialization of solid wastemanagement, community-basedmanagement; enhancing the mobilizationof the community and socio-politicalorganizations participating in collection,transportation and handling of solid waste.

In respect of inspection, checking andsupervision: It is necessary to strengthenhuman resources and ensure humanresources for inspection, monitoring, withstrict sanctions on violations of law in themanagement of solid waste. In particular,it is necessary to tighten management ofenterprises importing scrap, strengtheningsupervision of waste disposal operations bythese enterprises; Strictly handlingviolations, gradually coming to restrict andprohibit the import of scrap.

In respect of investing and financeissues: Should promote and diversifyinvestment sources for management andtreating solid waste; Enhancingmobilization of international supports;Maintaining the sustainability ofinvestments sources to ensure builtoperation and processes of collection andtreatment systems of solid waste.

In respect of technology development,issuing appropriate mechanisms topromote technological development ofsolid waste treatment towards reducingvolume of landfilled waste, increasing rateof recycling, reuse and technologies of solidwaste suited to conditions in Vietnam.

In addition, the need to develop auniform infrastructure for activity onclassification, collection, transportation,treatment and recycling of solid waste topromote and strengthen effectiveness onwaste separation at sources in urban areas.Summary and evaluation of implementedprojects in order to effectively implementthe Program on Reduce, Recycle, Re-useof Solid Waste in urban areas.�Strictly handling illegal import of scrap


1. From safety culture to environmentalsecurity

Since the 1980s, there have been many studies on culture ofsafety . However, concept of safety culture (VHAT) was then notclearly shaped and attracted the attention by the society. Until theChernobyl nuclear Power Plant disaster in Ukraine in 1986,VHAT was again mentioned. VHAT term was first proposed inthe "Summary Report made by the Post - Chernobyl PeriodWorkshop" published in 1988, in which VHAT was defined as"Summary of characteristics and attitudes of organizations andindividuals in order to confirm that nuclear safety issues should begiven special attention due to its importance”. VHAT can beunderstood as a form of corporate culture (i.e. a productionsystem), to ensure the safety of lives and property of employeesand of people who are using the products of the business and ofpeople who are living within the environmental impact by theinvolved business.

In production and daily life, people often encounterunexpected risks. These risks may be due to negligence inmanufacturing and daily life (of fire, traffic accidents ...). There aretwo types of environmental incidents, they are immediateaccidents and long-term accidents.

Nature of immediate incident type is fast, strong, sudden, oftenin a short time and affecting in a narrow range, people are not upto timely coping with such situations (fire, slides of site disposals,etc.). General characteristics of these incidents are usually occurringsuddenly, sometimes damage is not too heavy but alwayshappening together with the loss of human lives in the presenceof the community, so they caused heavy impression and confusionin society and were exploited by mass media.

Long-term incident type occur slowly in a long term period ina fairly wide range so people pay less attention, when they findingout, it is very difficult to reverse the situation (salinity, climatechange, etc.). Long-term environmental incidents are usuallyattracted attention by the media and the government when thereis a strong reaction in the community. Although it is hard to countlosses caused by long-term incidents and received less social publicattention than immediate incident type, its social impact isprofound.

Catastrophic incidents so-called disasters often occur in areaswhere industrialization is highly developed and population isdensely populated. Although the probability of disaster is minor,especially in the field of high technology (nuclear power, nuclearsubmarines, aerospace etc.), but when disaster strikes, it oftencauses negative impacts to the entire society. History shows thatrisks causing environmental disasters arisen from technicalproblems is the matter that even science today could not predictand well controlled. Characteristics of systems always contain thedisturbance (hidden incidents or risks within the technical systemitself or technical operations by the employee). Therefore,controlling and forecasting technical problems must be based onsystematic action strategy.

Technological inventions normally came from potentiallyindustrialized countries. When applied to production, thedepreciation rate to new techniques is now usually 10% per year.So at least 10 years after operation, new technologies have beentransferred to the developing countries by industrial countries. Tosell these technologies, technologies exported companies oftenseek ways, even extreme measures such as bribing officials of thetechnological importer, or to force the importer to receivedepreciated technologies through unequal development fundedprograms... On the other hand, due to the rapid economic growthand low level of technology that are not qualified to verify, or dueto corruption, many developing regions in the 3rd world haveimported outdated technologies and soon became "technologicalwaste dumps" of the world. This also means that the importer ofout of date technology also imported hidden risks of technicalincidents. When incidents occur, involved businesses often coverthese incidents, re-directing investigation agencies to shirk theirresponsibilities. There have been a lot of evidence of thisphenomenon in the world. This requires the investigation agencyof the incident must have high professional competence and soundunderstanding of technical equipment.

In addition, the emission of pollutants by productionfacilities have not caused sudden environmental incidents but aprocess of gradual accumulation, in the long term period, notattracted social attention at the beginning. Increasing volume ofpollution caused escalating response in the community. This is

From safety culture toenvironmental security andthe community’s role

Nguyen Dinh Hoe - Nguyen Ngoc Sinh Vietnam Association For Conservation of Nature and Environment




the root of growing numbers ofcomplaint letters from our citizens. Inseveral cases, these letters have not beensatisfactorily and timely resolved, createdcollective and radical reactions of thoseaffected, have caused more disturbancesin society, undermined the public’s truth.

In fact, there happened several casesthat people's collective reaction againstoperation from the Nam Son landfill (inHanoi), Dong Thanh (in Ho Chi Minhcity), landfills in Hai Duong city, NamDinh city, reaction by local people to thedischarge of the Cam Ranh Sugar mill (inKhanh Hoa), local people smashed VanPhat business in Phu Tai industrial zone -Binh Dinh in early 2000s, these weretypical cases. Fierce reaction by local peoplewill become more complex and havedestructive colors if provoked (for example,some local people in Thai Thuy-Thai Binh

smashed gas drilling rigs from a gascompany in 2000 because operation bysuch drilling rigs has spread acid, causingpollution to the environment).

The above cases have showed that fromVHAT to security environment (ANMT)is only the increasing of frequency and scaleof environmental issues without clearboundaries. Industrialization was difficult,but creating a VHAT background meetingsustainable industrialization is doublydifficult. But if lacks of VHAT, anyproduction system, whether high-tech, canbe a ticking time bomb.

2. Community’s role inensuring VHAT and ANMT

If safety is not secured, it may not besustainable. Therefore, VHAT, andfollowed by ANMT is not only the goal, ameasure, but also a requirement on

sustainable development. Safety ineconomy, in society and in environment.Thus, relationships VHAT and ANMTand sustainable development is the organicrelationship of cause and effect. Thecommunity’s role in that relationshipincludes two internal functions.

Firstly, community is the detector ofexpressions of safety and security, and alsoplays an irreplaceable role in inspection andsupervision of safety and securityassurance. community is presenteverywhere, all the time. Supervising andmonitoring plans by relating agencies,regardless of highly adequate and dense, aredifficult to cover large space andmonitoring all diverse expressions of safetyand security. Only community equippedwith necessary minimum knowledge canbe detected in time and notified to thenecessary addresses relevant information.

Secondly, community is suffering thewhole consequences of losses of securityand safety. Therefore, they worry aboutsafety and environmental securityassurance. When society’s awareness onsafety and environmental security,including the awareness by producers andmanagers themselves are not high, thecommunity plays an important role.�

Referenced documents1. Patrick Hudson Safety Culture –

Theory and Practice Centre for SafetyScience Universiteit Leiden TheNetherlands. 12.1999.

2. Nguyen Dinh Hoe and Nguyen NgocSinh. Ensuring environmental security forsustainable development. Science andTechnology Publishing House, Hanoi, 2010.

Incident in the Fukushima nuclear Power Plant, Japan, March 2011

The Vietnam Waste Solutions Inc. (VWS) will build a wastetreatment complex in Thu Thua District, Long An Province.

The project, worth nearly 700 million USD with a dailycapacity of around 40,000 tonnes, is the biggest wastetreatment and environmental protection project in thesouthern region.

Located on an area of 1,760 hectares, once operational, theproject is expected to employ about 6,000 – 10,000 labourers.

In order to protect the environment and avoid affecting roadtransport, the VWS plans to transport waste to the complex bywaterway.�

VNA

700 mln USD for largest waste treatment project in South


Vietnam EnvironmentProtection Fund (VEPF)established in June 26th, 2002pursuant to the Prime

Minister’s Decision No. 82/2002/QĐ-TTg with the charter capital of 200 billionVND. In 2008, the PM issued theDecision to modify the regulation ofVEPF organization and activities with 500billion charter capital and some addedduties. As the execution norm “operationnot for profit”, all VEPF resources focuson environment promotion in order tocontribute to create a green-clean-beautiful environment and sustainabledevelopment for the country. Nowadays,various investment and environmentprotection projects have been successfullyand effectively developed as a result ofgetting financial support from the VEPF.At the present, VEPF has been regarded asthe most flexibility tool among maineconomic tools to protect environment.

We can say, in the situation directsupport from the State budget remainlimited, the establishment of a financeorganization to attract foreign anddomestic capital resources to supportenvironment protection activities is veryuseful and important. To some extent, theVEPF’s achievement results prove thecorrect of organization process of theFund. The Fund has become reliable greenaddress, a useful capital source forenvironment protection investors tend tosustainable development in Vietnam.Today we can affirm that VEPF has beenstrongly existing and developing.

To April 30th 2012, the Fund have giveloan of more than 819 billion VND with

soft interest to 139 environment projectsin 37 provinces/cities for waste treatmentfrom industrial parks, serious environmentpollution organizations pursuant to PrimeMinister’s Decision No. 64/2003/QĐ-TTg; Develop clean, environment friendlyand save energy technologies; Produceenvironment protection products, socializewaste collecting activities. Among them,most loan focus on industrial park andfactory waste water treatment projects,account for 56% of the total loan.

The Fund has financed to 115environment protection projects, missionsin the fields of public awareness,environment pollution treatment causedby natural calamity epidemic diseases andfloods. Total finance support is more than32 billion VND. The finance support havebeen used match with the Fund’s purpose,contribute to improve environmentpollution situation and implement

environment protection unexpected dutiesthat not arranged by the state budget. TheFund’s timely activities are highly evaluatedby local governments and supported units,facilitate to rapidly solve local urgent dutiesof environment protection

Additionally, VEPF has financed toVietnam annual environment awardsparticipated in organizating environmentmemorial days and environment mediaevents. Thereby propagate, educate to raisepublic awareness on environmentprotection.

Promote the achieved results, in thecoming time, VEPF will perfect The FundDevelopment Strategy to the year 2020;Continue to strengthen finance support toprojects and environment protectionactivities in various form, emphasize onserving Government and MONRE’spriority programs such as river basins,industrial pollution environmental

MONRE Vice Minister – VEPF Management Board President Bui Cach Tuyen givestatement in the of VEPF 10 years establishment Anniversary


VIETNAM ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION FUND:

10 years of building up anddeveloping

Nguyen Nam PhuongVEPF’s Executive Director



improvement; push up the fund professionactivities management towardspecialization. Simultaneously, continue tostrengthen resources in order to timelysatisfy social rising demand.

Thanks to the above contributions,VEPF has got noble reward and honorablename such as: Prime Minister merit listand flag, MONRE Minister’s merit list…The Fund has been recognized thehonorable name of Excellent Labor Teamin several years. On the occasion of 10 yearscelebration, VEPF fund has honourlyreceived Third Labor Medal given by thePresident of Vietnam. �

Environment protection and sustainable development signing Ceremony amongVEPF, World Development Organization and Sec Public National EnvironmentFund in November 2011

Northern Quang Ninh province is taking a number of urgentmeasures to protect Ha Long bay’s natural environment, saidDeputy Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee DangHuy Hau, on 14/11/2012.

Local authorities will ban the handling of cargo in bulk inthe area, and treat wastewater and sewage discharged into the bayby 2013. They will also minimise the encroachment to the sea,closely monitor industrial production establishments and urbanprojects, and raise the public’s awareness of environmentalprotection.

The province will establish an association charged witheducating people on environmental matters that affect the HaLong bay area, act as an advisor to issue an exclusive decree on HaLong bay management and install environmental observationstations around Ha Long bay.

By June 2014, the locality will complete the relocation ofpeople living in the bay and arrange resettlement for mainlanders.

Coal will be transported by covered conveyer belts instead ofroads, and coal screening mills relocated far from the bay, andopen-air mining of the fuel ended by 2017.

The activities aim to develop local tourism in a sustainablemanner for the future.�

V.N.A.

Quang Ninh protects Ha Long bay environment

Halong bay (Quang Ninh)

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) has decidedto temporarily suspend imports of secondhand, outdated, andpollution-caused machines, equipment, production lines andtechnologies.

The regulation is applied to the equipment that the Chineseauthorities had no longer used in 18 fields, namely ironproduction, coal refinery, metallurgy of copper, lead and zinc,electrolysis of aluminium, production of calcium carbide, chemicalfiber, cement, flat glass, paper, wine, seasoning powder, citric acid,leather, dying and printing.

It is, however, invalid to second hand machines, equipmentand line technologies which are imported for non-use purposeslike temporary imports, re-importing, transit and trans-shipment.

Since September 15, 2012, Viet Nam Customs only allows theimports of second-hand equipment, machines and linetechnologies which were recognized by the MST for notbelonging to the list of temporary suspension.

Importers have to submit dossiers of import and productorigin to the MST for consideration�

BGP

Imports of outdated machinery halted



The Ministry of Finance recently issued Circular 159/2012/TT-BTC amending and supplementing its Circular 152/2011/TT-BTCdated November 11, 2011 (providing guidelines for implementingGovernment Decree 67/2011/ND-CP dated August 8, 2011 thatprovides detailed guidelines for implementing some provisions of theenvironmental protection tax law).

Plastic bags and containers made of high density polyethyleneresin (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE) or linear lowdensity polyethylene resin (LLDPE) will be subject to tax. Plasticsthat are already used for packing goods and plastic bags, which arecertified to satisfy environmentally friendly standards by theMinistry of Natural Resources and Environment, will be exemptedfrom taxes.

According to Circular 159, environmental protection tax isnot subject to goods exported by their producers or authorizedagencies (including goods made of imported materials) andmaterials imported for making these goods.

In cases where organizations, households and individuals buygoods subject to environmental protection tax for export,producers of these goods must declare and pay environmentalprotection tax related to these goods.

Subject to environmental protection tax are also goods madeinside Vietnam and within duty-free areas, sold between domesticregions and duty-free areas, within duty-free areas, between duty-free areas, and imported or exported on the spot inside Vietnam.They do not include packaging made to pack product accordingto law. Producers of these goods must declare and payenvironmental protection tax subject to these goods.

Environmental protection tax subject to a commodity isdefined when that commodity is exported or imported through aVietnamese border crossing.

Circular 159 take effect on November 15, 2012.�

VPG

Guidelines for environmental protection tax law

implementation

The project - the first of its kind in Viet Nam - will include theconstruction of an incinerator to handle 75 tonnes of industrialwaste per day such as rubber, leather, plastic and cloth waste fromfactories and waste from mills and mines.

It will be equipped with an exhaust fume treatment system andheat recovery system connected to an electricity generator.

The project, worth US$29.2 million with US$22.5 millionfunded by Japan through the Viet Nam Green Aid Programme,relies on advanced waste treatment technology and has a dailycapacity of 75 tonnes. The energy recovered will be used togenerate power with an expected capacity of 1,930kWh, thushelping reduce greenhouse effects.

The project will be carried out by the Ha Noi UrbanEnvironment Company (URENCO) and Japanese HitachiZonsen. The facility is expected to be operational by 2014, at

which point the project will be expanded to other cities andprovinces in Viet Nam.�

V.N.S

Innovative plans to fuel power plant using industrial waste

Nam Son waste treatment Complex, located in Ha Noi, willinitiate a project to generate power using industrial waste.

The Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA)recently organised a workshop on building of VietnamGreen Label Criteria in Hanoi. This aimed to gatherexpert ideas for Vietnam Green Label Criteria tobe applied to office papers, batteries, shampoo,conditioners, and other hair care products, hand-washing water and soaps.

Mr Le Ke Son, Deputy General Director of theVietnam Environment Administration, said buildingVietnam Green Label Criteria should have the consistency

in document principles, content rationale, practicalityand reality. The criteria should facilitate and

encourage enterprises to participate in VietnamGreen Label.

To certify Vietnam Green Label, companiesneed to have environmental impact assessment

on products and meet general criteria like entirecompliance with monitoring, wastewater discharge,

and specific criteria for product�

VEA

VEA Builds Vietnam Green Label Criteria



Da Nang has been selected as anAPEC city for a Low-Carbon ModelTown Project.

The decision was announced atthe 44th APEC energy meeting inWashington DC, said the Ministry ofIndustry and Trade's InternationalCo-operation Department head,Pham Thanh Tung.

The APEC project would createup to 20 low-carbon model citiesusing energy-efficient technologies,including smart grids and renewablepower generation.

Central Da Nang city hasproposed four low-carbon modelprojects, including batterypowered bicycles, technologies tocurb greenhouse gas emissionsand to use renewable energ ysources, a metro system and rapidbus transit.

The city's Department of NaturalResources and Environment said DaNang had already cut 12,000 tonnes ofcarbon emissions through a pilot projectand saved VND12 billion (US$570,000).

The city has approved a secondphase of the project to run to2015 and is set to build as a greencity by 2020.�

V.N.S

Da Nang chosen to be model low-carbon city

Han River Bridge is a symbol of Danang City

The scientists from the Vietnam Academy of Scienceand Technology has successfully found out the processof making versatile biological products Hudavil (HUD5), which would be useful in treating environmentpollution in aquatic farms, especially black tiger pawnor catfish ponds.

With the useful microorganisms, the scientists havesuccessfully generated microbial compositions andprobiotics production technique with higher density,which allows metabolizing the pollutants into usefulnutrients, non-toxic to people and animals. As such,the products help create the ecological balance foraquatic ponds.

HUD 5 has been utilized in the fields for threeconsecutive years in Tra Vinh, Soc Trang and Ca Mauprovinces, which has shown fully satisfactory results: thepercentage of successfully aquatic farming with HUD 5was over 90 percent.

The households which used HUD 5 for their shrimpponds harvested 3.5-6.5 tons per hectare a crop, or 58

percent higher than the productivity of other ponds whichdid not use HUD 5.

To date, HUD 5 technology has been transferred to 30factories and enterprises which make microbiologicalproducts for the salt intruded areas in Mekong Delta.

The scientists of the science academy have alsosucceeded in making microbiological products to treatpolluted water resources. They have selected 30actinomycete strains and 20 strains of thermophilicbacteria, which can generate strong decomposition oforganic matter in the wastewater.

The preparations have been used together with aquaticplants (duckweed) to treat the polluted water in theplastics recycle craft village of Dong Mau, in Vinh Phucprovince. One month after the treatment, the seriouslypolluted water got considerable improvement, becomingB-class surface water in accordance with the standards setby the Ministry of Natural Resources and theEnvironment.

Tia Sang

Treating environment pollution with microbiology


Reporter: How do you evaluate the potential of thebilateral cooperation between Sweden and Vietnam inenvironmental management in general and thebiofuel development in particular? Ambassador Camilla Mellander: I’ve seen great opportunities

for continued cooperation and strengthened development betweenthe two countries and it should be based on trust and mutualbenefits. The development cooperation between Sweden andVietnam has been lasting for over 40 years and shall now turn topartnership-based cooperation including mutual benefits for bothpartners. For the time being, the two countries have been enhancingthe cooperation in the fields of Climate change, Environmentalmanagement and Renewable Energy, at the same time as the bilateraltrade is put in focus. We want the Swedish solutions for effectiveenvironmental management including technologies for wastetreatment to be introduced into Vietnam thereby contributing tosustainable development. Those activities have been promoted bythe Swedish CENTEC Vietnam trying to connect cities, researchinstitutes and enterprises from the two countries. The SwedishGovernment has also established a couple of mechanisms that cansupport partners from the two countries to cooperate.

Reporter: Sweden is known as a leading country inwaste treatment and turning the organic wastes intovaluable energy. How did Sweden grow to move tothose achievements?Ambassador Camilla Mellander: Sweden has a long-term history

in the development of products, services and technology in the biogasfield. Since 1960, biogas has been produced at the urban waste- watertreatments plants and the benefits for the society and the people from

these projects are quite clear. Support has also been given to researchto improve biogas production. In 1980s even more waste watertreatment plants and waste dumpsites started to collect biogas to putinto production of electricity and/or heat. Many biogas plants havebeen built to take care and make use of the waste from theslaughterhouses, food-processing plants and restaurants. Farms withlivestock production have also been a field where biogas productionhas been integrated into manure management- producing energy andimproved fertilizers. Recently, Sweden has seen a dramatic increasein upgrading biogas to CNG quality and thereby replaces fossil fuelfor public transport systems such as busses and waste collectingvehicles. Organic household waste is collected, biogas produced andupgraded to fuel to run the transport vehicles or used in combinedplants producing heating/cooling and electricity. This is an effective

Sweden to help Vietnam to growthe environmental-friendlybiogas technology

“Sweden is one of the leading countries for clean and environmentalfriendly technology, not least the production of biogas from theorganic wastes. So far approximately 4,000 vehicles for publictransport is fueled by biogas in Sweden. The Swedish governmenthas been launching relevant public policies to encourage the privatesector, municipalities and the citizens to use biogas technology inorder to reduce the pollution and for the energy efficiency. “Throughpartnerships between Vietnamese and Swedish companies theSwedish biogas technology can be introduced to the Vietnameseenterprises and support clean energy here”, said the SwedishAmbassador in Vietnam, H.E Camilla Mellander, at the side of theSeminar “Biogas – turning organic wastes into energy” that just tookplace in Hanoi.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

H.E Camilla Mellander, theSwedish Ambassador in Vietnam

Sweden can lay claim to the world's first train running solely on biogas

way to reduce emissions having an impact on climate change. Fromthat fact, you see the biogas has been successfully developed and isnow widely used, contributing to a remarkable reduction of pollution,improving energy production and thereby bringing back economicalbenefits for enterprises and the society as a whole.

In order to reach those successful achievements, the Swedishgovernment and EU has built up a long term policy, and aconsistent legal system, established financing tools favoringrenewable energy and built information and interest about thoseissues. The private sector has contributed by innovations andentrepreneurship and the society as a whole as contributed in thesame directions leading to less oil and coal dependency andincreased use of renewable energy- in particular biogas.

Reporter: Do you have any messages for theVietnamese enterprises operating in this field?Ambassador Camilla Mellander: The message I would like

to convey to the Vietnamese enterprises operating in the fields

of environmental treatment and bio-fuels is: Sweden hassuccessfully developed and experienced with the highlyadvanced biogas technology. We are willing to share ourexperiences and interested to cooperate with Vietnameseenterprises and organizations to support the country to movetowards a more sustainable development. We want to continueto maintain the good relationship with Vietnam and continueworking together in many aspects of the society not least in thefields of environment and clean energy. We do hope that thisseminar can contribute to a more sustainable development inenvironment, waste and energy sectors. We hope to see atransport system where buses, cars and motorbikes will be fueledwith biogas in Vietnam in the near future. These models havebeen working out successfully in India and Thailand, with tuktuk vehicles fueled with biogas and CNG- this has resulted inmuch lower air pollution.

Reporter: Thank you very much for this conversation.�By GIANG HUONG


I N T E R N A T I O N A L C O O P E R A T I O N

* Making investmentin biogas brings backbenefit for enterprises

Sweden is well-knownaround the world for advancedtechnologies in environmentaltreatment and renewableenergy. The innovative natureof this country makes itssolutions are infamouslycreated and sometime evendeveloped by farmers likewhom met in this seminar.

Thus, the practicality of these technologies is very high. Thematter of concern is the gap in living standard between the twocountries making the cost of these technologies relatively highcompared to the solutions, which Vietnam has often procuredin the Far East region. For market entry, some designmodification and localization may be necessary to keep theprice tag lower. In my opinion, enterprises of the 2 countriesshould cooperate for pilot projects.

The pilot may help drawing experiences in combining theSwedish technologies with the current bio-gas technology inpractice in Vietnam for a more innovative solution to suit theVietnamese context. The technology transfer process withassistance of Swedish Centec Vietnam would motivateVietnamese enterprises to invest in bio-gas systems whereveragriculture takes place, turning the organic wastes into “gold”.The Swedish organizations and enterprises, which come toVietnam this time are the leading ones in the field of wastetreatment and bio-gas technology. I noticed that they represent

farming-driven technologies. It is believed that farm ownersin Vietnam, who could see the benefits from the biogasinvestment will promptly make decision. Let’s all share thecorporate responsibility towards our society and ourenvironment, by investing in renewable energy.

* Develop thecommercial biogas inVietnam

The biogas technology is thetool to close the economic circleand environmental protection inthe agricultural production,contributing an extra income forthe Vietnamese farmers and inthe construction of the new ruralarea. The biogas programme hasbeen carrying out at different ruralareas of Vietnam for a rather longtime and does gain many positiveresults. However, those

programmes are just at small & household scale. Vietnam hasa very high potential to develop and widely use the biogas ofdifferent application for the environmental protection andimprove the living condition. The experience of biogas as wellas the financial assistance of Sweden and the policies of theVietnamese government for the development of biogas isextremely necessary. It would make a kick-off to push theVietnamese enterprises and farmers to make investment intothe production of biogas, through that aim to thegovernmental target of 2020, vision 2030.

Opinions from experts

Dr. Le Hưng Quoc –Chairman of theVietnamese BiogasAssociation

Mr. Dang Duc Dung –Vice Chairman of HanoiYoung Business Association


Reporter: Could you please let usknow how meaningful the officialvisit of the Polish EnvironmentVice Minister (Mrs. BeataJaczewska) is, for the cooperativerelation between the 2 countriesin the field of environment?Mr. Wojciech Gerwel: Vice Minister

Beata Jaczewska’s recent visit to Vietnamfollows in the wake of many previousbilateral exchanges in the area ofenvironmental protection. The visitconstituted yet another significant step infurthering our bilateral relationship in thearea of environmental protection. Ittestifies to the importance that the PolishGovernent and companies attach toVietnam and to the challenging issue ofenvironmental protection in this country.Vietnam faces numerous environmentalproblems and the seriousness of thesechallenges bolsters the attractiveness ofPoland’s environmental technologies andpolicy solutions to Vietnam. Our solutionsare remarkably competitive both in termsof technological sophistication and price.Such technologies helped to turn Polandfrom a heavily industrialized and pollutedeconomy into a green haven at the heart ofthe European Union (EU). I believe thatthe Vice Minister convinced manyVietnamese experts that there may be

technologically and financially viable,tested solutions to their seriousenvironmental challenges.

Reporter: Poland used to be anindustrial country which washeavily polluted, but now itsatisfies more strict environmentalprotection standards of EU. Wouldyou please share someexperiences in environment ofPoland to Viet Nam?Mr. Wojciech Gerwel: Poland’s

experience is a good example of how muchone can achieve with the right resolve.Over the past twenty years the Polisheconomy has grown at one of the veryfastest rates in Europe and yet at the sametime the country has reduced itsgreenhouse emissions by almost one third.Deep reforms of the Polish environmentallaws constituted the key factor instimulating this radical change in favor ofenvironmental protection. Poland joinedthe EU in 2004 and especially during theaccession process - had to ensure theconformity of its environmental laws withthe whole body of strict EU regulations. Inconsequence, all Polish companies werecompelled to quickly adapt to meet thestringent EU environmental demands lestthey had to pay heavy penalties. Thiscaused radical behavior change.

The Polish case proves that robusteconomic growth does not need to comeat a cost to the environment. To thecontrary, Poland’s environmentalinvestments have elicited the developmentof knowledge economy and improved thecountry’s image as a sophisticated andmodern economy – which could not buthelp our exports and tourism.

Poland forged its environmentalsolutions at a turbulent time of rapideconomic transition, when capitalresources were relatively scarce and onlyaffordable solutions had any chance ofsuccess. It is easy to produce cheaptechnologies that are substandard in termsof output and that tend to malfunctionafter only a couple of years. It is also not arocket science to come up with effectivetechnologies that are overly expensive. Thechallenge was to create state-of-the-arttechnologies at affordable prices. Poland’ssuccess relied on its vigorous scientificculture and the remarkableentrepreneurship of its private sector. TheGovernment’s steadfast resolve inprioritising environmental protection hasalso been key. Today’s Polishenvironmental technologies bear witnessto these successful solutions and Iencourage anyone to compare their

Great potential for Poland -Vietnam cooperation in thefield of environment protection


On the occasion of the Poland - Vietnam EnvironmentalProtection Forum organized by the Embassy of the Republicof Poland in Viet Nam on 8/11/ 2012 in Ha Noi, theEnvironment Magazine’s reporter interviews Mr. WojciechGerwel - Economic Counsellor, Embassy of the Republic ofPoland in Vietnam about results of the forum and prospectsof future cooperation.

Mr. Wojciech Gerwel - EconomicCounsellor, Embassy of theRepublic of Poland in Vietnam


outstanding parameters with those of othertop global competitors.

Poland’s deep environmental transitionis probably worth studying and perhapseven emulating in various respects (e.g.legal reforms targetting polluters). ThePolish Government stands ready to shareits experiences in environmental protectionwith the Vietnamese partners and friends.

Reporter: Please let us knowinitial results from this forum andprospect for cooperation betweenenterprises of the 2 countries inthe field of environmentaltechnology in the coming time?Mr. Wojciech Gerwel: Around 250

experts – including 12 Polish companies –attended the Polish-Vietnameseenvironmental business forum in Hanoiduring the deputy minister’s visit. Theforum constituted an opportunity tointroduce to Vietnam, for the third time,some of our GreenEvo champions – i.e.green technologies that have been carefullyselected by the Polish government basedon a rigorous national contest.

Polish and Vietnamese companieshave expressed strong interest in mutualcooperation and have initiated jointprojects. For instance, Asket – whichproduces portable agro-biomass briquetingtechnology that can process even wet ricestraw – signed an agreement with aVietnamese agricultural institute. CTECarbotech Engineering Vietnam wasestablished as the first Polish-Vietnameseenvironmental protection joint ventureand the company will supply containerplants for bio-mechanical treatment ofsewage. Discussions have concerned greentechnology transfer in numerous otherfields: Biogradex offers municipal andindustrial wastewater treatment by methodof low-load activated sludge; Ecotech -technology for disposal and recovery ofhazardous and toxic waste; Ekotop - hybridsewage sludge drying technology; Jakusz -mobile technology for the disposal ofammunition; Multichem Eko - industrialwaste management; PP-Eko - a technologyfor high-quality water production fromindustrial wastewater; Promar - a system

for optimization of energy consumption;Qenergy - gasification technology;Technologie Ekologiczne ZbigniewTokarz - a system for production of liquidfuels from plastic waste; and WSKKraków - geothermal heating pumps.Other GreenEvo companies offer solutionsin the fields of water and wastewatertreatment, waste treatment, renewableenergy sources, energy efficiency, airprotection and biodiversity protection(full description: greenevo.gov.pl).

The potential for Polish-Vietnamesecooperation in the field of environmentalprotection is great and is still significantlyunderutilized. The Polish governmentstands ready to support common Polish-Vietnamese projects in this area withpreferential financing options. The nextlikely opportunity to meet GreenEvocompanies will occurr in Hanoi inSeptember 2013, during the EuropeanGreen Business Solutions trade fair.

Reporter: Thank you for joiningthe interview.�

PHAM DINH TUYEN (Reporter)


The World Bank on November 2nd, 2012 approved a US$200 million IDA credit for Vietnam to provide safe clean waterfor 1.7 million people in eight provinces in the Red River Delta.

Vietnam has made impressive progress in economic growthand poverty reduction, but more needs to be done to reduce ruralpoverty, said World Bank Country Director for Vietnam -Victoria Kwakwa.

“Better access to safe water and sanitation, delivered by thegovernment using our new financing instrument, will help ensurethat the quality of life for people in rural communities improves,which is important for sustainability and equity of growth inVietnam”, she added.

The program targets to improve sanitation and access to safewater and brings important health benefits for the beneficiaries.

It will support the strengthening of institutional systems,improve sector planning, and monitoring and evaluation inparticipating provinces. For the first time in the country, the StateAudit of Vietnam will carry out independent verification ofProgram results.

The program will also strengthen governance systems forresults-based service delivery as well as gender-based monitoring

and reporting, two key components of the World Bank VietnamCountry Partnership Strategy 2012 - 2016.

The World Bank’s new financing instrument called theProgram for Results(P for R) links disbursements of funds directlyto the delivery of verifiable results.

This program is the first P for R to be approved by the Bankin the East Asia and Pacific region and the first in the rural watersupply and sanitation sector.�

VNS

World Bank sponsors safe water supply program


The institutionalization processof environmental protectioninitiatives and the formation ofenvironmental technology and

industry market had been officiallycommenced in late 1970s with theenactment of Environment PreservationAct and the establishment of theenvironment administration agency atcentral level in 1977. Although this triggerof the Republic of Korea (RoK) seemed tobe behind in comparison with EUdeveloped countries and USA, RoK hasimplemented a number of forwardopinions and made a big movement inorder to ensure its sustainabledevelopment. Besides an continuouslyenormous effort made for theconsolidation of institutional and legalframework on environment protection,Government has invested in a number ofenvironmental infrastructure developmentprojects that can be seen as a leverage forthe formation of environmentaltechnology and industry market in RoK.

In 1992, a year after the establishmentof Korea Ministry of Environment(KMoE) which was upgraded from theformer Environmental AdministrationAgency in Jan 1990, A Private – PublicPartnership Program on EnvironmentalTechnology Research and Development(R&D) had been launched by theMinistry. About $US300 millions hadbeen invested by KmoE for 450 R&Dprojects under the program during 1992 -1998. 140 out of those projects wereimplemented with the focus on thecommercialization of environmentaltechnologies that had been successfullypiloted. A similar program focusing on thepromotion of new energy and clean

technologies had been launched byMinistry of Industry, Trade and Energy(MOICE). These programs played a vitalrole in the development of environmentaltechnology market and industrydomestically. After a decade, in 1999, theenvironmental technology market was

involved the participation of about 12,400companies/enterprises operating in 17various subsectors of environmentindustry. The annual growth rate ofdomestic market of environmenttechnology was estimated at 15-17% forthe period between 1990 and 1997 andreached $US7.7 billion in 1997. After aslight decline affected by 1997 AsiaFinancial Crisis in late 1990s, domesticmarket of environmental technology inRoK had been recovered to reach again thevalue of $US7.7 billion in 2000 and beingincreased to $US 29 billion in 2006 and$US 49 billion in 2011.

In 1999, despite of economicdepression caused from 1997 AsianFinancial Crisis, Korean Government hascontinued its efforts aiming at therehabilitation of legacy pollution causedfrom the previous period of economicacceleration without the appropriateintegration of environmental concerns and

Promotion of EnvironmentalIndustry and Technology to ensurethe sustainable development inRepublic of Korea


By Jung Gun YoungRepresentative in Chief of KoreaEnvironmental Industry and TechnologyInstitute (KEITI) in Vietnam

Vietnam Korea Business Conference on green technology Hanoi, 7th May 2012



considerations and the improvement ofenvironmental quality. A comprehensiveplan for environmental rehabilitation andimprovement had been approved to bedeployed with the total investment of $US33.2 billion for 141 specific projects during1998 - 2002, including $US8.9 billion forair preservation, $US13.9 billion for waterpreservation, $US6 billion for water supplyand $US3.5 billion for waste management.Besides the public investments, a numberof policies to apply ‘Polluter Pay Principle’have been implemented in RoK in order toforce the companies/enterprises to investin pollution control and environmentalprotection. These all have played as adriven force to boost the domestic marketof environmental technology, tostrengthen the capacity and to deepen theexpertise of Korean companies/enterprisesin the fields of environment technologyand industry.

With the target making RoK becomea top 5 countries in terms of environment

technology by 2010, in 2000, KoreanGovernment enacted the Act onDevelopment of and Support forEnvironmental Technology and launchedthe comprehensive program on thedevelopment of key environmental sectorsduring 2001-2010 with the totalinvestment of a thousand billion Kwon(approximately equal to a billion of USdollars). These policies have supported thedevelopment of Korean companies/enterprises operating in the sectors ofenvironmental technology and industryand encouraged the export of Koreantechnologies as well. The annual growthrate of export value of environmentaltechnologies was estimated at 28.8%between 2006 and 2011 and reached at$US 3 billion in 2011. Middle East,Developed Countries, China and USA arekey clients of Korean exporters in terms ofenvironmental technology and industrywith the respectively share of 43.3%,18.2%, 13.6% and 7.9% in the total export

value of Korean environmentaltechnology. In respect of sectors, watertreatment technologies are overwhelmingwith the share of 67.7% in the total exportvalue of Korean environmental technologyand industry and being followed byemission and air pollution control (22.1%)and solid waste management (5.8%).Korean companies/enterprises have nowbeen globally recognized as the providersof high quality and price competitivetechnologies and solutions forenvironmental preservation andprotection.

In coming years, the promotion ofenvironmental technology export andinvestment in developing countries hasbeen brought into focus regarding thepolicies of environmental technologydevelopment. ASEAN countries seem tobe attractive markets for Koreancompanies/enterprises with the more andmore Korean investors interested in thestudying of the markets in the region.�

A US$50 million project to buildwastewater treatment plants and improveenvironmental policies in industrial zonesin four provinces of Vietnam was agreed bythe World Bank. Under the project, at leasteight wastewater treatment systems are tobe built in the provinces of Nam Dinh andHa Nam in the north, and Dong Nai andBa Ria Vung Tau in the South. The project

will also support a comprehensive review ofthe legal and regulatory framework onpollution management.

Funding for the project comes fromthe World Bank's InternationalDevelopment Association. World BankCountry Director for Vietnam, VictoriaKwakwa said, "inadequate regulations,

weak enforcement and poor compliancefor industrial wastewater treatmentreinforce each other to create majorenvironmental risks from Vietnamsindustrialisation. It is important that thiscycle be broken to promote the greening ofVietnams development." �

V.N.S

World Bank backs pollution management

Figure: The growth of domestic market of environmental technologyand industry (Billion USD)

Figure: Growth of Export Value of Korean EnvironmentalTechnology and Industry (Billion USD)


In recent years, the Japanesegovernment, through the JapanInternational Cooperation Agency(JICA) has supported the Ministry

of Natural Resources and Environment(MONRE), Vietnam EnvironmentAdministration (VEA) several activities inthe field of environment, such as:environmental monitoring, environmentalprotection of the river basin, thedevelopment of databases on biodiversity ...

In this context, on 8/1/2010, JICA andMONRE have signed a memorandum ofimplementation of the project"Strengthening Capacity of WaterEnvironmental Management in Vietnam",with the participation of the MONRE,VEA and DONREs in fiveprovinces/cities: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city,Hai Phong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and ThuaThien-Hue. Project’s implementationperiod is from 2011 to 2013.

The objective of the project aims toimprove the capacity of waterenvironmental management of MONREand DONREs, specifically the operationsof water pollution control, waterenvironmental monitoring, inspection,enforcement capacity, raise awareness,management and use of information...

The project includes two components:The Central component is implementedwith the content to strengthen capacity ofthe implementation of the waterenvironmental management forMONRE, VEA; Local component isimplemented with the content to supportthe DONREs develop policies for waterenvironmental management at the base, toevaluate the effectiveness and feasibility ofpolicies and management tools, includingan emphasis on the problem of water

pollution from industries; organizetraining courses…

After nearly two years ofimplementation, the project has achievedsome outstanding results as: Supportmanagement agencies for reviewing,amending the policies, regulations and lawsrelated to water environment;Development of technical review on themanagement, operation and maintenanceof automatic water monitoring stations;Assessment of current status of waste watertreatment technology applied in Vietnamand proposed solutions; Complete aninventory and improve theimplementation capacity of DONREs inwater pollution control activities(monitoring and statistical sources ofpollution, inspection, testing pollutionsources); Support DONREs in assessment,planing and proposing solutions tocomplete the content of water pollutioncontrol. By choosing the provinces, citiesto apply water pollution control solutionefficiency, the project has completed theDraft of "The solution of water pollutioncontrol"; Support DONREs in theplanning of water environmental

monitoring in major river systems in thearea of those provinces and cities; Organizetraining courses in Japan for Vietnameseofficials. At the same time, the project hasimplemented many activities,environmental surveys of the waterenvironment with the participation ofJICA and Vietnam experts.

In addition, the Project also supportsDONREs the basic equipment for theobservation and analysis of water: ThuaThien - Hue (meter spectrum UV - VIS,equipment to measure pH,EC used forlaboratory, instruments microbiologicalanalysis of water, portable multi-parameteranalysis - service inspection activities,measured in the field); Hai Phong(portable multi-parameter analyzer, thesample broke Kjeldahl nitrogen, modernhood system and some other equipment);Ba Ria-Vung Tau (Upgrade GasChromatography GC and optical atomicabsorption spectroscopy AAS); Hanoi, HoChi Minh city. Ho Chi Minh city (Thedevice, service of basic chemical analysisand environmental monitoring).�

Japan supports Vietnam to strengthencapacity of water environmentalmanagement


Phi LongVietnam Environment Administration

The 4th JCC meeting - Strengthening Capacity of Water Environmental Managementin Vietnam



Vietnam - Laos

promote environment

cooperation

Minister of Natural Resources andEnvironment Nguyen Minh Quang led a workingvisit to Laos from October 21 to 23, 2012. Thevisiting delegation held talks with delegation of theLaos Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment and the Laos National MekongCommittee led by Minister Noulin Sinbandith.

Regarding hydropower projects to be built onthe main streams of the Mekong river, MinisterNguyen Minh Quang elaborated Vietnam’sviewpoint that hydroelectric plants will be builtonly after comprehensive scientific research onenvironmental impacts of these projects is made.

The two Ministers also exchanged views onfuture cooperation plans, especially the sharing ofinformation and experience in environmentprotection, effective management and use of waterresources of the Mekong River for the sake of thepeoples of the two countries and the region.�

MONRE.

The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment - Nguyen Minh Quangmet with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yukio Edano onAugust 14th,2012. At the meeting, Minister Nguyen Minh Quang valued thecooperation between Vietnam and Japan in the field. He said he is keen onfostering the Vietnam - Japan cooperation in natural resources and environment.He said he wished Vietnam and Japan would support each other in multilateralforums such as APEC, ASEM, UN. Minister Nguyen Minh Quang proposedthe two sides to maintain regular meetings to assess, implement and formulatemore projects of cooperation.�

VNS.

Fostering Vietnam - Japan natural

resources and environment

cooperation

Japanese New Energy and Industrial TechnologyDevelopment Organisation (NEDO) will help Hanoiimplement a sample project to treat industrial waste in NamSon waste treatment complex, Soc Son district, Hanoi.

A Memorandum of Understanding to this effect wassigned in Hanoi on July 6th,2012.

NEDO has worked with the Ministry of Environment andNatural Resources and the Hanoi People’s Committee tostudy the project since 2010.

The project, worth 29.2 million USD with 22.5 millionUSD funded by Japan, applies advanced waste treatmenttechnology with a daily capacity of 75 tonnes. The energyrecovered will be used to generate power.

Japanese Hitachi Zonsen and the Hanoi UrbanEnvironment Company (URENCO) will jointly implementthe project. This model will then be duplicated in many citiesand provinces nationwide.�

VNA.

Japan helps implement industrial waste treatment project



Authorities in the central province of Quang Nam, city of Hoi Anand the Japanese city of Naha, on Aug. 25 signed an agreement onapplying the latter’s model of reducing and managing waste for the future.

Signed within the framework of the ongoing Hoi An-Japancultural exchange, the agreement was funded by theOkinawaCitizens’ Recycling Movement.

The Japanese side will dispatch a group of Japanese experts toHoi An to conduct surveys, hold a seminar and receive Vietnamesetrainees who will learn about waste recycling, treatment andmanagement process in Japan.

Hoi An is facing a number of difficulties in dealing with solidwaste, including poor public awareness on separating the differenttypes and a lack of land to build suitable disposal grounds.

So far, the locality and relevant agencies have completed theclassification of waste for the precincts of Minh An, Son Pho, Tan

An and Cam Pho. A waste treatment plant using biologicaltechnology is also due to commence operation in the Cam Hacommune in the near future.�

V.N.A

Japan help Hoi An with garbage

The Korean International Co-operation Agency (KOICA)will help Vietnam develop the country's master plan on greengrowth through a two-year project that will start next year.

Deputy Chief Representative of KOICA in Vietnam Kim Inand Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen ThePhuong signed the minutes of a meeting on the US$2 millionproject in Ha Noi yesterday.

The project will focus on establishing a master plan for greengrowth in Vietnam while developing an inter-ministerial board

for strategy implementation. It also aims to help improveprovincial development strategies and capacity of human resourcesin the fields of green growth, climate change and environment.

"The KOICA project will be a driving force to promote sustainable,green growth in Vietnam," said Phuong at the signing ceremony.

Phuong said Vietnam regards green growth as the key forcefor development in the new age with a focus on the three targetsof low carbon growth, green production and an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.�

Korean gov't helps Vietnam develop green growth strategy

Vietnam - South Africa strengthen rhino horns trade prevention

Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentCao Duc Phat and South African Minister of Water and

Environmental Affairs signed a memorandum of understanding(MoU) on biodiversity conservation in Ha Noi on December 10.

The MoU took effect immediately after the signing, pavingthe way for the prevention of illegal trading of wild species,especially rhinoceros.

At the signing ceremony, Mr. Phat said that the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development is working with relatedministries and agencies to enforce the import ban of all specimensof rhinoceros in Vietnam in 2012.

The World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) and TRAFFIC,the wildlife trade monitoring network reported that the numberof South African rhinoceros illegally hunted increased from 13 in2007 to over 600 in 2012.

In 2012, 246 people were captured as they involved in illegallyhunting and trading rhinoceros horns in South Africa.�

VGP.

The signing ceremony, Ha Noi, December 10, 2012

GREEN BUSINESS


Reporter: Please tell us whatideas that made Vinamilklaunching the initiative to deploythe Program on “1 million greentrees fund for Vietnam "?Madame Nguyen Huu Ngoc Tran: In

recent years, along with the process ofindustrialization and modernization of thecountry, the accelerated process ofurbanization has brought many provincesand cities across the country with new faces

more spacious, cleaner and more beautiful.However, there also appeared more andmore environmental concerns. Mostnoticeable concerns are that the level of airpollution in large cities is increasing, whilethe proportion of tree cover has beenincreasingly reduced and green tressplanning is also not consistent. Most ofurbanized areas in the country have not yethad standard green belt for environmental

protection, while green trees are considereda "green lung of the city" thanks to dustfilter and increasing oxygen to air.Therefore, the need to increase the greencoverage rate in the provinces, big cities areincreasingly urgent. These are importantreasons so that Vinamilk could realize itsinitiative ideas of implementation of theprogram: "1 million green trees fund forVietnam ".

In the development process, Vinamilkhas always paid proper attention andcontributed to social activities throughprograms such as: Milk Fund as "Reachingthe Vietnamese"; Scholarship Fund"Vinamilk cultivates Vietnamese youngtalents"; contributing rocks to constructionof Truong Sa island; taking care of heroicVietnamese mothers. In 2012, throughVfresh label, Vinamilk continues themission for the community in the field ofenvironment in order to provide a healthyenvironment, to create better livingconditions for the Vietnamese people ofthrough the Fund "1 million green trees forVietnam. "

Reporter: What is Vinamilk plan toimplement this program, Madame?Madame Nguyen Huu Ngoc Tran:

The "1 million green trees fund forVietnam " program is jointly coordinated

Vinamilk supports the “fund for one million greentrees for Vietnam”

The program: "1 million green trees fund for Vietnam" was jointly launched by the Vietnam EnvironmentAdministration and the Ministry of Natural Resourcesand Environment together with Vietnam DairyProducts JSC (Vinamilk) towards the objective ofplanting 1 million trees in Vietnam. To learn moreabout the Program, the Environment Magazine had aninterview with Madame Nguyen Huu Ngoc Tran,Acting Director of Marketing Dept. in Vinamilk. Madame Nguyen Huu Ngoc Tran

Acting Director of Marketing Dept. in Vinamilk

Members of the Fund planted green trees in Ho Chi Minh city


between the Vinamilk Vfresh brand and Vietnam EnvironmentAdministration, is working toward natural environment by callingthe community together to planting more trees to Vietnam.Criteria for plants location of the program is extended to areaswhere trees bring practical benefits to the community such as:Residential areas; public areas; central routes; Schools in the majorcities across the country. In 2012, Vinamilk will contribute to theprogram in the form when customers purchase any product ofVfresh beverage, Vinamilk will extract 50 VND on every productsold out to contribute to the "1 million green trees for VietnamFund”. Vinamilk commits that minimum amount extracted in2012 will be 3 billion VND.

Reporter: In recent years, Vinamilk has made morepractical activities to environmental protection. Couldyou please tell us some effective actions done by thecompany?Madame Nguyen Huu Ngoc Tran: With the aim towards

sustainable development and benefit for the community, Vinamilkalways made its best effort to find out solutions to preventpollution, reduce wastes, save and enhance efficiency in usage ofresources and fuels, fuel towards environmentally friendly

direction. Currently, all 10 Vinamilk operating plants haveobtained certified environmental management system ISO 14001:2004. This success shows Vinamilk's sense of responsibility for thesociety on environmental protection.

Following the positive results in saving resources andenergy, in 2011, the company has implemented a scheme touse LEDs to replace the entire high-voltage lighting system atSaigon Milk Plant. LED will help to save power consumptionfrom 70 - 90% compared to conventional lights and not makeCO2 emissions, causing the greenhouse effect, do not emitharmful radiation to human health. It is expected to bewidespread usage for the entire production system of Vinamilkin the coming time. To deserve the trust by customers, partners,shareholders and the community, Vinamilk made commitmentto strictly comply with the law in environmental protectionwork; Continuing efficient use of resources, and constantlyresearching to provide energy saving solutions; Contributingto protect our blue planet.

Reporter: Thank you so much for this interview.�VU NHUNG (Reported)

GREEN BUSINESS

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerceand Industry (VCCI) has launched theCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR)Awards 2012 to honour enterprises that

have made significant contributions toVietnam’s sustainable development.

Director of the VCCI’s SustainableDevelopment Office, Nguyen Quang Vinh,

said that the awards will be presented toenterprises with remarkable achievementsin labour and environmental protectionfrom 2010 to 2012. A jury will choose thebest firms to receive two the first prizes, foursecond prizes, and six third prizes, as well asand 10 - 20 consolation prizes.

VCCI Secretary - General Pham ThiThu Hang said that the awards aim toencourage enterprises to enhance theircompetitiveness by improving working andenvironmental conditions.

In 2009, the CSR Awards werepresented to 47 enterprises, with theDong Tien Joint Stock Company andDomesco Medical Company receivingthe top prizes for their responsibilitytowards their employees and efforts toprotect the environment.

The CSR Awards 2012 are organisedby the VCCI, the Ministries of Planningand Investment; Trade and Industry;Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs; andNatural Resources and Environment, andother relevant agencies.

VCCI

Launching “Corporate Social Responsibility Award”

The CSR Awards 2009 on January 16, 2010 in Hanoi


Reporter: Why does Panasonichave initiative to build the modelof ‘eco ideas’ Factory?Mr.Shinichi Wakita: Since Panasonic

was established in 1918, our basic businessphilosophy has centered on how we cancontribute to the development of thesociety by living in harmony with theglobal environment. From that point, “ecoideas” and “eco activities” have become corefocus in Panasonic business development.Panasonic aims to celebrate the 100th yearanniversary of establishment in 2018 withthe vision to become the No.1 GreenInnovation Company in the ElectronicsIndustry. To further reinforce its vision,Panasonic develops model “eco ideas”Factory in all countries.

We hope through the ‘eco ideas’Factory and eco activities beingconducted, Panasonic is able tocommunicate with the community inchanging the mindsets and driving themto assume greater environmentalresponsibility in their daily life.

Reporter: Since PanasonicVietnam Group was targeted tobe an “eco ideas” Factory, what isthe result or achievement so far?Mr.Shinichi Wakita: Since Panasonic

Vietnam Group was targeted to be an “ecoideas” Factory, we implement our activitiesin 2 directions: “eco ideas” for Lifestyles”and “eco ideas” for Business-styles. Weimprove to produce eco products withgreen manufacturing processes and topropose eco-friendly lifestyle.

The newly launched “eco ideas”Factory in Vietnam will set the benchmark

for the reduction of CO2 emission, wastegeneration and chemical substance usagein manufacturing facilities, enhancingrecycle activities. Besides, the Factory alsoseeks to raise awareness on environmentalprotection through collaboration withvarious organizations on programmes suchas eco learning activities for youths.

Recently, we achieve the outstandingresult on reducing CO2 emission bychanging to energy efficient equipmentsuch as: Using Inverter Air-conditionerSystem Water Pump; Using Sensor forVentilation System; Using Hi-EfficiencyLighting and Replace Burning Holes inCanteen Kitchen… Besides, Panasonic alsoimprove recycling activities in factory, we

have already recycled 302.5 tonnes ofWaste Resins/year, 204,000 pieces ofDefective Printed Circuit Boards (PCB)/year… In 2012, Panasonic Vietnam Grouptargets to reduce the CO2 emissions perunit production by 5.6% (2011). Besides,Panasonic will comply with the new Lawon Effective Energy Management.

Through a series of activities for “ecoideas” Factory, we have achieved fullcompliance on Restrict of CertainHazadous Substances (RoHs) whichregulates the permitted limits for a numberof hazardous substances in electric andelectronic products, which come intoeffect on 1st December 2012. We alreadydeclared the statement of conformity onour homepage: Panasonic.com.vn. Webelieve this compliance achievementwould contribute the environment andquality of life in Vietnam.

To reinforce the green commitmentabout environment, Panasonic Vietnamregularly organizes many activities as wellas programs to enhance awareness ofenvironment not only for employeeswithin the group but also for the youngergeneration in Vietnam such as: Eco PictureDiary Contest with the participant of 800students, Kid Witness News Program,Panasonic Global Eco learning Program,Eco and Science workshop in PanasonicRisupia Vietnam. In August of 2012,Panasonic held “UNESCO WorldHeritage Eco Learning” Programme atThang Long Imperial Citadel, attractedthe participants of 400 students.

G R E E N B U S I N E S S

The first Panasonic “eco ideas” Factory in Vietnam

The newly launched “eco ideas” Factory in Vietnam will set the benchmark for thereduction of CO2 emission, waste generation and chemical substance usage inmanufacturing facilities, enhancing recycle activities, thereby reducingenvironmental impact. On this occasion, Environment Magazine has an interviewwith Mr.Shinichi Wakita - General Director of Panasonic Vietnam.

Mr.Shinichi Wakita General director of Panasonic Vietnam

Continued on page 40


Vegetation constitutes aprincipal component ofnature creating biodiversity.It consists of not only

diversity of species, structure andgeography distribution but also thedifference of livings and lifespan. Inaddition to species of short-termlifecycle, there are plant species that arehundreds or even thousands of years old.Currently, there are thousands of oldtrees with diverse characteristics that arebeing protected and conserved inVietnam. Old trees are significantlyprecious genetic resources endowed tohuman beings by the nature, which isprotected and cared by manygenerations and local communities.

The Initiative for conservation ofVietnam Heritage Trees ignited byVietnam Association for Conservationof Nature and Environment (VACNE)in order to conserve and maintain thedevelopment of genetic resources of rareand specious plants, to be used for thestrategy of sustainable development andconservation of biodiversity in Vietnam,at the same time, increase affection fornature of people, gratitude forpredecessors that spent a lot of efforts onprotection of old trees. The VietnamHeritage Tree Initiative started on theoccasion of the ceremony of 1000 years-old Thang Long – Ha Noi, on 5th

October 2010, VACNE organized aceremony to recognize the first heritagetree of nine Mangifera spp. trees that aremore than 700 years old in Voi PhucTemple, Thuy Khue ward, Tay Hodistrict, Hanoi. Of those honored trees,

there are recognized records such as theoldest tree is a Vatica species of 2,100years old from An Duong Vuong era inViet Tri city (Phu Tho province); thetallest tree is Cunninghamia Konishii inPu Mat National Park of more than 70mhigh (Nghe An province); Banyan treein Thuong temple (Lao Cai province)has the diameter of 44m including aerialroots; the composition of 79 treesconsisting of Terminalia catappa,Lagerstroemia calycaluta, Diospyrossylvatica, and “điệp vàng” in Con Daodistrict (Ba Ria – Vung Tau).

In addition to recognized records,other thousand year old trees should bementioned for the connection with the

development, history and culture of thecountry such as banyan tree of 1,000years old in Quan La temple (Xuan Laward, Tay Ho district, Hanoi city); oncetime, Uncle Ho visitted to Xuan La inNovember 1958, he stood under thecanopy of this tree requesting local staffand people to protect and conserveperpetual trees for the next generation.The row of 18 Streblus asper trees (CamLam village, Duong Lam commune,Son Tay town, Hanoi) are more or less1,000 years old where Ngo Quyen Kingtied fighting elephants and horses aftertraining fights to prepare for themovements towards Bach Dang estuaryto fight against Southern Han troops,

The Vietnam Heritage Tree Initiative - 3 yearsrecollection

GREEN BUSINESS

Banyan tree in Thuong temple (Lao Cai) with diameter of 44m includingaerial roots


ceasing 1,000 years of Chinese colony.Tamarind tree of 24m tall, diameter of1.2m, canopy of more than 600 m2 inQuang Trung museum in Binh Dinhprovince is planted by Mr. Ho PhiPhuc, father of Nguyen Nhac, NguyenHue and Nguyen Lu more than 200years ago.

The image of old trees, Vietnamheritage tree has become a symbol forthe longevity as a result of adaptation tothe environment against severe naturaldisasters as well as severity of wars. Thepopulation of old trees, Vietnamheritage tree is an important ecologicalfactor to create a harmonized landscapefor the sustainability and stability ofgreen ecosystems in village lances, roads,schools, temples, pagodas, offices orhouses of families.

By now, VACNE recognized 280trees out of more than 800 portfoliosfrom 30 cities/province nationwideincluding Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, ThanhHoa, Thua Thien Hue, Nghe An, HaiDuong, Hai Phong, Cao Bang, Lao Cai,Bac Ninh, Phu Tho, Thai Binh, NamDinh, Ba Ria - Vung Tau… with 37species such as Mangifera spp; Diospyrosspp; Erythrophleum fordii; Bombaxmalabarica; Streblus spp; CunninghamiaKonishii; Excentrodendron tonkinense;Banyan; Tamarind, Barringtonia spp;Ficus benjamina; Ficus racemosa; Vaticaspp; Prunus zippeliana; Plumeria rubra;Terminalia catappa; Lagerstroemiacalycaluta; Styrax tonkinesis… Duringlast three years, many records have beenmade. Yet, these records will alwayschange as many provinces are preparingthe portfolios of old trees that are older,bigger and taller as well as having deepmeanings of science, environment,culture, history - informed by Dr.Nguyen Ngoc Sinh, Chairman ofVACNE.

In addition, the honor and labelingVietnam Heritage Tree plays animportant role in local communities,contributing to enhance awareness inprotection of rare genetic resources and

homeland green color and conservationof biodiversity of the country, at thesame time, to create an importantscientific and humanity features inprotection of environment and natureof the country. Particularly, therecognition of heritage tree has rapidlyreceived the support and consensus oflocal people, local authorities andsectors.

Prof. Dr. Dang Huy Huynh,Chairman of Vietnam Heritage TreeAssociation informed during theconsideration and after the recognitionof Vietnam heritage tree, almost allpeople have better awareness onprotection of old trees. Specifically,many works, shops and houses aroundVoi Phuc temple, Quan La (Tay Ho);Ficus religiosa tree in Ngoc Liepcommune (Quoc Oai); Banyan tree inTien Duoc commune (Soc Son)… havebeen rapidly cleared, typically thevoluntary dismantling of houses andwalls to return the living space for treessuch as in Lung Kenh village, Duc Giangcommune, Hoai Duc district, Hanoi;Vu Thanh street, O Cho Dua ward,Dong Da district, Hanoi and LuongSon DPC instructed to adjust the roadaround the Ficus benjamina tree with 79

roots in Suoi Coc village, Hop Hoacommune, Luong Son district (HoaBinh), after being recognized as aVietnam heritage tree. Thanks to newcoat of “Vietnam heritage tree”, manyold trees have become famous, knownto local and international communities,contributing to increase the income fortourism. Typically is Streblus asper rowin Duong Lam (Son Tay);Erythrophleum fordii trees (Cao temple– Hai Duong); 5 Diospyros spp. trees inNghi Thinh, Nghi Loc district (NgheAn) and Terminalia catappa trees inCon Dao prison (Ba Ria – Vung Tau).

It could be said that the Heritagetree initiative proposed by VACNE hasa robust dispersion in the communitiesand is supported by different sectors andprovinces and leaders of the Party, Stateand National Assembly. Therefore, therecognition of heritage tree should bepropagated widespread in thecommunities so everyone can contributeto protect and take care of preciousheritages for the next generations to seemagical things created by the naturethrough each tree branch, each leave.�

By NGUYEN HANG

The honor of ancient sau tree is Vietnam Heritage Tree in Ha Quang district,Cao Bang province

G R E E N B U S I N E S S


History of Cat Tien NationalPark

- On 13/01/1992, Chairman of theCouncil of Ministers (now theGovernment) has issued Decision No. 08-CT to establish the Cat Tien National Park.

- On 16/02/1998, The Prime Ministerhas issued Decision No. 38/1998/QD-TTg to transfer the management of the CatTien National Park to the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development, with73.878 ha area, on the basis of merging CatTien National Park in Dong Nai province,Cat Loc Nature Reserve in Lam Dongprovince and the West Cat TienConservation Area in Binh Phuocprovince.

- On 10/11/2001, Cat Tien has beendeclared by UNESCO to be BiosphereReserve No. 411 of the world and is thesecond biggest biosphere reserve inVietnam.

- On 04/08/2005, the Secretariat ofthe Ramsar Convention has included theBau Sau wetland system in the list ofwetlands with international importance,position No.499.

- According to a review of forests andforest land in 2006 of South Delta ForestInvestigation and Planning Institute, thearea of Cat Tien National Park is now71.350 ha

BiodiversityCat Tien National Park is located

between two bio-geographic areas TruongSon highland and South Delta, and so it isthe home of many rich and diverse floraclasses. It is characterized by the broad-leafevergreen tropical rain forest with woodytrees.

Research results have shown that CatTien National Park has 370 species ofcommon fungi (Basidiomycetes),distributed in 128 genres.

Cat Tien National Park has a diverseand abundant faunal system in regards tothe total number of species. It has specieswhich are rare and valuable to conservationon an international level. The fauna of CatTien National Park is characteristic offauna in the East Truong Son plains andhas close ties with the Central Highlands.

Cat Tien Biosphere reservesBiosphere reserves are areas with terrestrial

or coastal ecosystems, internationallyrecognized under the Man and the BiosphereProgramme (MAB) of UNESCO topromote and display the balanced relationshipbetween humans and nature.

Pursuant to the standards ofUNESCO, on 10/11/2001, Cat Tien hasbeen recognized as the No. 411 biospherereserve in the world with a total area of728.756 ha, is located in 86 communes andtowns, four provinces of Dong Nai, LamDong, Binh Phuoc and Dac Nong. CatTien Biosphere Reserve includes 33 ethniccommunities, the majority is from Kinh,and there are three indigenous minorities:Stieng, Ma and Chau Ro.

Cat Tien National Park

From the Ta Lai crossroads in Tan PhuDistrict, Dong Nai, visitors can come toCat Tien National Park, which isapproximately 24 km away. Separating theCat Tien National Park and life outside isthe Dong Nai river, bending around 73thousand hectares of natural forest acrossthree provinces of Lam Dong, BinhPhuoc and Dong Nai. The rich anddiverse flora and fauna has made Nam CatTien a picturesque land with natural andwild beauty.

This is a splendid eco-tourism site! Mr.Nguyen Dinh Quoc Viet, DeputyDirector of the Center for Ecotourism andEnvironmental Education - Cat TienNational Park - Dong Nai, said: "Currently,the Center has been exploring tours at theCat Tien National Park such as: nightanimal watching, bird watching andcrocodile watching in the Bau Sau. Thesehave created excitement for tourists whovisit and explore the beauty of the forest".What is thrilling about these tours is theanticipation of seeing the wild animals intheir natural habitat. In the untouchedforest, sunk in darkness, the Center'sspecialized vehicles will transport visitorsto a green pasture, wet in dew. From 8 pmto 9 pm, tourists can relax while searching

NATURE AND ENVIRONMENT OF VIETNAM

Cat Tien National ParkUnique terrain, climate and the ability to accommodate five types of forests are factorsthat have made Cat Tien National Park the home of a diverse range of plants andspecies. The Park is a range that links two types of terrains: from South Truong Sonhighland to the South Delta, making it rich in biodiversity resources including forestecosystems, flora, fauna, which is characteristic of Southeast Delta ecosystems.

Fungus

Fauna


N A T U R E A N D E N V I R O N M E N T O F V I E T N A M

to see wild boars chasing each other in the night, or stags and deergrazing freely around...

Visitors can see crocodiles in the Bau Sau. During the rainyseason, the pond has an area of 2000 ha, while in the dry season,it is only 200 ha of wetland. Therefore, during the dry season it isnecessary for visitors to take a 5 km walk out to the wetland to seethis amphibian reptiles living in the wild. A relaxing night on thepond will give you more excitement. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quoc Vietalso said that:Protection work is extremely strict to protect thewild animals. The authorities of Vietnam and foreignorganizations are implementing solutions to conserve the animalsin the Park.

According to Mr Viet, the ethos of Cat Tien National Park isbird watching tourism, thanks to the migratory paths of the nativebirds. There are 64 species of birds in the park, which can bedivided into 18 families, with biological diversity as well as raregenetic types for scientists to explore and research. With thosenatural features, the Center for ecotourism is building tours forscientific research. For a bird watching tour, Mr Viet reveals thatthere are delegations that register two years in advance to choosethe optimal time of year to see the birds. Those tours are mainly forscientists studying about the flora and fauna of the forestecosystem. According to recorded documents, scientists have

found in Cat Tien National Park 113 species of mammals, 351species of birds and 159 species of fish, including species endemicto Vietnam.

Visitors to Cat Tien National Park will learn about thehundreds-of-years-old Giant Crape-myrtle forest(Lagerstroemia speciosa) from the tour guides, which standssuperbly and firmly, challenging the severity of nature. Aftervisiting this part of the forest, tourists will come to the 400-year-old Tung tree (Tetrameles nudiflora), with acircumference so large that it can be embraced by 20 peopleholding hands, where they will find themselves admiringthe wonders of nature. We too, came to the Park to put oursouls in the forest to discover and experience. It is surprisingand interesting to see the Uncle Dong tree. Visitors will ask

There are many rare animals in Cat Tien National Park


why there is a tree in the forest named after Uncle Dong. In1988, when the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong visitedthe Park, he advised forest protection officers as well asrelevant authorities to “do the best to protect the forests,because they are national precious assets!”. And today whenvisitors come to the Park, they go to see the 700-year-old

tree named after Unclo Dong, firm with time, everlastingwith the green of the jungle. Exploring the mysteriousforests is emotionally moving for tourists who look for apassionate experience with the forest. And today we arestanding in the middle of the forest to hear heaven andearth singing love songs of spring.�


Cat Tien Park ready for world naturalheritage status

Experts from the International Union for Conservationof Nature (IUCN) have toured three provinces to preparethe dossiers of the Cat Tien National Park for UNESCO’srecognition as a world natural heritage.

An IUCN representative said that they had workingsessions with leaders of Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc and LamDong provinces on 1/9/2012 and will inspect the park andmeet thepeople and authorities of its buffer zones until26/9/ 2012.

After that, they plan to interview the people andauthorities of the provinces on the outstanding featuresand endemicity of this area as well as the naturalconservation management work at the park.

Covering over 71,900 ha in the three provinces, the CatTien National Park is now one of the six world biospherereserves in Vietnam and one of the four nominations forUNESCO recognition as a world natural heritage.

The park has a rich flora with 1,610 species, including39 listed in the Red Book. It also boasts 105 species offauna.

(Sources:cattiennationalpark.vn)

The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha hosted a ceremony onNovember 12 in Ha Noi to receive a certificate of “the most unique

architecture in Asia” awarded to the One Pillar Pagoda, a historicBuddhist temple in Ha Noi.

The Asian Records Organisation made the recognition inFaridabad of India on October 10,2012. Originally dubbedDien Huu, which means long-lasting happiness and goodluck, the pagoda was built in 1049 at the order of King LyThai Tong.

During the Ly Dynasty, it was the site where royal ceremonieswere held to celebrate such Buddhist events as Vesak or Buddha’sbirthday.

The pagoda was built of wood on a single stone pillar 1.25min diameter, 4m high and resembled a great square-shaped lotusblossom, the Buddhist symbol of purity.

With all its architectural and historical values, the pagoda wasclassified as a national historic site in 1962.�

VGP

One pillar pagoda gets Asian recognition

One Pillar Pagoda


N A T U R E A N D E N V I R O N M E N T O F V I E T N A M

Xuan Thuy National Park isthe residence for wet birdsunder the Ramsarconvention signed by

Vietnam. This is an ideal place to watchthe immigrating birds and wild nature.In the late autumn and early winter,visitors to the park shall have chance towatch the flocks of birds immigrating tothe park.

It is not natural that the NationalPark of Xuan Thuy is named of a placewith “three best things” that is, the mostbiodiversities, the highest biologicalproductivity and the most sensitiveecosystem. The park is lived by morethan 100 high class species of vegetationsof which 20 species are adaptable to thewet lives; over 200 species of birds ofwhich there are more than 100 speciesof immigration birds and 50 species ofwet birds. Especially, tourists havechance to watch some rare species ofbirds which are included in theInternational Red Book such as black-face spoonbills, short beak seagull,Indian painted storks, sandpiper,pelican, yellow beak sandpiper, Chinesewhite storks… black-faced spoonbillsand plovers alone in the park account for20% of the existing individuals of theworld. Of more than 500 species ofaquatic animals, a number of them havehigh economic values such as shrimps,sea-crabs, oyster, Gracilaria Asisatica,more than 10 species of animals ofwhich there are 3 rare species such asdolphin, hundred species of reptiles,insects and amphibian… the NationalPark of Xuan Thuy is divided into 4areas namely Trong beach, Lu dune,Xanh dune and Ngạn dune, Lu dune is

the most attractive tourism site. To go toLu dune, visitors can take high speedboat, crossing rows of deeply greencasuarina and long water field,witnessing the storks flying above thewater.

Visiting and staying over night in theNational Park of Xuan Thuy has goodchance to see sunrise and sunset becauseat such times, the park is the mostbeautiful moments. All what you needis to do camping in the forest beside fire,you will feel the nature right by you side.The visitors will also have chance to trytraditional Vietnamese food fromcountryside dishes such as shell-fish friedwith onion and fragrant knotweeds,oyster soup with star fruit, shrimps…

At present, the community-basedtourism model has been applied in somecommunes in the buffer zone of thepark. And this model has attracted anumber of tourists particularly theinternational tourists. Under this modeltour program, the tourists will do homestay with the villagers in Giao Xuan witha lot of different interesting activitiessuch as attending at the Chèoperformance, trying special dishes,visiting Bổi house (old house style inNam Dinh province), witnessing thelocal people making fish sauces andother traditional agricultural productionactivities such as rice milling, and visitingthe National Park of Xuan Thuy �

Source: Vietnam Tourism Review

The National Park of Xuan ThuyRecognized by UNESCO as the world biosphere reserve, at present,the national park of Xuan Thuy has become a popular ecotourismdestination for local and international tourists.

Black-face spoonbills in the National Park of Xuan Thuy (Vietnam)



Reporter: How about the price of Panasonic ecoproducts, are these eco products more expensive thanother normal products?Mr.Shinichi Wakita: Eco products is generally high value-

added concept to contribute the environment and cost effectivenessduring total life cycle. The value of products does not mean only theretail price when consumers buy at the shop front. By using the ecoproducts in our daily life, the total cost including running cost ofenergy would be lower than conventional products in a whole lifecycle of products and goods for environment. We are receivingpositive responses from many customers to select eco products.

Reporter: Towards a sustainable environment, what isPanasonic plan in the future? Mr.Shinichi Wakita: Towards a sustainable environment,

Panasonic in Vietnam trys to implement our environmentalinitiatives to reinforce our launched environmental commitment.We will continue to adopt many measures to reduce CO2

emissions in manufacturing processes and promote the 3Rconcept, consisting of Reduce . Reuse and Recycle in our Factory.

Besides, we also continue to implement many activities as wellas programs to enhance awareness of environment not only foremployees within the group but also for the younger generation in

Vietnam such as: Eco Picture Diary Contest; Kid Witness NewsProgram; Panasonic Global Eco learning Program; Eco andScience workshop in Panasonic Risupia Vietnam…

We believe pursuing both eco ideas for Lifestyle and forBusiness-style would contribute toward sustainable environmentin Vietnam.�

VU NHUNG (reported)

Panasonic Vietnam Group

As many as 73 wild animals were released into their habitat innatural forests in Da Lat city in the central highlands province ofLam Dong on September 25.

They are of five different species, including bamboo rats,porcupines, iguanas, civets and jungle fowls.

They were found in Duc Trong, Lac Duong and Don Duongdistricts by the Forest Management Department and the WildlifeConservation Society (WCS).

Vietnam has recently made great efforts to crack down on thesmuggling and trading of wild animals.

It is doing quite well in complying with the Convention onInternational Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna andFlora (CITES) and in conservation of wild animals in general.

The CITES Authority of Vietnam has pledged to take actionto win recognition for the country’s efforts to protect wildlife.

V.N.A

The first Panasonic...From page 33

The PM has entrusted the Ministry of Culture, Sports andTourism (MCST) to submit a dossier of Cat Ba archipelago to theUnited Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) for heritage recognition.

The MCST is asked to work with the Viet Nam UNESCONational Committee to finalize necessary procedures for the dossier.

Cat Ba archipelago consists of 367 islands to the south of HaLong Bay and offshore Hai Phong city and Quang Ninh province.

The largest island of Cat Ba archipelago is called Cat Ba orNgoc (Pearl) island, which is also the largest among 1,969 islandsdotted Ha Long Bay.

The archipelago is home to more than 700 species of flora andfauna, including rare trees and endangered animals. Its forestsremain largely untouched by humans.

Cat Ba archipelago was recently granted the national heritagestatus by the MCST. The event is of great significance for HaiPhong city, which is destined for the hosting of the NationalTourism Year 2013.

Earlier, the dossier on Cat Ba - Long Chau archipelago seekingthe UNESCO’s recognition of a world natural heritage wasreviewed and passed by the 27-member National Heritage Council.

VTS

Cat Ba Archipelago Seeks UNESCO’s Recognition

More wild animals returned to forest

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