What are the solutions for the environmental challenges in Vietnam?

The problems can only be solved through a comprehensive approach to environmental management. It will be most important to raise public awareness and support for environmental conservation. With a literacy rate of more than 70 percent of the population, with the television network available to all districts since the end of 1995, and with inexpensive radios in even the most remote areas, environmental protection messages can be effectively communicated throughout the country.

At a macro level, the government must work to enforce Vietnam's existing environmental legislative regulations. This can only be done through an increase in the effectiveness of two-way information on environmental issues, both from the bottom up and the top down. At the same time, the government should strengthen the capacity for environmental development planning and investment decision-making. It is crucially important to improve awareness on environmental management among those who make planning and investment decisions. Finally, environmental protection can be indirectly achieved through the poverty alleviation process. Efforts at reducing population growth by improving the awareness and knowledge of reproductive health and the access to family planning services could assist in this effort. Obviously, Vietnam is facing serious environmental challenges in its development process and sustainable development can only be reached if Vietnam is able to overcome these challenges.

http://asiasociety.org/policy/environment/climate-change-and-energy/real-cost-developing-vietnam

The Vietnamese Government's reaction to environmental problems

Achieving sustainable development with attention to ecological conservation presents a great challenge for Vietnam's policy-makers, but many efforts have been made in the last decade. The passage of the Environment Law at the end of 1993 was a vital step in increasing necessary environmental protection initiatives. It was followed by other policies related to environmental management such as the Prime Minister's Directive 200/TTg on "Ensuring the clean water and environmental hygiene for rural areas", the Inter-Ministerial Circular 142/MTg on "Guidelines on environmental impact assessment for operating establishment" issued in 1994, and the Circular 715/MTg on "Guidelines on environmental impact assessment for foreign direct investment projects" issued in 1995. The passage of the Mineral Law in 1996 and the Water Resource Law in 1998 were also signs of the government's concern for the country's environmental problems. Another important step in national environmental control was the formation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment in 1993, which is responsible for environmental monitoring. However, the implementation of environmental management under these laws has proved rather ineffective. There is a lack of public awareness for the need for environmental protection. Conservation should begin at home, but in many areas, the people's day-to-day activities unintentionally serve to destroy their natural environment.

Rural Vietnamese life is autonomous and village-oriented. Families rely on the principle of "self sufficiency" to augment needs. So while the government may encourage home gardens and other green initiatives, most people continue to employ many environmentally harmful practices in order to meet their economic needs. For example, a farmer in Minh Hai province might clear brush from a wetland plot so that it may be converted into a shrimp pond. His neighbors, witnessing the quick return on his shrimp investment, may do the same, and in the process thousands of hectares of precious forest are thus destroyed.

Furthermore in some provinces, like Nghe An province in central Vietnam, the main income for many households is obtained through the export of their local forest products, such as ironwood or aquilaria, which are prohibited to exploit. These activities not only violate the law, but also create deforestation problems in the area.

There is a lack of appropriate environmental standards, coordination and consistency in the implementation of Vietnam's various legal provisions on the environment. This is due to a shortage of necessary facilities for monitoring environmental policy implementation and a shortage of human resources in environmental control units.

Population

Rapid population growth has put additional pressure on the environment. Vietnam's population has skyrocketed from 23 million people in the 1940's to more than 76 million in 1999. This increasing population pressure has caused severe ecological degradation. A visual demonstration of the potentially devastating linkages between population and the environment is evident in the Ky Son District. The increasing Kinh population, paired with a high fertility rate amongst minority populations of Thai, H'Mong and Khomu, has caused great strain on the arable land available for agricultural production. These minority populations use "slash and burn" cultivation techniques, which are only feasible if lands are left to recover for a long period of time. As the population increases, a growing demand for food forces the farmers to shorten the land-rotation cycle, causing extensive deforestation, soil degradation and erosion.

Urbanization

The urbanization process also brings serious environmental challenges. Hanoi, with a total area of 924 square kilometers and about three million inhabitants, has some 300 industrial enterprises, 450 handicraft cooperatives and 350 production units in operation. Many industrial zones have out-of-date technological facilities, as do the hospitals and slaughterhouses in the city. Their sewage and drainage systems are old and inefficient, and thus nearly all the main streets in Hanoi are flooded after heavy rains, causing substantial sanitation problems.

Add to this, the fact that hundreds of thousands of motor vehicles are constantly discharging toxic gases into the city's atmosphere. And Hanoi is merely one example of the sort of urban development issues facing Vietnam at this time.

Industrialization

Vietnam has achieved 14 percent annual growth. However, most of the wastewater discharged from the approximately 3,000 industrial enterprises - roughly half of them in heavy industry - is improperly treated. Polluted water sources in the Ku Cing River, caused by mining activities in Tinh Tuc, or the pollution in the Hong River, caused by the Vietnam tri-industrial zone, are two obvious examples.

Rapid industrialization is also polluting Vietnam's air. According to a 1995 World Bank report, the dust from Hai Phong cement factories exceeded government air standards by three to eight times.

Emerging Market Boom

The head of planning and foreign investment in Vietnam is predicting that the country’s tourism real estate market will see a boom in five years time and declared he has no worries about exploiting beautiful areas.

Phan Huu Thang is encouraging developers to promote property investment in real estate resorts to foreign buyers as this will be a key part of the growth of Vietnam’s property sector.

‘Investment in real estate has been increasing significantly in the last two years, responding to many changes in the land laws. Foreign investors have shown special interest in real estate projects that will serve the tourism sector,’ he said.

Indeed, real estate is now the second biggest magnet for foreign direct investment with nearly 300 projects currently licensed and total registered capital of US $33.9 billion.

Thang described the Vietnam coastline as ‘an ideal setting for luxury resorts’ and said the government is keen to ‘exploit’ the coast. ‘If we can effectively exploit our 3,260 kilometres of coast, 125 beaches, beautiful landscape and cultural heritage, we will be able to build up a tourism real estate market of international scope,’ he explained. Initially development is likely to be concentrated on beaches from Quang Binh south to Ninh Thuan. ‘Looking further, we can exploit the big potential in other areas such as the Red River Delta, Mekong Delta, the mountains of northwest Vietnam and the Central Highlands area. All these places can be ideal areas for resort development,’ said Thang.

The developments are likely to be chains of villas, resort apartments and villas associated with golf courses. ‘These have become the favourite models. Villas have been designed with features that allow people to relax while staying close to nature. Hill slope, forest and mountain areas, lake or coastal areas are the top choice for resorts,’ added Thang.

But for this vision to be realised developers need to attract foreign money, he explained. ‘Many Vietnamese investors do not follow long term investment plans. They just wait to see the land price escalating and then sell the right to develop a project to foreign investors. Meanwhile, foreign investors do not have the land to carry our projects and encounter difficulties in site clearance,’ he said.

He added that a sub department is to be created to attract foreign investment, particularly from the US, Japan and Asia.

U.S. Department of Energy to Host Solar Decathlon

For three weeks in October 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy will host the Solar Decathlon—a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon is also an event to which the public is invited to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.Exact dates of the 2009 event are:

• Oct. 8-16—Teams compete in 10 contests
• Oct. 9-13—Houses are open to the public
• Oct. 15-18—Houses are open to the public
• Oct. 19-21—Teams disassemble their houses.

The Solar Decathlon houses will be open for public tours 11 a.m. –3 p.m. Monday–Friday and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Please note that all homes will be closed Wed., Oct. 14.The Solar Decathlon consists of three major phases:

Building: This is where most of the work—and the learning—happens. In addition to designing houses that use innovative, high-tech elements in ingenious ways, students have to raise funds, communicate team activities, collect supplies, and work with contractors. Although the Solar Decathlon competition receives the most attention, it's the hard work that students put in during the building phase that makes or breaks a team.

Moving to the Solar Village: When it's time for the Solar Decathlon, the teams transport their houses to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and rebuild them on site.

Competing: During the competition itself, the teams receive points for their performance in 10 contests and open their homes to the public.

Purpose

The Solar Decathlon brings attention to one of the biggest challenges we face—an ever-increasing need for energy. As an internationally recognized event, it offers powerful solutions—using energy more efficiently and using energy from renewable sources.

The Solar Decathlon has several goals:

• To educate the student participants—the "Decathletes"—about the benefits of energy efficiency, renewable energy and green building technologies. As the next generation of engineers, architects, builders, and communicators, the Decathletes will be able to use this knowledge in their studies and their future careers.
• To raise awareness among the general public about renewable energy and energy efficiency, and how solar energy technologies can reduce energy usage.
• To help solar energy technologies enter the marketplace faster. This competition encourages the research and development of energy efficiency and energy production technologies.
• To foster collaboration among students from different academic disciplines—including engineering and architecture students, who rarely work together until they enter the workplace.
• To promote an integrated or "whole building design" approach to new construction. This approach differs from the traditional design/build process because the design team considers the interactions of all building components and systems to create a more comfortable building, save energy, and reduce environmental impact.
• To demonstrate to the public the potential of Zero Energy Homes, which produce as much energy from renewable sources, such as the sun and wind, as they consume. Even though the home might be connected to a utility grid, it has net zero energy consumption from the utility provider.