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Environment pollution costs 3% of GDP
in VN
Environment
pollution costs 3 percent of GDP
Environmental experts
have repeatedly warned of
The ever-expanding
gravity of the danger directly threatens national socio-economic
achievements, despite strict regulatory efforts.
An October 11
seminar on environment protection in
Deputy Minister of
Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen said
But problems
linger. Many industrial zones have not invested in proper wastewater
treatment, polluting surrounding waterways, and pollution in rural areas and
craft villages is also worsening.
The Government
highlighted urgent environmental issues in an attempt to devise appropriate,
effective responses and raise State management agency capacity.
These priorities
include local planning, international cooperation, environmentally friendly
infrastructure, and wastewater treatment facilities in urban and basin areas.
The seminar’s
experts asked the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to address
environmental issues as soon as possible, improve monitoring at industrial
zones and complexes, raise the prominence of environmental impact assessments
during planning, and highlight pollution’s dangers in rural areas, craft
villages, big cities, and basins.
Students
enter Japanese eloquence contest
The first Japanese
eloquence contest was held in the northern port city of
The event was part
of activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic
ties (1973-2013).
Twelve most
outstanding candidates from universities and joint venture companies took
part in the contest, which focused on bilateral ties, as well as work and the
daily lives of Vietnamese people in
They competed in
five-minute presentations and Q&A sessions, and were judged on their
ability to use the language, the content they present, and the impression
they make on the jury.
La Quang Tien from
The contest aimed
to create a good opportunity for Vietnamese students and employees to improve
their Japanese language skills and help locals gain a better understanding
about Japanese people and culture.
The Japanese
government has provided the Ninh Thuan Eye Centre with Phaco eye surgery
equipment as part of its non-refundable aid project signed on September 5
last year.
Japanese Counsel
General in Ho Chi Minh City Hida Harunitsu and Executive Director of the
Asia-Pacific Prevention of Blindness Association (APBA) Hattori Tadashi handed
over the equipment to representatives of the centre in Phan Rang-Thap Cham
city on October 11.
The project aims to
help the province control preventable diseases leading to blindness, reduce
the rate of the blind, and improve the health of local people, especially low
income earners.
The same day, the
centre conducted surgeries for 30 patients with cataract problems.
Since 2010, it has
worked with APBA to offer free Phaco eye surgery for poor local patients with
an average of 100 cases per year.
Dong Nai
invests infrastructure for climate change adaption
The southern
According to Chanh,
the money was used to carry out projects such as consolidating embankment in
Dong Nai River; building waste-water drainage and treatment system in Bien
Hoa city and Nhon Trach and Vinh Cuu districts; upgrading medical sewage
treatment system in hospitals at provincial and district levels; building
waste treatment system for medical stations.
In addition, the
province also invested to upgrade water reservoirs in Long Thanh, Xuan Loc
and Thong Nhat districts, Long Khanh town and Bien Hoa city; sluice gate
project in Long Thanh district, water inundation prevention project in Suoi
Cai spring in Long Khanh town, embankment building in La Nga River in Dinh
Quan district and protective forest plantations in Vinh Cuu and Long Thanh
districts.
In order to promote
environment protection, the province asked industrial parks to install
automatic observation systems to facilitate the provincial Department of
Natural Resources and Environment’s control of quality of wastewater before
discharging into environment.
In the province’s
forest planning and development in the 2011-2020 period, the locality has
disbursed over 300 billion VND (14.5 million USD) for protecting and
preventing forest fire, and building database of forestry and cultivation
land.
Literature
exams scandalised
A literature exam
in
In an exam, 12th
grade students were asked to write a critical essay on the following topics:
"Model Ngoc Trinh said in an interview that no money equaled no
love." And, "Recently, Le Thi Huyen Anh or Ba Tung also said, 'I
want lots of rich men care for me and give me money.'" They were
required to write a maximum of 800 words about social progress and luxurious
dreams of young girls in modern society on these prompts.
After the question
was publicised, it attracted much attention. Ngoc Trinh and Le Thi Huyen Anh
are both well-known on the web for wearing scanty outfits and making shocking
statements about their fame.
Many people have
come out and said these two names should have no place in a literature exam.
The headmaster of Luong The Vinh High School in
Meanwhile, Truong
Thi Ngoc Bich, former literature teacher at
"These two
girls will only get more famous after this exam. Students who did not know
them before will look them up, and who knows, some young students may mimick
their bad habits," said one teacher.
On the other hand,
many people said the question was creative and realistic. The negative or bad
habits such as materialism or lack of morals in life could be criticised in
students' exams. They say that it allows students to express their opinions
on modern society.
Nguyen Thi Hoang
Mai, teacher of literature in HCMC, thinks that this is a good question.
According to Mai, Ngoc Trinh and Huyen Anh are just very specific examples of
a certain lifestyle. "It's a decadent lifestyle. But using a negative
phenomenon in an essay on criticism is normal because, negative or not, it's
still a part of our society." she said.
Dang Dinh Dai,
Deputy Head of Board of Studies of Wellspring International School, has
taught literature for 50 years. Dai agreed that the question was good.
"Students will have an opportunity to show off their abilities with
these types of questions," he said.
Locals
furious after crops destroyed by hydro-plant
Dozens of houses
and hundreds of hectares of coffee in the catchment area of Dong Nai 2
Hydro-power Plant's reservoir have been submerged after the facility began
storing water three weeks ago.
Three communes in
Bui Quang Tien, a
Lien Ha Commune resident, said: "The reservoir's water level raises so
quickly that several hectares of coffee on my farm have been flooded."
Another resident,
Vu Duy Tam, said he and others were annoyed by the lack of notice they were
given over the reservoir's plans.
"We did not
receive an official notice about the reservoirs' water store, we just heard
from others about it," he added.
The district
authority said although they approved Trung Nam Hydro-power Joint Stock
Company - the investor behind the hydro-power plant - to store water in early
September, the company only gave the authority three days notice before
commencing the operation.
"It was a very
short period for locals to prepare," the authority said.
Chairman of Tan
Thanh Commune People's Committee Doan Van Trung said "The lack of notice
caused big losses for local residents."
The damage was
initially estimated to cost hundreds of billions of dong, including a loss of
VND160 billion ($7.5 million) because 200ha of coffee crops were damaged.
As regulated, the
company has to finish paying land clearance compensation to local residents
before it can start storing water.
"This did not
happen," said Trung from Tan Thanh Commune.
According to
investigations by a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in the province, the
company has to pay compensation of VND134 billion ($6.3 million) to 297
households living in the reservoir catchment area.
So far, only VND90
billion ($4.2 million) of this has been paid.
A company
representative said the compensation fund was doubled due to changes in local
policy, making it difficult to meet the commitment.
The provincial
People's Committee has ordered authorised agencies to calculate the total
damage caused by the reservoir's water store and told the company to pay
additional compensation.
Greener
More than 100
stakeholders from the government, local authorities, NGOs and development
partners participated in a workshop in Ha Noi to shape the implementation of
the programme.
The project follows
a Joint Declaration on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) signed by
As part of the
Declaration, the Government of Norway has provided a NOK180 million (US$30
million) grant to support the implementation of the UN-REDD Viet Nam Phase II
Programme.
This makes Viet
Phase I (2009-13)
has successfully developed a National REDD+ Action Programme and built
skills, knowledge and experience among stakeholders.
It was jointly
implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Development Programme
(UNDP) the and UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
During the next
three years, this will translate into better forest and land-use management
in six pilot provinces:
While Phase II's
key goal is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, it is also expected to
bring additional environmental and social benefits.
To meet these
goals, the first steps have already been taken to prepare for participatory
local-level REDD+ planning in
Addressing the
workshop, UN Resident Co-ordinator Ms Pratibha Mehta highlighted the need for
greater stakeholder engagement.
"The most
important lesson that we have learned so far is the need for much greater
stakeholder engagement and better co-ordination and collaboration," she
said.
"Although the
UN and Government will jointly be held responsible for implementing this
Phase II programme, its success will depend on many others, including civil
society organizations, communities and the private sector," she said.
Farmers'
Delta fishing dries up
Farmers in the Cuu
Long (
The flooding,
usually between July and November, brings silt and an abundance of species
from upstream, especially to Dong Thap and An Giang Provinces.
Nguyen Van Du, a
farmer in a commune in
"Maybe I will
find another job next year," he says.
Nguyen Trang Su,
deputy chairman of the Hong Ngu People's Committee, says the catch in the
river has generally reduced by half in recent years, with fishermen in the
district together netting only 1,000-2,000 tonnes a year now.
He blames the
decline on several reasons, including over exploitation in recent years.
Le Van Van of An
Giang Province's An Phu District, who owns three fishing nets that are cast
in the river using a system of poles to let fish and other aquatic species
swim into them, says the nets now catch around 300kg of various fishes daily.
A fish known as ca
linh is the most abundant.
"We caught 4-5
tonnes of ca linh a day in July last year when the flood season began,"
he says.
But at the beginning
of this year's flood season he only caught 1 tonne.
Nguyen Van Vy, who
catches blue-legged prawns in An Giang Province's An Phu District, says this
year the water level too is lower than past years as is the quantity of
blue-legged prawns.
His catch is down
to around 20 prawns a day, or just a third of last year's.
He earns a profit
of VND50,000-60,000 daily.
The An Giang
Fisheries Protection Sub-department says the catch during the flood season
has fallen by 60 per cent over the past decade.
Nguyen Huu Thien,
an expert in ecology and natural systems based in the delta, says due to the
impacts of climate change, rising sea levels, and the construction of dams
upstream, aquatic species in the delta would continue declining.
The livelihoods of
people in the delta's upstream areas would be severely hit, he warns.
Legal
experts lobby for marriage equality
Experts yesterday
called for greater equality for women to be reflected in amendments to the
Law on Marriage and Family.
The conference was
held in Ha Noi by the Centre for Law and Policy Research to consult with
lawyers, notaries and women's associations on amendments to the current Law.
Legal experts
agreed that the current Law on Marriage and Family, which was issued in 2000,
ensured some level of women's and children's rights, but still showed
limitations exposed during its 13 years of implementation.
Currently, the law
is not equipped to resolve issues pertaining to women and foreign men,
same-sex couples, fake marriages and divorce proceedings.
The current law's
implementation has faced difficulties arising from outdated perceptions
valuing men above women and customs in some localities which do not properly
address issues relating to women and children.
Tran Thi Mai Huong,
deputy chairwoman of the Viet Nam Association for Protection of Children's
Rights, said clearer regulations on healthcare and legal protection were
needed to reflect the reality of marriages in
She also said that
provisions on separation needed to be added, as only two options were
available for resolving disputes (mediation and divorce), when in reality,
many couples preferred legal separation as the best outcome for their
dispute.
"Some couples
do not want to divorce to avoid negative impacts on children, however, living
together with unresolved issues led to household violence and women are the
victims," she said.
A study by the
Centre for Law and Policy Research on more than 100 divorce requests sent to
the Hoa Binh City People's Court, between 2008 and 2012, showed that half the
requests were due to household violence.
Director of the
centre Le Thi Ngan Giang said the law needed clearer provisions on the
division of assets, given marital property often made it difficult for lawyers
proceeding with divorce requests.
Experts also found
the law did not contain detailed rules for unmarried couples living together,
with women often facing disadvantages in legal disputes.
"With the
addition, the law will be more compatible with real life and promote the
rights of women," said Giang.
A Government
socio-economic development report estimated the proportion of poor Vietnamese
households stood at 11.5 percent in 2012, down 1.3 percent from a year
earlier.
The report was
discussed at an October 11 World Food Day ceremony in northern Thai Binh
province, this year themed “Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and
Nutrition”.
It heard 450,000
Vietnamese households went hungry in 2012, 27.6 percent less than in 2011.
Food shortages were most prevalent in northern mountainous, north-central,
and central highland regions.
Deputy Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu told the
ceremony that
Thu praised the
Party, State, and all sectors of government for the attention paid to poverty
reduction and rural and agricultural development, raising the incomes and
improving the material lives of the nation’s rural residents.
The Deputy Minister
expressed
FAO’s Chief Vietnam
Representative Jong Ha Bae underlined the need for
Hanoi –
Great tradition, bright future
In the 59 years
since the liberation of
Early this year,
city leaders designated removing barriers to production and business
activities as one of its key tasks in 2013, responding to the global economic
crisis.
A municipal
Steering Committee for resolving difficulties encountered by enterprises was
established, holding extensive meetings with enterprises to hear their
problems and recommendations. Through such meetings, many issues related to
administrative procedures, taxes, banking loans, inventory and employment
have been addressed thanks to actions taken by city authorities.
Thanks to the joint
efforts of
Various commodities
recorded increased export revenue in the first three quarters, including
apparel, electronics and components, handicrafts and footwear. The apparel
sector brought in the largest export revenue with 895 million USD, a 14.3
percent year-on-year increase.
The city
contributed nearly 80 trillion VND (3.76 billion USD) to the State budget in
the first eight months of this year, representing 16.5 percent of the
nation's overall budget collection.
Vice Chairman of
the
Strengthening
administrative reform with a focus on administrative procedure reform is one
of two major tasks for socio-economic development in the 2010-2015 period
laid out in the Resolution of the 15th Congress of Hanoi's Party Committee.
However, the work
completed until now has yet to pay off, as
To solve the
problem, the city’s leaders have launched programmes to improve its
competitiveness with the reform of administrative procedures considered as
the key to eliminating red tape and inconveniences.
Such measures have
created positive changes on the local level. Nearly all departments, sectors
and districts have reviewed their working rules, promoted empowerment,
implemented the ‘one-stop shop’ mechanism and enhanced the application of
information technology in handling administrative procedures.
Some departments
have come up with innovative and effective solutions. The Department of
Justice, for example, has worked with the Municipal Police and the Department
of Health to streamline administrative procedures so that a new-born baby can
be granted a household registration and a health insurance card immediately.
The Department of Internal Affairs is piloting the "one-stop shop"
model at some State-owned enterprises and co-ordinating with other
departments to reduce overlapping administrative procedures. Hai Ba Trung and
Long Bien districts have been pioneers in reducing the number of meetings and
enhancing the accountability of their leaders. The Department of Finance and
Long Bien district have also been using CCTV cameras to monitor the attitude
of civil servants towards the people.
In order to
increase transparency in land use, the city government has ordered
departments and local authorities to accelerate and publicise all information
on land use planning in the 2011-2015 period. The city government has also
scrapped some administrative procedures related to land and expedited the
issuance of land use certificates. In addition, the city government has begun
conducting frequent inspections to uncover and punish those who cause trouble
for people and enterprises.
Although red tape
has not been completely eliminated, the initial improvement in the awareness
and responsibility of civil servants and officials is unmistakable. The most
notable progress is that civil servants have now developed a greater
awareness of their responsibility towards businesses and the people and.
2013 is the
critical year in implementing the resolution of the 15th Municipal Party
Congress, and departments and local authorities have been required to
accelerate the construction of crucial infrastructure projects. However, it
is worrying that 37 out of 55 key projects are behind schedule, according to
the Department of Planning and Investment. The delay of these projects has
been caused chiefly by lack of capital, bottlenecks in land clearance and
weak management.
In order to tackle
the shortage of capital, the city has issued bonds to raise 2 trillion VND
(94 million USD) for five transport infrastructure projects, two hospitals
and a water drainage project. The obstacles to land clearance have also been
removed when the city has devised special mechanisms to pay appropriate
compensation, support resettlement and increase dialogue with relocated
households.
After two months of
aggressive action, the hindrance to land clearance has basically been
eliminated. Clear space is now available for the construction of Ring Road
No.1, which is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. Work has also
started on the Nga Tu So - Nga Tu Vong section of Ring Road No.2. The land
clearance phases of some other projects, such as the new National Highway 3
and the road linking the Nhat Tan bridge and
59 years after its
liberation,
Ha Noi
reviews failing infrastructure projects
The Director of Ha
Noi's Finance Department, Nguyen Doan Toan, has said the city is facing difficulties
funding its infrastructure development projects.
Reviewing
infrastructure development in the first nine months of this year, Toan said
that until now, the city's budget only accounted for around 54 per cent of
planned projects, creating a high probability of funding deficits.
Many projects fell
short of funding, including 122 resettlement projects in need of VND26
trillion (US$1.2 billion) with only VND2 trillion ($95 million) available to
fund the projects annually, he said, adding that this caused long delays in
projects.
The director of the
city's Planning and Investment Department, Ngo Van Quy, said that this year,
the city lacked VND5.3 trillion ($251.75 million) for infrastructure
development.
According to the
department, the city needed nearly VND25 trillion ($1.18 billion) to develop
its infrastructure projects this year, whilst as of last June, the city owed
around VND1.98 trillion ($94 million) in construction fees.
In the first nine
months of this year, the city disbursed over VND11 trillion ($522.5 million)
for infrastructure projects, accounting for 58 per cent of planned estimates.
In an effort to
raise money for infrastructure development, the city issued VND2 trillion in
bonds for projects.
The city also moved
to halt around 120 projects worth more than VND30 trillion ($1.42 billion)
and withdrew a reserved sum of VND160 billion ($7.6 million) from nine
planned projects who were behind schedule.
The municipal
People's Committee vice chairman, Nguyen Van Suu,said that funding
disbursement for infrastructure projects in the city during the past nine
months was 62.9 per cent, 3.5 per cent higher than that of the same period
last year, but still lower than the national average rate of 71 per cent.
He asked districts
and departments to review their budgets and triage projects to adjust
investment plans to fund key projects.
"Authorities
and relevant agencies need to work to find proper mechanisms for land
clearance and incentives to attract different economic sectors join in
infrastructure projects," he said.
The Vietnamese
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in coordination with
the Norwegian government and UN agencies, held a seminar in
The United Nations
Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (or
UN-REDD Programme) is a collaborative initiative in developing countries,
created in response to the UNFCCC decision on REDD at COP 13 and the Bali
Action Plan.
Vietnamese Minister
of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat, approved UN-REDD Vietnam
phase II in July of this year with a total investment of USD30 million coming
from the non-refundable aid of the Norwegian government for the 2013-2015
period.
Speaking at the
launch event, Phat said, “REDD+ is among many important efforts to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions so as to realise the target of lowering these
emissions in the agricultural sector by 20% by 2020, as well as to foster
green growth.”
The programme is
aimed at enhancing the capacity of Vietnamese central and local governments,
as well as communities which have forests, so local residents can benefit
from incentive monitoring funding in the next phase.
The programme would
be piloted in the six provinces of
Pratibha Mehta, UN
Resident Coordinator in
“
A workshop was held
in
The second phase,
funded with financial aid of US$30 million provided by the Norwegian
government, aims to enhance Vietnam’s ability to benefit from future
result-based payments for emissions reduction and forestry restructuring and
is being implemented from 2013 to 2015 in the six provinces of Lao Cai, Bac
Kan, Ha Tinh, Binh Thuan, Lam Dong and Ca Mau.
Addressing the
workshop, UN Resident Coordinator Pratibha Mehta highlighted the need for
greater stakeholder engagement, stressing that linkages and co-operation
among all relevant sides, including UN agencies, government, civil society
organisations and localities, is the most important factor to ensure the
successful realisation of the programme.
For his part,
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat thanked UN
agencies and the Norwegian government for providing both financial and
technical assistance to
He pledged to work
closely with stakeholders to successfully realise the UN-REDD Programme’s
phase two while requesting the six piloted localities to co-operate and
creating favourable conditions to ensure effective implementation.
In
The first phase was
piloted in the Central Highlands
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri
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Thứ Hai, 14 tháng 10, 2013
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