At a recent workshop held in Hanoi, Dr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, representative of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), said its report on the impact of environmental pollution on biodiversity worldwide in the period of 2021-2022 used data from IUCN.

Accordingly, of the top 20 countries that receive ODA that have species most threatened by pollution, Indonesia ranks first with 608, the Philippines 463, Malaysia 450, and Vietnam eighth with 335.

Specifically, 298 species are affected by agricultural and forestry wastes such as pesticides, soil erosion, and sedimentation. Urban domestic wastewater affects 258 species. Industrial and military wastes impact 245 species. Air pollution affects 211 species. Among these, many species are affected by many sources of pollution.

Analyzing the impact of air pollution on biodiversity, Dr. Pham Thi Hai Ha (Hanoi University of Civil Engineering) said that in the 2010s, Vietnam's air environment was heavily affected by brick and cement plants.

The dust particles PM 2.5, PM 10, SO2, NO2, CO caused by these factories have had a great impact on the agro-ecosystem in surrounding areas, said Dr. Ha.

In addition, air pollutants enter the trachea of animals causing respiratory obstruction and immunosuppression. Substances SO2 and NO2 under the effect of radiation and water vapor cause acid rain, which can kill organisms.

Prof. Dr. Tran Hieu Nhue said that in a network of more than 3,400 rivers in Vietnam, many rivers are heavily polluted. Monitoring results for the period 2016-2020 of the Nhue and Day river basins show that the water quality is often poor, with over 60% of monitoring stations measuring bad water quality, more than 30% at a heavily polluted level. The monitoring parameters all exceeded Vietnamese standards.

According to the 6th national report on the Convention on Biological Diversity (2019), Vietnam has about 51,400 species of organisms, including 7,500 strains of microorganisms; 20,000 species of terrestrial and aquatic plants; 10,900 species of terrestrial animals; 2,000 species of invertebrates and freshwater fish; and more than 11,000 other marine species.

Le Ha

WWF: 91 new species discovered in Vietnam in 2020

As many as 91 new species were discovered in Vietnam in 2020, including 85 endemic species, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in its report issued on January 26.

Rich primate species in Vietnam threatened: WWF report

About 25 different primate species out of 44 found in Vietnam call the Greater Mekong home, but these unique species are increasingly threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, hunting and illegal trade.