Mr. Le Quang Binh (left) and Dr. Le Dang Doanh

Dr. Le Dang Doanh: Firstly, the environmental incident in the central region from Ha Tinh to Thua Thien Hue was a very serious case and it will leave chronic effects. Not only fish but also other creatures in the sea were dead, even at deeper layers, affecting the balance of organisms. And this incident will also have a serious impact on the lives of local people.

Of course, at this time there is no evidence and no government agency has released a conclusion that fish died because of Formosa’s waste water. But clearly this incident contains many uncertainties that must be acknowledged thoroughly and we must learn painful lessons from it.

It must be emphasized that in this case the supervision of state agencies is very poor. The environmental monitoring center of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ha Tinh Province did not perform independent measurements, but got data from the environmental monitoring center of Formosa.

Meanwhile, in the world today, we have technology called "internet of machine to machine", i.e., devices that automatically measure the air, temperature, environment, and waste and then upload the data to social networks. That is the automatic connection between the machine and machine.

So the question is, why was the supervision of the State so loose? We all know that the steel industry is among the biggest polluting industries. Yet we gave them the right to measure and provide data to us. If they did not provide any data, then we would have not known anything. The media reported that Formosa imported hundreds of tons of chemicals and Formosa admitted to using chemicals to clean its pipes. So why didn’t we know that from the beginning?

And the last point, the role of the people here was nearly zero. I did not see the role of mass organizations like the youth’s, women’s associations, trade unions, veterans’ association… in this case.

In economics, it has been discovered the paradox of imbalance: the polluter benefits while the effects of pollution cause suffering to the whole society. But economics does not have a tool to punish and prevent acts of pollution and there is no mechanism to compensate those harmed by pollution. It is very unreasonable.

MSc. Le Quang Binh: In fact, in the world, there is a theory called environmental justice, which means that when a project is carried out, the people involved not only share in terms of economic benefits but also environmental costs in an equitable way.

Mr. Le Quang Binh

To do this, the involvement of the stakeholders is very important. Suppose that in the case of pollution in the central region, the fishermen, fish breeders and those who earn their living from tourism suffered the most. 

Perhaps, fish breeders in Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien-Hue provinces could not imagine that someday an industrial project in Ha Tinh province could have such a great impact on them.

Therefore, in the process of evaluating an investment project, all stakeholders must have a say. One of the very important aspects is monitoring waste water. As Doanh has said, the monitoring must be independent and objective.

By law, before getting licence, all projects must undergo assessment of environmental and social impact. But why do such cases like Vedan polluting the Thi Vai Riiver, and now the case of Formosa still occur?

Dr. Le Dang Doanh: The environmental impact, in theory, is included in the investment profile. I must say, the monitoring and evaluation of a project on the environment aspect requires the participation of professional and responsible organizations.

Obviously, even though we have the consideration and supervision of the National Assembly, in my opinion it is still not enough. Also, I would like to emphasize that, at present, sustainable development is considered to be sustainable economically, socially and environmentally.

Let’s examine the environmental price that China had to obtain high economic growth. According to the World Bank, China's current environmental damage is minus 6.5% of GDP. The WB calculated the impact of environmental pollution on traffic because environmental pollution causes air pollution and limited vision, so planes cannot land or take off, cars cannot go fast, the number of accidents increases significantly, and transportation costs rise. 

The impact of environmental pollution is also the corrosion of bridges, machinery, vehicles, and roads, which result in the increase of attrition of assets. Environmental pollution also affects people’s health, leading to high healthcare cost. All of these losses are equivalent to -6.5% of GDP. China is paying a very expensive cost. That is an example for us.

So, in policies and strategies, on paper, we have always emphasized our policy of sustainable development, ensuring a cleaner environment and control of environmental pollution, but in fact, we ranked 98th out of 137 economies for environmental protection, 123rd for air quality. Vietnam, thus, has been suffering serious pollution even though it has not yet become an industrialized country.

Let’s look at some examples, the environment at craft villages has been severely damaged. People in the villages of copper casting, battery processing, waste collection, and plastic processing can get rich quickly, but the ratio of cancer an dill children also increased highly.

Therefore, on this occasion, I earnestly ask the National Assembly to consider environmental issues and sustainable development fully and seriously.

But many argued that this is a tough choice for Vietnam. We are still a low middle-income country so we need to attract investment and growth while projects in heavy and polluting industries like oil refining, iron and steel can create thousands of jobs, contribute thousands of billions VND to the local budget. From the perspective of economic managers, what do you think about this choice?

Dr. Le Dang Doanh

Dr. Le Dang Doanh: Let’s me emphasize, in terms of words, the policy is always correct but the distance from the text to the action is very far. In this case, the responsibility of the enforcement agency and of the supervisory authorities is huge.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Thanh (late Party Secretary of Da Nang) rejected a textile investment project in Da Nang because dyeing and weaving would lead to pollution. But then, another province welcomed this project. They even lowered the local environmental standards and as a result, this project is causing pollution. The pollution is not only in the host province but spreads to surrounding locations. Therefore, environmental monitoring is very important task.

I think the weight of environmental and economic sustainability must be reviewed and supplemented in assessing the success of each provincial economy. Each province is a small economy and such economies must be reduced from excessive dependence on a single product, which causes pollution.

Our industry depends heavily on polluting industries, such as the mining industry. We need to redefine the weight of each indicator and the evaluation of these indicators must be considered comprehensively. If provinces are only interested in GDP growth, the achievement of these provinces is not highly appreciated because their economic growth causes environmental harm to neighboring locations.

Mr. Le Quang Binh, what do you think about a situation like this: in a coastal area or a rural area, where local residents are very poor. If now there is a huge project that can change local people’s life and bring about hope for them, and if you are a local, what is your choice?

Le Quang Binh: I think it is a problem for developing countries like Vietnam and it is also true for provinces in Vietnam. The problem is how to improve the living standard, the welfare of the people while the environment is well protected and culture is well preserved. It is not easy to solve the problem. If it was easy, we would have not had discussions like this.

Secondly, the process of decision-making is very important. Does the decision of anyone, of leaders or the people, come from sufficient information?

If we just look at one side, that we are going to have a big project investing in our province, usually we will start imagining things like how much the budget will increase, how many jobs will be created? However, that is only part of the story. And the side that not many people want to see is the price we have to pay.

If all those things are considered prudently, publicly and transparently, with the participation of economic, environmental, social, and cultural factors, that decision will be more balanced.

So returning to the question “what is important to this country, what is important to provinces, to the people”, it must be discussed thoroughly. I think nobody wants to see such a serious polluting case like the case of Formosa in the central region but it gave us an opportunity and the entire society to discuss.

And then, all of social intelligence will be gathered to find the most reasonable solution. And it comes to the only way: the Government, the National Assembly must reconsider the criteria for assessing how a good provincial chairman or party secretary is so that not only GDP growth is taken into account but also environmental and cultural environment.

All that has to be brought up for discussion. And if we still follow the model of development of the last 10 years, we will surely reach the point of economic, environmental and social collapse because of unsustainable development. And then certainly we will fall into the trap wherein not only investors will leave but we will also have to face all the problems that we created.

To be contined…

VietNamNet