VietNamNet Bridge – Experts have called for ministries and other relevant government agencies to improve regulations on environmental protection and strengthen inspection and supervision capacity to ward off environmental incidents like mass fish deaths in central provinces in April.

Illustrative image -- File photo

The recent mass fish deaths along the shores of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue as well as in the Buoi River in Thanh Hoa sounded an alarm bell over environmental pollution in Vietnam, Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said at a seminar on industrial waste management and policy recommendations in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Vo said the Government issued a decree on environmental standards for waste discharges in 2003 but many scientists rated these standards as low since they are suitable for the old days when the country was in dire need of foreign direct investment.

Vietnam has entered into a new phase of investment attraction, with investment projects selected carefully. Therefore, the Government should upgrade environmental standards, Vo told the seminar organized by the People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature).

Tran The Loan, former deputy director of the Pollution Control Department under the Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA), supported Vo’s view, saying environmental standards need to be changed to meet requirements for a new phase of development.

Vo said the participation of civil and social organizations and people in environmental monitoring is pivotal. He suggested the National Assembly add this point to the Environmental Protection Law as was done with the Land Law.

Nguyen Ngoc Ly, director of the Center for Environment and Community, said the center is trying to get a water pollution control law issued. To limit environmental disasters, a water quality authority for monitoring surface water quality in rivers, lakes and seas is a must.

Ly noted that monitoring data must be transparent so that all people can participate in the supervision process.

Vo said supervising waste dumping by enterprises and environmental pollution control are among the weaknesses of environmental management agencies as they only inspected the quality of wastewater at enterprises after the mass fish deaths.

Vo asked whether or not the agencies knew what enterprises had dumped into the environment before the death of so many fish in the four central provinces.

To avoid similar environmental incidents in the future, Vo and Tran Hieu Nhue, deputy director of the Institute for Water Technique and Environmental Technology, urged authorities to strengthen supervision and inspection capability and impose heavy punitive sanctions on facilities that pollute the environment.

Nguyen Xuan Sinh, deputy director of the Chemical Management Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the legal framework for online environment monitoring has been in place but law enforcement has not produced as good results as expected.

He said inspections at industrial parks showed Japanese and European firms have taken more care of environmental protection than Chinese and local peers.

Loan said environment authorities have not met expectations as they have detected and handled less environmental violations than in reality. He said in 2008 about 10% of industrial parks observed regulations on environmental monitoring and the percentage has risen to 50%. Binh Duong, Dong Nai and other provinces funded construction of environmental monitoring stations to facilitate investors.

Vo said the Government should quickly invest in effective monitoring systems to control the facilities with high risks of environmental pollution such as steel mills and oil refineries.

Vo said ineffective environmental protection monitoring does not result from a lack of experience and funding but provinces’ policies of sacrificing the environment for economic growth. In the 2000-2010 period, some provinces attracted investment at all costs and this way of thinking has left huge impact on the environment.

Van Ly

SGT