It has been suggested that to industrialize the country, we cannot avoid environmental pollution; let’s develop industry industrial development, and when the country gets rich, we will deal with environmental problems. 

That argument is unacceptable, in any circumstance and condition. The environment is where people live. Behind and within the environmental problem are the people, the humans - the highest purpose and also the master, the center of development.

It has been suggested that many nuclear power plants should be built on the coast of Central Vietnam. This is very dangerous and must be reconsidered very seriously. I'm very happy and applaud the attitude of the Politburo, the Central Party Committee and Government towards this issue.

The past 50 years was the golden time of nuclear power. The upcoming 50 years will be the end of this kind of energy. Currently, the ending period of nuclear power has begun, first of all in Germany, where about ten nuclear power plants were closed, and the remaining plants will be closed very soon. Germany will become a country without nuclear power.

When mankind enters the closing stage of nuclear power, is it good for Vietnam to start using that energy? If a nuclear power plant has trouble, environmental disasters can occur, with radioactive contamination spreading to a radius of thousands of kilometers. Vietnam is a narrow country, with crowded residential density. Such a disaster would threaten lives and leave serious consequences for many future generations. Foreign partners in nuclear power projects promised that they would ensure high safety for Vietnam. But we should remember that they let disaster occur in their own fatherland and now they are traders, who want to sell nuclear power plants for Vietnam.

We should not risk ourselves that way, even when they give nuclear power plants for free, let alone sell these plants for us at expensive prices. This is about safety for human life, the survival of an entire people. Water discharged from nuclear power plants will also make changes to the marine environment, and harm the species and the lives of the people in the surrounding areas.

Meanwhile, our country is located on the coast of the Pacific, with abundant wind and sun for developing wind and solar power, not to mention other energy sources such as ocean currents or algae farming ... 

It’s time for mankind to switch from fossil fuels and nuclear energy to renewable and clean energy sources, from mining operations to the ecological economy.

Vietnam is a country with the biggest advantage of the sea. Its tourism and seafood potential is great. But this comparative advantage will be destroyed by industrial plants that discharge metal waste, chemicals and nuclear power plants that are built on the coast. We cannot and should not choose a strategy that unintentionally kills ourselves.

We are entering the era of deep and widespread global integration, when each country is an integral part of the world economy, They do not need to produce everything when they can buy things from other countries. Vietnam has a comparative advantage in agriculture, tourism, information technology and software industry, so we should focus on these fields.

The thing that we should do is to select a number of supporting industries that don’t cause pollution or cause pollution at a controllable level.

It has been suggested that if we keep being afraid of environmental influences, we will be unable to achieve industrialization and modernization and if we want to have "steel" we cannot have fish and shrimp. We cannot think that way.

In the past few years we have seen many cases of serious pollution caused by industrial waste. This demonstrates that it is difficult to prevent pollution. In many cases, it took a long time and the intervention of foreign experts to find out the reason for the pollution.

The specific management of the environment belongs to local authorities, but whenever pollution cases were detected, local governments asked for help from the central government. This demonstrates that the management capacity of local authorities is week.

The country’s industrialization strategy should be reviewed towards giving the top priority to environmental protection. Development must be based on ecological and cultural foundation. We cannot develop industry at any cost, except for the fundamental industries that serve national defence. Particularly, development of heavy industry must be restricted.

It is also very important for strictly assessing environmental impact assessment of projects; closely monitoring the implementation of environmental protection measures at production and business establishments; and making transparency technology applications, waste treatment processes and environmental conditions at all factories.

In addition to state agencies, we need the participation of independent evaluation agencies (of society) in the review, consultation, and evaluation of environmental impacts of projects and to add provisions of liability and responsibility to the law on environmental protection. Thus, whenever pollution cases happen, someone will stand for responsibility. We also need to encourage and promote the use of close waste treatment at factories.

With strategic vision and responsibility for the nation's future, the most important things that the current generation leaves for the future are humans and the living environment. Financially, we also need a comprehensive perspective. "Environmental economics" is and will be a category of being increasingly concerned, otherwise the benefit that we will see is all fake, which cannot compensate for the consequences caused by environmental pollution.

Dr. Vu Ngoc Hoang