The United Nations (UN) would be ready to help Vietnam deal with mass fish deaths on the central coast if the Vietnamese Government makes a formal request, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said.

Eliasson told a press conference in HCMC last Friday that he had discussed with officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development over the death of tons of fish in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces.

According to the UN official, leaders of the ministry said the cause of mass fish deaths has remained a mystery.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam told reporters in Hanoi last week that initial statistics showed nearly 100 tons of dead fish has been washed ashore since the first fish were found dead in the north-central province of Ha Tinh in early April. If the number of dead fish still on the seabed is taken into account, the number would snowball.

In late April, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said at a news briefing in Hanoi that fish might have been killed by toxins discharged from human activity or a phenomenon known as an algal bloom (red tide). But experts have cast doubt on the possibility of fish being killed by red tide as beaches showed no signs of being hit by red tide.

Eliasson said it is expected that the cause will be determined and publicized soon, and the UN is willing to aid Vietnam to deal with the marine disaster.   

Eliasson said the incident has sounded an alarm bell over the urgent need of living in harmony with and respecting nature, and carefully taking into account the impact of what they do with the environment.

It’s time for people to live and consume goods in a sustainable way, he noted.

Eliasson mentioned a conference attended by the UN office in Vietnam and Vietnamese agencies late last month. At the event, Vietnam called for emergency aid of US$48.5 million from the international community to cope with the severe impact of drought and saltwater intrusion in different parts of Vietnam.

Eliasson confirmed that the UN stands ready to support Vietnam by calling for help from its member countries, and more importantly by providing technical assistance as well as new solutions to lessen climate change impacts on humans.

As part of his four-day visit to Vietnam, Eliasson visited Ben Tre, one of the Mekong Delta provinces hardest hit by the calamity triggered by El Nino, last Thursday. He said he witnessed the severity of climate change in Vietnam and would report it to the UN Secretary-General once he comes back to the UN headquarters in New York.

Eliasson said at the press conference that he will mention the difficulties Vietnam is encountering due to climate change when he attends an important conference on disasters caused by humans and natural disasters at the end of this month.

The UN official stressed that the international community always closely works with Vietnam to cushion the impact of climate change. Dealing with climate change requires close coordination among nations.

Vietnam is facing challenges concerning drought and rising sea levels, and these are also global problems, according to Eliasson.

Inspection at Vung Ang economic zone ends

A working group represented by multiple ministries completed a comprehensive inspection into environmental rule compliance at the Formosa complex and other operational projects at Vung Ang Economic Zone in the north-central province of Ha Tinh over the weekend.

The working group came to the Formosa steel complex to wrap up their reports on Saturday morning. The group represented the ministries of defense, public security, science-technology, agriculture-rural development, industry-trade, and construction, and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.  

During a four-day mission, the group checked Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation, the steel complex and subcontractors, Vung Ang oil and power company, Son Duong Port and the service and infrastructure center at Vung Ang Economic Zone.

The group was established to collect environmental data and documents at the operational facilities at Vung Ang Economic Zone about one month after the first fish were found dead near the economic zone in Ha Tinh Province before mass fish deaths hit other central provinces.

Data, documents and samples collected during the four-day inspection have been brought to Hanoi for analysis and evaluation.