In a round-table organised by the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Economic Affairs (PCEA) on December 23, Le Ai Thu from the Vietnam Mining Coalition(*) pointed to two particular articles of the law, which he believed to be "very difficult to apply in real life".
The remarkable pace and scale of economic development in Vietnam is increasingly impacting the environment and communities, and a team of Vietnamese journalists is ready to document these changes with data-driven stories. From 26-28 October 2016 in Hanoi, Vietnam, USAID-supported…
Nguyen Duc To Luu of PanNature Vietnam presented results from the analysis of the cardamom value chain in the districts like Xin Man, where they faced challenges in the unsustainable forest cultivation of resources and the limited access to NTFPs due to existing regulations. The case recognized that key policies surrounding the development and conservation of NTFPs have yet to be strengthened at the national level to establish stronger linkages between stakeholders and some related policies that ensure sustainability in terms of profit and resource management.
Whether it is for power generation or irrigation, all upstream developments on the Mekong River put Vi?t Nam at risk as the last downstream country, experts said yesterday. Hence all countries in the Mekong River basin should rethink their approaches and adopt measures to minimise impacts on communities and the ecosystem, said Tr?nh Lê Nguyên, director of People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature), a Vietnamese non-governmental organisation.
Under President Xi Jinping, China has been aggressively asserting claims to most of the South China Sea, angering neighbors by turning specks of rock into artificial islands. Another water fight could be just as explosive: this one involving fresh water.
Speaking at a conference on forest management held on Tuesday in Gia Lai Province, Nguy?n Vi?t D?ng, deputy director of the nonprofit PanNature, said the restoration of forests was feasible if it brought economic benefits such as profits from cassava and coffee cultivation.
Implementing the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) will help Vi?t Nam fight corruption in the resources extraction sector, participants were told at a workshop held yesterday in Hà N?i. EITI is a global standard for governance when it comes to a country’s oil, gas and mineral resources, and is implemented by governments in collaboration with companies and civil society. Countries implementing EITI disclose information on tax payments, licenses, contracts, production and other key elements around resource extraction.
Trinh Le Nguyen, director of PanNature, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting natural diversity and improving human well-being, said significant shortcomings remain prevalent in the evaluation of the environmental impact of business operations in Vietnam. Several steps in the assessment process were conducted with subpar methods while opinions from local residents were ignored, Nguyen continued. He noted that the two mandatory phases in evaluating a facility’s impact on the environment include a general and a more detailed assessment.
Intensifying the protection of forests in the Central Highlands from encroachment by hydro power plants, illegal deforestation and unplanned agricultural development would be the key to preserving water in this drought hit region, experts have said.
Along with the El Nino, projects in the Mekong River’s upstream, including hydropower plants, water-diverting and water-use works, are likely to pose serious impacts to the Mekong Delta, heard a conference held by the People and Nature Reconciliation in Hanoi on July 20.