No legal document specifying which technologies can or cannot not be imported to Vietnam exists. This ambiguity has hindered Vietnam from ‘filtering’ projects that could cause pollution.
Located at the end of the Mekong River basin, the Mekong Delta in Vietnam is currently experiencing the most severe drought and salinity intrusion in 100 years. According to experts, the principal reason is development activities in Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries related to the use of the Mekong River’s water resources, including the operation and construction of mega-dams along the river as well as water diversion for agricultural purposes. Thus far, after months of struggling in a record-breaking drought, millions of farmers in the Mekong Delta have succumbed to exhaustion, due to significant losses of crops, fruits and aquaculture. Part Two of the series examines the impacts of dam construction and other projects on the Mekong Delta.
Located at the end of the Mekong River basin, the Mekong Delta in Vietnam is currently experiencing the most severe drought and salinity intrusion in 100 years. According to experts, the principal reason is development activities in Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries related to the use of the Mekong River’s water resources, including the operation and construction of mega-dams along the river as well as water diversion for agricultural purposes. Thus far, after months of struggling in a record-breaking drought, millions of farmers in the Mekong Delta have succumbed to exhaustion, due to significant losses of crops, fruits and aquaculture.
At a conference held by PanNature at the end of last month, experts said that budget collections from mineral mining activities were not proportional to the exploitation scales. Statistics of the Ministry of Finance revealed that natural resources exploitation (excluding oil) contributed merely between 0.9 per cent and 1.1 per cent to the State budget from 2011 to 2015.
Tax collected from the mining of natural resources, excluding crude oil, accounted for between 0.9 – 1.1 percent of the total state tax collections in the 2011-2013, according to the Ministry of Finance. The amount is a far cry from the scale of exploitation activities, said delegates to a workshop held by People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature) on May 13.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction has marked a new phase in Vietnam and it is time for the country to reconsider all environmental regulations. Economic benefits should not be bartered at all costs, said experts at a seminar on industrial discharge in Hanoi yesterday by PanNature.
Addressing the Industrial Waste: Weaknesses in Management and Policy Recommendations workshop organised by PanNature, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Prof. ??ng Hùng Võ, cited the case related to the Formosa Hà T?nh Steel Corporation (FHS) in the V?ng Áng Economic Zone in the central Hà T?nh Provinc
Road building projects that would pass through natural reserves have been proposed, while many resorts have been built in national parks.
China has started to discharge water into the lower reaches of the Mekong River to alleviate drought in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, as a major gesture before the first Lancang-Mekong cooperation (LMC) leaders' meeting to be held in late March.
Trinh Le Nguyen, executive director of People and Nature Reconciliation, a Vietnamese not-for-profit organization, made the remark in an exclusive interview with Xinhua in the capital Hanoi on Tuesday.