Environment pollution costs 3 percent of GDP

The ever-expanding gravity of the danger directly threatens national socio-economic achievements, despite strict regulatory efforts.

An October 11 seminar on environment protection in Hanoi heard that economic losses in industrial production and service provision, environmental pollution added the equivalent of 3 percent of GDP to the country’s 2010 healthcare bill.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen said Vietnam recognises the importance of sustainable development and environmental protection and it has sought out and received significant capital and technical support from international organisations.

But problems linger. Many industrial zones have not invested in proper wastewater treatment, polluting surrounding waterways, and pollution in rural areas and craft villages is also worsening.

The Government highlighted urgent environmental issues in an attempt to devise appropriate, effective responses and raise State management agency capacity.

These priorities include local planning, international cooperation, environmentally friendly infrastructure, and wastewater treatment facilities in urban and basin areas.

The seminar’s experts asked the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to address environmental issues as soon as possible, improve monitoring at industrial zones and complexes, raise the prominence of environmental impact assessments during planning, and highlight pollution’s dangers in rural areas, craft villages, big cities, and basins.

Vietnam should control waste material imports, prevent ecological degradation, and reform the State’s approach to environmental management.