Japan Supports Vietnam in Chemical Pollution Cleanup

Vietnam and Japanese environment officials gathered at meeting in the capital city of Hanoi Feb 16 to discuss ways to clean up chemical contamination and challenges in the environment. The Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) paid special attention to sharing experiences in the management and cooperation in handling chemical-caused pollution with regional and global countries, including Japan. Nguyen Anh Tuan from the MoNRE's Vietnam Environment Administration said the chemical pollution linked to chemical production and business, causing negative impacts on the environment and human health. Aki Nakauchi from the Japanese Environment Ministry shared Japan’s achievements in the fight against pollution and environmental degradation, emphasizing the need to boost the public awareness and the role of the community in tackling environmental issues. Japanese firm are asked to strictly obey the waste discharge rules and implement the environmental protection commits as well as boost investment in environment pollution cleanup, she added. Vietnam is home to about 1,153 sites contaminated by herbicides nationwide due to poor management and past use of chemicals. Under a national target program on managing and improving environmental pollution in 2011-2015, the Southeast Asian country targets to improve the environment in 100 polluted areas by the next five year, including the ease of the environment pollution caused by chemicals during wartime and pesticide residues. Environment pollution remains an obstacle for the country’s socioeconomic development. Vietnam has lost at least 1.5%-3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to environment pollution that has been rising rapidly for many years, experts noted. (Quan Doi Nhan Dan –People’s Army Feb 16, vea.gov.vn Feb 16)