Key issue sumary
(a) Land
degradation
(b) Forest
degradation
(c) Loss of
Biodiversity
(d) Water pollution
(e) Air
pollution
(f) Solid
waste management
Land degradation
Vietnam land resources is
classified into 14 groups and 31 soils units, of which more than 50% is
considered as "problem soils" occurring mainly in the rich lands of
productive capacity.
Land and cultivated land per capita are low (0.4
and 0.1ha/person respectively) and tend to reduce due to the high
population growth rate (1.7%).
Vietnam's soil environment has been
badly affected by series of problems such as leaching, erosion,
degradation, poor fertility, salinisation, acidification, pollution,
drought, desertification, inundation, organic reduction, landslide,
erosion of river banks and coastline, and losing soil productivity. The
soil degradation has largely been increasing both in its speed and
seriousness. Degraded land accounts for nearly 50% of the total land area
of the country (of which 3.2 million ha lies in the plain and coastal land
and 13 million ha in mountainous areas).
Much of
the land degradation results from natural and socio-economic conditions
and deforestation.
Forest
degradation
In 1943 Vietnam possessed about 14.3 million
hectares of forests that comprised 43% of the country's natural land area.
By the beginning of 1999, however, the total area of forested land dropped
to only 9.6 million hectares (28.8% of total country's area), of which
natural forest was estimated at 8.2 million hectares and forest plantation
at 1.4 million hectares. This resulted from the continuous clearance of
and the unplanned over-logging of natural forests in times past in
Vietnam. Most of the virgin forest and forest with rich standing
volume had been cleared or degraded to a secondary or poor crop.
The
causes of deforestation in Vietnam are complex and manifold. These include
forest fires, overlogging, war damage in the years before 1975, shifting
cultivation, collection for fuelwood, grazing of livestock and extension
of shrimp farms.
Since 1990, plantation forestry has partly contributed
to controlling deforestation in Vietnam. Currently, around 150-200
thousands ha of forest is planted each year. The quality of forest
plantation has also improved.
The strategic aims
for Vietnam Forestry in the coming 2-3 decades are to strictly
protect 9.6 million hectares of existing natural forests, and recover 5
million hectares of open lands.
Loss
of Biodiversity
Vietnam is considered as one of 10 centres of
high or mega biodiversity in the world. Abundance of ecosystems has
resulted in a rich diversity of species of fauna and flora in Vietnam. At
present, the recorded species include 13,776 plants, about 1,600
terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, over 5,000 insects, 258 reptiles,
82 amphibians, 828 birds, and 275 mammals. About 2,000 species of marine
and freshwater algae, 662 seaweed, 15 seagrass, over 7,000 marine
invertebrates, 2,038 marine fishes, 50 marine reptiles, 4 marine
tortoises, and 16 marine mammals are also recorded. Some groups have a
high rate of endemic species such as 7 primates, 33 birds, 48 fresh water
crustaceans and 43 molluscs. Especially, 6 new mammal species were
discovered and described in Vietnam during the last few years.
The main
factors that threaten biodiversity are habitat destruction and loss, over
exploitation and unsustainable use of biodiversity resources. The number
of wild animals decreases with each passing year, especially the rare and
endangered species, resulting in a progressive increase in the number of
threatened species in the Red Data Book of Vietnam.
The Government has
implemented several measures to protect biodiversity, which include both
in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures.
Currently, the
officially approved protected areas throughout the country are 101
covering over 2.1 million hectares. Over 2.3 million hectares has been
proposed for designation as protected areas.
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Water pollution
Inland water
pollution
Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation has
resulted in the growing demand for water use. However the water supply is
insufficient, creating intense competition among consumers and increasing
its exploitation. Moreover, pollution of water also contributes to the
decline in water supply.
In the industrial zones, wastewater is
discharged directly into rivers and lakes without treatment. Wastewater
from municipal areas is also directly discharged into rivers, which leads
to serious water pollution problems in places like Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh,
Hai Phong, Viet Tri and Bien Hoa.
The growing exploitation of ground
water in some cities and towns has lead to a sharp fall in ground water
levels. This has not only decreased water availability and polluted the
water source (through salt infiltration) but has also resulted in collapse
of the ground in some places, including Ha Noi city.
Most of the
monitored rivers are found to be polluted with substances like N and P,
from 4 to nearly 200 times compared with water resource of category A and
from 2 to 20 times in comparison with water source of category B.
Organic pollution in Sai Gon River, Vam Co Dong River and canals is very
serious while it is rather severe in Dong Nai River. Quality of water in
rivers in the central region is relatively good.
The water resource
management is facing a number of problems and constraints. Law on water
resources was enacted and came into force since 1st January 1999.
Nevertheless, it has not been implemented since legal documents to direct
the implementation of the law are not available. The principles that "the
polluter have to compensate and to rehabilitate the pollution" and "every
beneficiary have to pay" are still theoretically stated in the documents
and not been put into practice.
Marine water
pollution
The monitoring data shows that while offshore
water has good quality the water in coastal areas is polluted as
follows:
SS: In some places the average value of suspended solid
exceeds the standard value for swimming (25mg/l) and in several areas SS
is higher than the standard value for aquaculture
(50mg/l).
Heavy
metals: The average value of Zn at all stations
is 1.7-6 times higher than the standard for aquaculture. The value of Cu
measured from 15 stations (of total 17 stations) is higher than the
standard value for all kinds of usage (the standard value is
20mg/l).
Organic
substances: Value of BOD changed from 0.09 to
4.96 mg/l, which is lower than the standard values for all kinds of
usage.
Nutrients: resulting from the value of NO3- monitored ,
the average value of N at all stations is between 44 and 375.5mg/l.
Oil
concentration: In comparison with the accepted oil
concentration of 0.3mg/l, pollution is found in the northern and southern
marine areas, while the marine areas of the central Vietnam are not found
to be affected by oil pollution.
Coliform: The marine areas of
the north and south are affected by coliform pollution, while the marine
areas of central Vietnam are not contaminated by this parameter.
Other
parameters: the monitoring data of
parameters such as pH, DO, BOD, PO43-, Pb, Hg, As, Cd shows that pollution
caused by such parameters are still not detected in both the coastal zone
and the open sea.
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Air pollution
Ambient air
pollution
Dust pollution: Most urban areas in
Vietnam are polluted by dust and some are seriously polluted to an
alarming degree. The average dust concentration is often 1.3-2 times
higher than the acceptable limit.
SO2, CO, NO2 pollution:
In most urban centres, the average value of SO2, CO, NO2 concentration
(hourly average and daily average) is lower than or approximates the
acceptable limit. In some areas near industrial zones, however, measured
concentration of SO2 at times exceeds the acceptable limit. In many cities
and industrial zones SO2 concentrations have negligibly varied or tended
to slightly decline since 1995. These probably result from effective
environmental management in the industrial and urban zones in the last few
years.
Lead (Pb)
pollution: The air pollution monitoring data in
Ho Chi Minh, Ha Noi and Quang Ninh show that lead pollution was not found
in the streets, but lead concentration in large cross-roads is close to
the maximum value of acceptable limit (0.005mg/m3).
Situation of acid rain
Monitoring data of acid rain in
several areas in 1999 shows that the percentage of rainwater samples with
measured value of pH < 5.5 is 4.2%-29.9%. Although traces of acid rain
are evident in Vietnam the causes have not yet been determined
clearly.
Emission of " greenhouse"
gases
According to statistics reported by Nguyen Duc Ngu,
Nguyen Trong Hieu, et al., the total "greenhouse" gas volume emitted
from major sources in 1993 was 101.75 million tons and forecasted to the
year 2000 was 102.62 million tons, while that expected by 2010 is 140.67
million tons, by 2020 is 233.28 million tons as equivalent with CO2
gas.
In general, the total "greenhouse" gas volume
in Vietnam is much lower than in other countries.
Solid waste
management
- The collection efficiency is still very low, as in most cities the collection services are not fully established. The average collection efficiency ranges from 40% - 70% and in some cities, this figure reaches 20% - 40% only.
- The treatment efficiency is not satisfactory and the existing dumping sites are not properly designed. Most dumping sites do not meet the sanitary requirement. Most urban centres in Vietnam do not have adequate and appropriate facilities to treat hazardous wastes.
According to the National Strategy on Solid Waste Management up to the year 2020, the major methods for treatment of solid waste will be sanitary landfilling and composting. Applying incineration system for hazardous wastes and then disposing the residues at sanitary landfill sites. The aim is to construct the controlled sanitary waste landfills with a life of more than 20 years.