Until now, Vietnam experiences 20 years of “Doi moi” (reform). Vietnam has witnessed a plenty of optimistic achievements in economic performance. From a poor country, Vietnam has rapidly pushed itself to the group of middle – income country with 6,13% average GDP growth rate for period 2000 – 2014. The latest data shows GDP in 2014 reached 171,39 billion $, equivalent to 1740$ per capita (1).
That is a miraculous success for Vietnam. Within the same last two decades, we also see significant change in economic structure. Vietnam is shifting from agriculture-based economy to modern economy, which relies upon industry and service more rather than agriculture. This is obviously seen in growing contribution of industry and service sections to GDP. Furthermore, industry is really in its heyday since most industries, especially petroleum, construction, garment and texture… have made considerable development. In recent years, the nation has been rising as a prominent name for agricultural export or attraction for foreign investment. However, never has environmental pollution worsened as in last period. Vietnam’s ecological biodiversity is threatened seriously and pollution in air, water and soil becomes a common phenomenon. Most reasons for this bleak situation come from economic activities or more specifically, from industrial expansion in the search for wealth. Moreover, all indicators in relation to environmental degradation increase at the same time as does economic growth. They remained unchanged in the past when economic growth was rather poor. This fact serves to prove a definite relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation. They seem to develop with similar pattern, so whether they are directly proportional to each other or follow different trend. Most of the researchers studied data of air pollution and income per capita. The most popular pollutants of concern are NO2, SO2, CO and dust. In Taiwan, research shows relationship between CO, NO2 and GDP per capita. According to the research, turning points of NO2 and CO, respectively, are 384.000 TWD (2) (equivalent to 12.800 USD in 1996) and 205.000 TWD (equivalent to 6.833 USD in 1996).
These figures agreed with practical occurrence in Taiwan in 1990s. In 1990, Department of Environmental Protection released new regulation forcing installation of special equipment to reduce NO2 and CO emissions. Improvement in air pollution has been observed since the economy reached these turning points. Same result has been collected through researches in other areas. Turning point when environmental improvement happens often varies at high level within 3.000 – 1.5000 USD. In fact, cities with income per capita below 1.000 USD/year often suffer from heavy pollution and experience minor environmental improvement; while other cities with income per capita ranging from 3.000 to 10.000 USD/year experience significant environmental improvement, such as Thailand, Seoul, Mexico City. Cities with income per capita above 10.000 USD/year even attain high ambient quality. Big cities like London or Los Angeles succeeded in keeping the concentration of pollutants at standard level approved by WHO.
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the two largest and most important economic centers of Vietnam. GDP in Vietnam per capita are increasing. However, no considerable improvement in environmental quality has been experienced there, let alone in other cities, and more importantly, they are the two largest and prolific sources of pollutants. Hanoi ranks the 1st city in Asia in terms of air pollution and one of the most heavily polluted cities in the world. Theoretically, there is a kind of an inverted U-shape relationship between environmental degradation and economic development in Vietnam, however, whether it should be applied to the real situation is open to debate.
The environmental improvement observed in many developed countries does not necessarily derive from economic growth reaching a certain level of development. Rich nations often have tendency to export pollution intensive activities, like manufacturing of clothing and furniture, to less developed countries, which is generously endowed with abundant natural resources. In turn, when poor countries develop, they may find nowhere to export their environmental pollution. Thus, the result of this process is decrease in environmental degradation in developed countries and increase in pollution indicators in less developed countries, as the rich outsource pollution to the poor. In global scale, pollution does not deteriorate at all, instead it is only transferred from one to others. There are also flaws in econometric model used to estimate relationship between economy and degradation. It is easily to do wrong econometrics. Regression models invented so far are still simple. They take into account only income per capita and environmental indicators, while the relationship should not be simply decided by these factors. More attention should be focused on the statistical properties of the data, such as serial dependence or stochastic trends in time series. In countries, time effect reduces environmental degradation at all levels of income, while scale effect, the expansion of the economy in scope, creates opposite impact on environment. The influence of these two effects is different, depending on each particular country. In rich countries, growth is slower, and time effect can surpass scale effect, while the opposite is recorded in developing countries: scale effect overwhelms time effect. Secondly, we are too far away from the turning point and this turning point is projected by observable data, so there is all likelihood that the set of data may be imperfect or it fails to reflect real trend. Thus, it is precarious to sit out until the whole economy reaches the nearest turning point, which might not be exact due to econometric error, or optimistically stick to the model while ignoring intrinsic recovery level of environment, beyond which we can never take back what we lose.
In fact, developing countries can still experience the same environmental improvement and attain lower turning point in shorter period in comparison to pioneering developed countries. For example, the concentration of SPM in many cities like Bangkok (Thailand), Manila (Philippines), and concentration of SO2 in Delhi and Mumbai (India) have significantly decreased, even though GDP per capita of those cities varies between 500 – 3.000 USD/year. This is called the advantage of countries which lag behind. Developing countries can save time by learning success lessons from developed ones, including lessons on government policies, regulations, environmental criteria, modern technology friendly to environment, treatment system…
Solutions for environmentally sustainable development:
Short-term solutions: The emergency of current state of Vietnam’s ecology requires government to look for temporary solutions intended for handling short-term objectives. Solutions for short-term period should concentrate on preventing potential ecological loss and minimizing adverse impacts of environmental degradation. Following are some plausible suggestion for tackling short-term target.
Firstly, deforestation and loss of biodiversity, which used to be endemic in places abounding in natural resources, are, deplorably, becoming rampant all over the country as economic expansion entails a tremendous amount of input from natural environment. To solve this situation, the very first priority is to meticulously control illegal smuggling precious resources to neighbor countries. Prohibition of trafficking or imposition of tax on export of rare materials, such as wood, precious minerals … needs to be adopted, especially in hot spots of illegal smuggling. Besides, it is necessary to officially encourage people to regenerate forest. Although the quality of regeneration forest is far below that of primitive forest, habitat of various kinds of ancient and valuable plants, regeneration at least, in short-term, can compensate for the loss of forest cover and at the same time remain soil fertility. During economic development, legal deforestation is indispensable because wood is crucial material for many industries, for example construction or interior furniture manufacture. Therefore, to ensure that forest will not be exposed to any significant damage, government must stick to principle, that maintains balance between deforestation and forestation rates, by which one plant cut down will be replaced by newly grown one. Furthermore, regulations about giving farmers or firms authority on forestland must be articulated clearly to avoid potential conflict. Besides, government can utilize economic reward and punishment system to encourage forestation.
Industrial waste is also a prominent source of public worry. The consequence of transition from agriculture based economy to modern economy relying on industry and service is Vietnam has been struggling with evasive pollution due to expansion of industrial zones. The majority of investment is focused on facility and production line innovation only, while waste treatment system is often omitted in investment list. Factory owners and firm managers are motivated solely by self-interest, so their target is achieved when they succeed in selling products.
In terms of the next phase, post-production, they do not pay much attention. This dismissive attitude causes negative corollary to environment. Accordingly, waste and sewage discharged from intensive production activities are contaminating water, soil and air at an alarming rate. Therefore, government must tackle current problems derived from emerging industrial zones by financially support them to change unfriendly production procedures to friendly procedures and legally forcing them to install proper waste treatment system. In case entrepreneurs try to ignore mandatory regulations intentionally, there must be sanctions against them, from fining to depriving business permission. In heavily polluted areas, government should implement evacuation of production site from residential spots to avoid wide spread health problems, or suspend production activities of the culprits. Sanctions will vary according to the seriousness of each case, as well as the cooperation attitude of entrepreneurs. Above all, the method will only take effect if authority obeys strictly and it is important not to yield or to indulge their every whim. Authority of all levels is one of leading factors in improving the bleak situation in industrial zones.
Other methods relating to planning and building industrial zones must be taken into careful consideration. The fact that factories and industrial zones are scattered around the country makes it difficult to manage and process waste materials. Therefore, we can benefit from defining industrial centers within specific areas to facilitate management as well as correction to environmental errors caused by producers. By the way, to ensure expected result, supervisory role must be clearly assigned to a particular governmental organization or to a specialized unit. Examining production activities of production facilities closely helps avoid incidental consequences and guarantee immediate reaction to problems. Thus, a certain amount of investment should be directed to supervisory equipment to respond immediately to abnormal environmental occurrence.
Pollution caused by plant protection chemicals, pesticide or fertilizer arouses new concern about environmental quality and human health. In Vietnam, pollution emerged from agricultural activities has arisen as the most cross-cutting issue recently. Concentration of agricultural chemicals used exceeds the allowed amount and accumulates in soil and in agricultural products, causing health and environmental troubles. Excessive amount of poisonous substances not absorbed by plants, when penetrating into human tissues, is proved to cause genetic defect or, in some more serious cases, lethal diseases. Salutary ingredients in arable soil are missing gradually after being exploited in excessive manner, then toxic substances from chemicals used during crop constitute these wholesome ingredients, turning arable into acidulous or pernicious soil inappropriate for reproducing. Contaminated arable land is seriously critical in Vietnam since it is an agriculture country and the contribution of this sector in Vietnam’s GDP is still high. Thus, a number of policy goals have been set for agriculture, but not many achievements have been attained regarding to purify agricultural environment. A lot more must been done before the situation worsens to an inexorable extent. Prohibition of toxic chemical consumption will be vital in improving quality of arable land, as well as preventing health issue. However, absolute prohibition of chemical use may cause damage to agricultural production, as under favorable tropical climate, the prosperity of insects will outweigh the persistence of plants, resulting in little yield. Therefore, apart from releasing regulations concerning toxic consumption, science institutes must be encouraged to involve in the mission. They are responsible for inventing new healthy chemicals, environmentally friendly pesticides and fertilizers as salubrious substitutes for deleterious ones. Along with rising awareness and responsibility campaigns intended for farmers, this may help solve partly the dilemma of chemical use.
Now is not the first time government has tried to seek short-term solutions for these demanding problems, but solutions shaped in written form have not been practically exploited in an effective way. Therefore, it is imperative that they must enhance the implementation of those solutions in real life, so that positive effects on environmental improvement can really be recognized.
Long-term solutions: In fact, in terms of the distinction of some rare species, it was too late. Nothing can be done to bring them back to life. Short-term objectives should be established to temporarily constrain damage to bio-ecology. However, environmental degradation and biodiversity depletion cannot be eliminated completely in near future. Instead, it is a critical problem of life-time, or even centuries. Our ecology, from its very beginning, has never stopped to develop. It is the existence of human beings that affects and changes the primitive bio-ecology for both the better and the worse. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect at least hundred-year duration to nearly recover the original state of ecology. Apart from considering short-term solutions for environmental improvement, government must take much time to realize long-term objectives. These objectives are intended for not only reducing pollution, but also guaranteeing sufficient resources for future use. Solutions must be designed to match these objectives.
The most effective method to control pollution and depletion in long-term is through completing legal framework. There are some drawbacks existing in the contemporary law, which encourages malfeasances implicitly. Therefore, government must enhance filling the gap in legal system to avoid illegal activities. Amendment to provisions relating to the exploitation of natural resources is urgent, since over-exploitation is the main reason for the loss of biodiversity. A great amount of resources have been expropriated as key input for production activities without plan to replenish. Apparently, this imprudent strategy creates imbalance between destroying rate and recovering rate, so however abundant natural resources are, they will definitely be running out soon. This method makes no sense if there is no premise on which we base to evaluate how much is enough. Thus, along with regulations controlling exploitation, a system of environmental criteria needs to be worked on diligently. A helpful comprehensive system of criteria covers every subject of environment, for example standard concentration of pollutants in air, water and soil or secure amount of natural reserve in long term. In addition, government must clarify resources claim or privatization of natural asset might not be bad idea. Obviously, people have tendency to protect things better if they are their own assets. We can take advantage of this psychology when it comes to managing natural resources, which are now available to every access. Imagine if you are the owner of small forest and someone is trying to cut down precious trees in your forest to serve his latent motive; so, how great is the probability that you let a stranger to violate your own asset? Answer is no, you will never welcome someone to take away what is yours without paying back something. This can be applied to manage other public resources. Nevertheless, this concept may not be easy to realize in case of air or water, because air and water are amorphous and always in motion. You cannot trap them in containers and label your name on it. Practical circumstance is much more sophisticated. It requires our resourcefulness to handle, or else unexpected conflicts might be entailed. Above all, we still can benefit from privatization of natural resources. This method frees government from keeping an eye closely on a plenty of scattered resources; instead, the owners of them will take initiative to be in charge of their own assets.
Development planning and selection of development strategy count on reasonably comprehensive policies. At macro level, governmental policies to deal with investment, growth, industrial structure, and industries … all have certain impacts on environment. Therefore, growth rate should be kept at a reasonable level compatible to the intrinsic endurance of environment and in terms of infrastructure planning, it is wise to calculate demand of long term development in advance. Choice of a strategy will connect directly to environmental protection because the strategy itself pertains to technology, input and output of the whole economy. Moreover, population movement from one place to another is also a strategic issue in environmental protection. Pollution as it is known nowadays is nothing but consequences of human activities. In search of wealth, people do not hesitate to make full use of available resources and release waste back to environment. To some extent, the presence of human beings poses threat to surrounding nature, so government should invent proactive and prudent policies to handle planned migration or else bad consequences may be unavoidable. Also, socio-economic development planning inclusively consists of management of industry, agriculture, construction, service and residential area in order to achieve rapid and forceful growth rate. Beginning as a poor country, Vietnam is now in the transitional phase from agricultural to modern economy with emphasis on industry and service sectors. However, most of its population are still working in agricultural area and most of its products are labor-intensive. This fact is contrary to the economic situation in developed countries, whose products are technology-intensive. Given that fact, urbanization and modernization are deemed strategic approach to development. To recognize the vital role of this process to such a country as Vietnam is not to refuse the importance of environmental protection. In fact, to attain sustainable development, these two missions must come hand in hand.
Thanks to globalization, the chances are available to every country, however rich or poor. Vietnam, being a developing country, has less advantage over other countries, so it must be very careful when opening the economy. The benefit seems really enticing, but the potential consequence on environment is by no means less serious. Apparently, Vietnam must be wakefully cautious not to be a dump in production chain. On the other hand, globalization does not necessarily mean bad at all. If prudent, Vietnam can make profit from this phenomenon. In general, most countries experience similar route to prosperity, although in particular, it may be slightly different, depending on practical circumstances in each country. Given the fact that on same route, they experience same opportunities as well as obstacles, so Vietnam can make use of this chance to learn from the pioneers. Instead of spending lots of time doing meticulous research, we can adopt technology to deal with environmental degradation from foreign sources. This helps abridge the duration required to protect and recover ecological loss.
And, instead of working on our own, we may benefit from international cooperation, since pollution is a global issue happening all around the world, not endemic in any specific country. When taken into global consideration, environmental protection is thoroughly evaluated in its various aspects. Therefore, while opening the economy, Vietnam, apart from drawing foreign investment to accelerate growth rate, must spend quality time pondering on environmental issue exposed to new economic environment. It must prevent any ominous consequences, as well as not to miss golden opportunity to improve its injured habitat.
Obviously, environment is explicitly related to every person’s life, so environmental protection is the obligation and responsibility of all, not one. Increasing public awareness is not a simple mission; in fact, it must be carried out wisely in order to produce effect. Regarding to this, Vietnam can learn valuable lessons from successful countries, such as The United States. Its achievement in environmental awareness campaigns is considerable when campaigns are targeted carefully to specific groups or populations. Some people seem not to pay much attention to environmental problems because they do not understand how these problems would affect them or their lifestyle.
In conclusion, these aforementioned policies are not new at all. Government has long shaped its perception of economic, as well as social methods to solve the problem of pollution, but the implementation remains limited. Eliminating environmental pollution and recovering our ecology require more than a single effort to be successful. Authority of all levels must involve not only in policy-making but also in implementation and supervision of progress, so that the national long term environmental target can be attained, resulting in sustainable development.
Nguyen Minh Trang, M.A
Faculty of International Economic
Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam
NOTE
1. http://data.worldbank.org/country/vietnam
2. Currency Unit of Taiwan
LIST OF REFERENCES
1. Brian McCaig and Nina Pavcnik, “Moving out of agriculture: structural change in Vietnam”, October 2013
2. Forest science Institute of Vietnam, “Vietnam forestry outlook study”, 2009
3. Institutional Research & Investment Advisory, “Vietnam Garment & Textile sector Update: Unprecedented developments but the industry is still tied up in a knot”, August 2013
4. Overview data for Vietnam, U.S. Energy Information Administration, http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=VM, website accessed on April 4th 2014
5. Vietnam – Country profile, Convention on Biological Diversity, http://www.cbd.int/countries/profile/default.shtml?country=vn, website accessed on April 7th 2014
6. Vietnam – Fertilizer consumption, Indexmundi, http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/vietnam/fertilizer-consumption, website accessed on April 10th 2014
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