Non Nuoc Carves-out an Environmentally Friendly Future

Currently, Da Nang has yet to develop economic zones. The city only has craft villages such as Non Nuoc fine arts stone village, the mat making villages of Yen Ne and Cam Ne, fish sauce making village of Nam O, the village of Hoa Son, and several sesame cake villages to serve visitor demand. Except for Non Nuoc fine arts stone village, the other villages are small in size.

With more than 400 years of development, the stone carving village of Non Nuoc is located in Da Nang's Ngu Hanh Son District. Artisans from the north have used available stone to make fine arts sculpted products to serve local need. Since 1990, the village has imported material from northern provinces including Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Quang Ninh and Bac Kan to make fine art products. Some major production facilities have started using imported materials from India or Pakistan but imported materials only account for 5 percent of total material. Production facilities in the village consume from 50,000-55,000 tonnes of marble every month.

During the last few years, Non Nuoc fine art village has paid attention to purchasing machines and equipment to increase product quality and productivity and reduce manual work. These machines and equipment are mainly used for rough drafts, design, and polishing stages. The marriage of modern and traditional techniques has received attention in order to increase product quality to serve the foreign and domestic markets.

Since the Association of the Fine Art Stone Carving Non Nuoc Village was founded, it has gathered business households and production facilities in the village. According to Da Nang People's Committee, the village had 400 production facilities and business households with nearly 5,000 workers in 2010. Its production value reached VND196 billion last year. However, production facilities have developed massively and spontaneously without plan or control while they are small in business scale, lack waste water treatment system and other environmental pollution treatment solutions. Statistics show that 20 percent of 5,000 workers in the village have lung disease due to stone dust. They have also faced to hand diseases through contact with lathes and sandpaper. The general environment in Non Nuoc Stone Carving Village has become polluted, affecting production activities, workers' lives, visitors and local people.

According to the Law on Environmental Protection, the city of Da Nang has projected planned craft villages to ensure sustainable environment while implementing infrastructure construction projects and asking related agencies to carry out environmental impact assessments. These measures have laid a foundation to develop the village along a more sustainable development path with environmental protection as part of their commitment to building an environmentally-friendly city.

On December 26, 2006, Da Nang People's Committee issued Decision No 9138 on planning and developing craft villages in the city until 2015 with a vision to 2020. So far, the transport system and technical infrastructure have been planned and constructed in Hoa Hai and Hoa Quy Wards with total area of 374,156 sq.m including drains, water and electricity supply, trees and environmental hygiene. The production and business of fine art stone products are separated.

Da Nang has increased its environmental protection management in craft villages at different levels, strengthened investment and held training courses on environmental protection. In 2010, receiving financial support from the Vietnam Provincial Environmental Governance Project, the city held two training courses on cleaner production and environmental production in craft villages for some 100 production facilities.

In addition, the city is implementing the development project of traditional craft villages. However, in the time to come, Da Nang People's Committee should create favorable conditions for businesses and production facilities in the Non Nuoc Stone Carving Village while raising public awareness on environmental protection and mobilizing resources in order to turn the village into an eco-village.