The Nha Trang Oceanography Institute and a team of German scientists are carrying out a joint research project in the mouth of Mekong River and the upwelling in the southern central region. The research project is concentrating on the coastal area from Ninh Thuan to Ca Mau and is under a Vietnamese-German protocol on marine research for the 2009-2010 period.
The steering board on prevention of human influenza on May 1 held a meeting in Hanoi with relevant agencies to discuss measures the country is taking to cope with the H1N1 epidemic. Speaking at the meeting, Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu said the World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the H1N1 flu pandemic alert level to phase 5, and requires countries to be determined in their fight against the disease.
Despite having rich potential for renewable energy, Viet Nam had not made full use of its advantages, a conference in Hanoi was told last week. Renewable energy used in the country accounted for only 2 per cent of the total energy used, Foreign Investment Enterprises Association vice chairman Hoang Van Huan said.
The Challenge to Change (CtC) organisation will make surveys and instruct people in some coastal cities in Vietnam to combat natural calamities caused by climate change. The central city of Da Nang is the second coastal city in which CtC has conducted surveys and training activities, beginning on May 6, after Quy Nhon city in Binh Dinh province. The next city will be Vung Tau in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
Viet Nam has failed to adequately regulate environmental pollution from golf courses, said Tran Ngoc Hung, the chairman of the Viet Nam Construction Association. Hung said many experts blamed the development of golf courses on agriculture land for pollution, but there was no research to confirm the claims.
Vietnam and Laos have agreed to step up cooperation in the fight against the trading of rare wildlife along their mutual border. A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed recently in Vientiane between Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development and the Laos Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.
Some 100 agencies, including leading companies from Europe and Asia, and some 3,500 participants are expected to join the international exhibition for renewable and decentralized energy solutions in Vietnam (ENEREXPO 2010), which will be held from 17-19 March 2010, the National Center for Scientific and Technological Information announced on May 7.
The Italian Government will provide 39.46 million EUR to carry out several environmental projects in Vietnam, according to the Italian Embassy in Vietnam. The sum, including 38.10 million EUR as soft loan and 1.36 million EUR as non-refundable aid, will go to two environmental sanitation projects in Ca Mau city and Quang Nam province’s Nui Thanh town and a project to fight drought in Binh Thuan province.
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Pham Khoi Nguyen, cut the ribbon to open the fourth Vietnam International Environmental Technology Trade Fair, Envirotex 2009, in Hanoi on May 7. More than 140 domestic and foreign businesses, 60 percent of them Vietnamese, are displaying their environmental protection technologies, clean energy, eco products and services, and other related products.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Western Pacific, Shin Young Soo, has complimented the Vietnamese health sector for its preparations and readiness to cope with influenza A (H1N1).