Finland, the Netherlands and Switzerland will continue to support the Trust Fund for Forests (TFF) in Vietnam during the 2009-2012 period. A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed in Hanoi on March 18 by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hua Duc Nhi and the ambassadors of the three countries.
Vietnam is among five beneficiaries from Asia, Africa and Latin America to receive an aid of 18 million USD from the UN-REDD programme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate more jobs for locals. The other countries to benefit from the UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD programme) are Congo, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania.
The National Environmentally Friendly Products and Technologies Exhibition and Conference (Viet Nam EFProtech 2009) opened yesterday in the capital. Experts at the conference will speak about living in an age of increasingly scarce natural resources, climate change and environmental pollution. Developing countries, like Viet Nam, are at the forefront of these issues. In the past, if a country’s total Gross Domestic Product doubles over 10 years, the pollution level is likely to increase five fold.
Sweden has set to prioritise environment and climate change issues in its 2009-2013 cooperation with Vietnam, Swedish officials said at a seminar on “sustainable development and climate change” in Hanoi on Mar 18.
Untreated organic waste and below-standard garbage dumps in Vietnam produce 75 million tons of CO2, equivalent to exhaust discharged by 15 million average-sized cars. This information was reported by Doan Van Khai from the Vietnam Urban Planning Program at a workshop on controlling solid waste in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho on March 17.
Vietnam will publish its official climate change scenario in April, an official of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) has announced. Addressing an ASEAN seminar on climate change co-held by the MoNRE and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Hanoi on March 16, Deputy Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said the scenario will serve as a basis for ministries, agencies and localities to build up their own plans of action.
Young volunteers nationwide have pledged to share experiences in coordinating and organising events promoting environmental awareness in Vietnam. To this effect, a memorandum of understanding was signed by representatives from nine young volunteer clubs in Hanoi on March 16.
Hanoi plans to team up with a Republic of Korea company in managing and protecting the environment for a five-year period. A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed in Hanoi on March 13 by Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Vu Hong Khanh, and Chairman of the RoK Environment Management Corporation Yang Yong Woon.
The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), through the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), recently sponsored over Eur1.6 million for Kien Giang, a province in the southwestern tip of Vietnam, to carry out a project on natural ecosystem conservation.
Hanoi today announced to join the global Earth Hour Campaign 2009. The city calls for all organizations and families located in the city to turn of their lamps for one hour, from 8:30-9:30 of March 28.