Media Highlights

Ministry aiming to restore forests

Speaking at a conference on forest management held on Tuesday in Gia Lai Province, Nguy?n Vi?t D?ng, deputy director of the nonprofit PanNature, said the restoration of forests was feasible if it brought economic benefits such as profits from cassava and coffee cultivation.

Viet Nam should adopt EITI for resource management

Implementing the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) will help Vi?t Nam fight corruption in the resources extraction sector, participants were told at a workshop held yesterday in Hà N?i. EITI is a global standard for governance when it comes to a country’s oil, gas and mineral resources, and is implemented by governments in collaboration with companies and civil society. Countries implementing EITI disclose information on tax payments, licenses, contracts, production and other key elements around resource extraction.

Environmental protection an urgent issue in Vietnam

Trinh Le Nguyen, director of PanNature, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting natural diversity and improving human well-being, said significant shortcomings remain prevalent in the evaluation of the environmental impact of business operations in Vietnam. Several steps in the assessment process were conducted with subpar methods while opinions from local residents were ignored, Nguyen continued. He noted that the two mandatory phases in evaluating a facility’s impact on the environment include a general and a more detailed assessment.

Saving the Highlands from drought

Intensifying the protection of forests in the Central Highlands from encroachment by hydro power plants, illegal deforestation and unplanned agricultural development would be the key to preserving water in this drought hit region, experts have said.

The water conflict on the Mekong

Located at the end of the Mekong River basin, the Mekong Delta in Vietnam is currently experiencing the most severe drought and salinity intrusion in 100 years. According to experts, the principal reason is development activities in Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries related to the use of the Mekong River’s water resources, including the operation and construction of mega-dams along the river as well as water diversion for agricultural purposes. Thus far, after months of struggling in a record-breaking drought, millions of farmers in the Mekong Delta have succumbed to exhaustion, due to significant losses of crops, fruits and aquaculture. Part Two of the series examines the impacts of dam construction and other projects on the Mekong Delta.

A Thirsty Mekong Delta

Located at the end of the Mekong River basin, the Mekong Delta in Vietnam is currently experiencing the most severe drought and salinity intrusion in 100 years. According to experts, the principal reason is development activities in Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries related to the use of the Mekong River’s water resources, including the operation and construction of mega-dams along the river as well as water diversion for agricultural purposes. Thus far, after months of struggling in a record-breaking drought, millions of farmers in the Mekong Delta have succumbed to exhaustion, due to significant losses of crops, fruits and aquaculture.

Viet Nam urged to tighten resource consumption tax

At a conference held by PanNature at the end of last month, experts said that budget collections from mineral mining activities were not proportional to the exploitation scales. Statistics of the Ministry of Finance revealed that natural resources exploitation (excluding oil) contributed merely between 0.9 per cent and 1.1 per cent to the State budget from 2011 to 2015.

Mining-sourced tax collection needs improvements

Tax collected from the mining of natural resources, excluding crude oil, accounted for between 0.9 – 1.1 percent of the total state tax collections in the 2011-2013, according to the Ministry of Finance. The amount is a far cry from the scale of exploitation activities, said delegates to a workshop held by People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature) on May 13.
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