{"id":2378,"date":"2017-06-07T08:15:53","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T01:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/?p=2378"},"modified":"2017-06-08T08:41:27","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T01:41:27","slug":"vietnams-social-media-shaping-new-environmentalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/vietnams-social-media-shaping-new-environmentalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam’s Social Media Shaping New Environmentalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI am frequently on several environmental online forums and campaigns led by Vietnamese, who have addressed Hanoi\u2019s logging of 6,700 trees, the Thai Binh deforestation for economic development, and the construction in Cat Ba,\u201d says Tran Thi Thuy Binh, a member of the Vietnam Forum for Environmental Journalists in Hanoi.<\/p>\n

Binh, along with 40 million other net-savvy young Vietnamese, appears to be part of a rising tide of environmental nationalism sweeping the nation. What\u2019s most surprising is that Facebook, once banned in Vietnam, has now proven to be an attractive platform for organizing environment rallies. With a population of 93 million and an increasing Internet user base, social media has proven to be the first choice among the educated Vietnamese youth.<\/p>\n

Their online activism was highlighted last year in Ha Tinh province, the scene of the Formosa Plastics Corporation\u2019s steel plant\u2019s environmental crime, where citizens took to the streets, even rallying near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, to protest the Taiwanese corporation\u2019s improper discharge of untreated toxic wastewater into the East Sea.<\/p>\n

\"\"It was a turning point for Vietnam\u2019s environmental and social activists, many who became first-time citizen reporters and posted their photos of tons of dead fish swept along a 125-mile coastline, devastating sea life and local economies dependent on fishing and tourism spanning several provinces from Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, and Quang Tri. With more than 35 million users, Facebook is rapidly becoming a lighting rod for environmental activism and sparking demands for improved environmental safeguards.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands of images of dead fish flooded social media following the incident. During last year\u2019s central Vietnam industrial fish kill, internet censors blocked Facebook over the environmental hash tag, #IChooseFish, or the Vietnamese version, #toichonca.<\/p>\n

The Formosa environmental disaster succeeded in creating a nation-wide opposition to unchecked industrialization in unprecedented ways. Citizens, especially the young, are demanding a clean environment. As a result, there\u2019s a growing environmental awareness campaign.<\/p>\n

Environmental activist Nguyen Huynh That believes that the Formosa steel plant ecological disaster \u201cgenerated a social protest against an unchecked industrial development and signaled a new wave of environmentalism through Facebook postings.\u201d<\/p>\n

In two decades, Vietnam\u2019s rapid industrialization has reduced poverty and helped raise the country\u2019s per-capita income to over $3,600, dramatically propelling it past poorer neighbors like Laos and Cambodia. However, this rapid build at-all-costs industrialization occurs generally at the expense of the environment, especially with its corresponding pressure that\u2019s placed on natural resources.<\/p>\n

Despite an early government policy discussion in 1985 that called for a national conservation strategy, no such strategy has ever officially been adopted. In 1991, Hanoi announced a national plan for the sustainable management of the country\u2019s natural resources. However, it was neither institutionalized nor implemented until the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MOSTE), and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) were created, along with the Vietnamese Environment Agency in 2008.<\/p>\n

Pressure from the international donor community and local shareholders, resulted in some successful policy changes, but the new environmental laws failed to provide any legal enforcement to ensure compliance. In fact, five years ago the Environmental Performance Index listed Vietnam in the top ten worst countries for air pollution.<\/p>\n

Because of Vietnam\u2019s environmental enforcement weakness, a litany of damages to the land and water continues to mount: two thirds of Vietnam\u2019s forests are in decline, mainly due to massive illegal logging; air pollution increases daily due to the growing number of motorbikes; wastewater is released untreated; and industrialization pollutes rivers and streams.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder that Vietnam has witnessed the emergence of prominent non-governmental organizations like People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature<\/a>), Centre for Water Resources Conservation and Development (WARECOD), ECO Vietnam Group, Green Innovation and Development Centre, and Save Vietnam\u2019s Wildlife (SVW), to name a few.<\/p>\n

Also, Mekong Eye previously reported on Vietnam\u2019s photo campaign, \u201cI Can\u2019t\u201d, directed at the proliferation of coal power generators. Sponsored by Vietnam\u2019s chapter of the global climate change NGO 350.org and the Center of Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment (CHANGE), it featured popular Vietnamese actors, musicians and artists wearing gas masks, performing before a devastating backdrop of smog and climate devastation.<\/p>\n

Government officials like Tran The Loan, the deputy director of the Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA) has asserted: \u201cEnvironmental pollution in our country has become alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true that the Vietnamese have recognized the importance of environmental protection through the introduction of national laws for environmental impact assessments, these laws have not been transparent and did not involve the participation of the people.<\/p>\n

As early as 1994, Hanoi introduced the national law on environmental protection, yet did little to influence or monitor the planning and decision-making on industrial zones and the direct impact on the environment. According to a study on the role of public involvement in environmental impact assessment in Vietnam, credit should be given to the government for reviewing the environmental law in 2005, deciding that \u201cparticipation from communal People\u2019s Committees and local residents must be included in any EIA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is largely through social media that young people like Hoang Thi Minh, the leader of Change and 360 organizations, based in Ho Chi Minh City, are bringing people together to protest ecological damage to Vietnam\u2019s landscape and seacoast,\u201d claims Le Thu Mach, a lecturer at the Academy of Journalism and Communication.<\/p>\n

The online protests associated with this degradation of the environment is evident in the ManForTree posting on Facebook; it reflects an effort to collect the signatures of Hanoi residents to protest the mass logging of over 6,700 old trees in ten urban districts.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to increase the ranks of online environmentalists, Mekong Matters Journalism has assisted with the professional training of citizen reporters in the Mekong with their well-placed network of eyes on the myriad of environmental challenges in the Mekong Delta. This network was established in September 2014 and continues to link environmental bloggers, citizen reporters, and journalists from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

According to Adam Hunt, an InterNews media trainer who has led several environmental media training programs in the region, including several in Can Tho: \u201cThe rapid pace of development in the Mekong is creating more opportunities for reporters to find innovative and important stories.\u201d Hunt\u2019s Mekong Eye website regularly showcases news from these reporters, and it has become an effective information resource for villages and government officials.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the past five years, the Vietnamese have protested numerous environmental issues, including textile companies, sand dredging, the hydropower project in Cat Tien National Park, pig farms, coal power plants, cement factories, and most recently the steel plant in Ha Tinh.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media is proving its important role in promoting environmental awareness to the young generation in Vietnam and throughout SE Asia,\u201d says Khiem Nguyen, founder of Mekong Delta Youth, who\u2019s now pursuing a Masters of Resource Management in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

This era of social media contributes has proven effective in bringing together crowds of local citizens to protest a given environmental issue.\u00a0 But the jury is still out as to whether it will lead to an environmental structural change from Hanoi.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the recent announcement by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to halt work at a $10.6 billion steel plant over concerns surrounding its environmental impact surprised many citizens. Some suggest that the government is attuned to the growing resentment among younger Vietnamese about the granting of project licenses without sound environmental impact studies.<\/p>\n

Climate disruptions, notably floods and drought, are not new in the Mekong Delta, but last year\u2019s historic floods and drought, coupled with expanding industrial development, has ushered in more online forums among citizens and nearby academics at Can Tho University. Last week\u2019s two-day Can Tho International Media Workshop on water security and narratives in the Mekong Delta<\/a> highlights the emerging state of \u2018green politics and environmental activism found in the lower delta. The program brought together a dozen foreign (Mekong) journalists and ten Vietnamese, along with scientists and other stakeholders.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the workshop raised awareness about the need for improved communication and media practices with regards to environmental security matters. It also enhanced information-sharing among citizen-reporters and journalists in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are better informed because of the Internet. Journalists and local Facebook users do provide information to more citizens and also to the government to take action in safeguarding their environment on issues like riverbank and coastal erosion, inland salinity intrusion, and water contamination,\u201d says Nguyen Minh Quang, a lecturer and writer on conflict studies and politics at Can Tho University.<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0Geopolitical Monitor<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the authors are theirs alone and don\u2019t reflect any official position of Geopoliticalmonitor.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pressure from the international donor community and local shareholders, resulted in some successful policy changes, but the new environmental laws failed to provide any legal enforcement to ensure compliance. In fact, five years ago the Environmental Performance Index listed Vietnam in the top ten worst countries for air pollution.<\/p>\n

Because of Vietnam\u2019s environmental enforcement weakness, a litany of damages to the land and water continues to mount: two thirds of Vietnam\u2019s forests are in decline, mainly due to massive illegal logging; air pollution increases daily due to the growing number of motorbikes; wastewater is released untreated; and industrialization pollutes rivers and streams.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder that Vietnam has witnessed the emergence of prominent non-governmental organizations like People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature), Centre for Water Resources Conservation and Development (WARECOD), ECO Vietnam Group, Green Innovation and Development Centre, and Save Vietnam\u2019s Wildlife (SVW), to name a few.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[67,48,65],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-2378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-media","tag-media-2","tag-conservation","tag-sustainable-development","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2378"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2387,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378\/revisions\/2387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2378"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nature.org.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=2378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}