Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Big changeshave been recorded in socio-economic development in the Vietnamese countryside.One of the leading factors for change is the rapid modernisation of thecountry’s primary industry - and the rural areas themselves.

The appearance of many industrial zones inthe countryside have provided jobs for many rural people, helped them increasetheir incomes and improved the quality of their livelihood. However, in thisprocess, certain negative impacts have arisen, particularly environmentaldeterioration.

In its efforts to minimise the negativeimpacts of environmental pollution, the Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment (MONRE) has launched a week entitled “Waste management forsustainable rural environment from September 23-30”. The campaign is a responseto the international campaign to make the world cleaner.

According to Associate Professor Doctor PhamCong Nhat, from Hanoi National University, a key cause of serious environmentalpollution in the countryside is the rapid development of industrialisation andurbanisation. Coupled with that is the rapid increase in population which hasled to heavy pressure on water resources and pollution control.

For many years, the water environment inmany urban areas, industrial parks and craft villages has been seriouslypolluted by untreated waste water, air emissions and solid waste.

Nhat said, in many big cities, hundreds offactories have discharged waster water freely into the surrounding environmentwith little or no proper treatment.

Professor Nhat added that farmers’ abuse ofpesticides had caused serious pollution to water in adjacent rivers, lakes andcanals. And at the end, the polluted water had seriously affected the health oflocal people.

Another factor that has added to theproblem is the mushrooming of aqua-culture and the reckless use of chemicals inaqua-culture production.

The environmental awareness of communitiesin the countryside is still poor. Many farmers abuse the use of pesticides inagricultural production. They don’t even realise that environmental pollutionhas negative impacts on their living conditions and on health.

Adding to these problems is the bigshortage of environmental staff. At present, in Vietnam, there are about 30environmental officers per one million people while in other ASEAN nationsthere are 70.

Research conducted by Associate ProfessorDr. Nguyen Khac Hai from the Vietnamese National Institute of Occupational andEnvironmental Health on 4,700 men and women using well water contaminated witharsenic, 60 had problems with chronic arsenic contamination.

How to solve the problem

Associate Professor Pham Cong Nhat saidthere was a need to carry out synchronous measures to protect the environment.

In his opinion, in the long run, moremeasures must be adopted to check and control the environment while paying moreattention to the training of environmental officers and the creating of anenvironmental map in each locality.

Professor Nhat said there was also a needto have a good planning on the development of industrial parks or clusters aswell as traditional villages so that the local authorities could easily monitortheir discharged water or solid waste. - VNA