Ho Chi Minh City and its region generate 60% of the national GDP. Economically, it is becoming the most attractive region of Vietnam. The number of inhabitants in South Vietnam is increasing rapidly and the small- and medium sized enterprises are more and more numerous in the area. This development has a strong impact on the environment, which again, has a disproportionate impact on the poor, who tend to be more exposed to environmental pollution, in particular in urban areas. Vietnam’s Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy, CPRGS, calls for extensive investments in urban and rural infrastructure, and particularly stresses the need for increased access to and provision of clean water, as well as water treatment and solid waste collection in towns and cities.
While Vietnam has put in place environmental policies and regulations to combat and prevent environmental pollution, enforcement and implementation are still problematic due to lack of reliable environmental data and poor capacities of relevant (government and research) institutions. Consequently, the recently approved “National Strategy for Environmental Protection 2010 – 2020”, emphasizes the need for enhanced environmental monitoring and analytical capacities, as well as strengthening the scientific and technological development capacities in environmental protection.
SDC has supported capacity building in science and technology in key environmental (university) centres in Northern and Southern Vietnam since 1993. The focus of this credit proposal – Capacity Building of the Institute for Environment and Resources, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City (IER/VNU-HCMC) – was initiated in 1996. The Swiss implementing partner from the onset was the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, EPFL.
The project was reviewed in May 2004. The review highlighted the achievements of former phases, contributing to IER’s position as one of the three leading members of the National Environmental Monitoring Network, with a mandate from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, MoNRE, on air and water pollution monitoring in South Vietnam. The review also emphasised that the former phase was not able to achieve all the outputs in an equally satisfactory way. Furthermore, the review concluded that IER was at a crucial moment of its development, and thus recommended a third and final phase.
The overall project will remain the same as in phase II: “According to international standards – both in academic and practical terms – IER is among the leading Environmental Science and Technology Institutions in South East Asia by 2008”. The goal of this last phase is to facilitate: a) The consolidation of the achievements in the scientific field and in organizational development within IER; b) A managed handing-over of responsibilities towards the Vietnamese partner; and c) A controlled phasing-out of SDC’s support.
The project is in line with SDC’s priorities defined both in the Mekong Region Programme (MRPII) and the Global Environment Programme. It further contributes indirectly to MDG 7 (ensuring environmental sustainability), and constitutes a priority of the Government and Communist Party of Vietnam, as laid down in various policies, decrees and recent resolutions.
