All recently approved medium- and long-term development plans in Vietnam call for continued rapid economic growth with increased industrialisation playing a major role. In the past, the often unregulated development has aggravated the environmental situation in the country and has accelerated the depletion and degradation of its natural resources. This environmental degradation has a disproportionate impact on the poor, who tend to be more exposed to water and land pollution, in particular in urban areas. The CPRGS calls for extensive investment in urban infrastructure and specifically indicates increasing the access to clean water in urban and rural areas. In the field of waste and waste water the CPRGS points out that "by 2010 waste water will be treated and solid waste matter and waste from toilets will be collected at 100 % of industrial zones, cities, towns and rural craft villages; the environmental damage to rivers, lakes, ponds, canals, etc should be fixed."
In order to prevent pollution, Vietnam has put into place several environmental regulations, however their implementation and enforcement are problematic, due to the lack of reliable environmental data and information. Moreover, a preliminary review of staffing in relevant institutions with environment functions indicates inadequate capacity of the human resources. Capacity building in this field will provide Vietnam with the required tools to formulate, implement, and refine its environmental policies in a better and more cost-effective way.
The project goal relates to the sector objectives as set out in the National Strategy for Environmental Protection, and is formulated as follows: "The partner research institutes in environmental science and technology have the capacities and the managerial competence to identify and solve problems related to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation". The project objectives consist in (i) strengthening scientific skills of Centre for Environmental Technology and Sustainable Development (CETASD) in the field of environmental chemistry in aquatic systems and drinking water treatment technology, enabling them to provide policy makers with reliable data and propose adequate scientific solutions; (ii) improving capacity of the Centre for Environmental Engineering in Towns and Industrial Areas (CEETIA) to a) identify and analyse the problems related to macro-pollutants and b) to propose solutions for the design, operation and maintenance, and monitoring of technical systems in water, sanitation and solid waste management; (iii) strengthening the organisational, managerial and administrative skills of both Centres, CETASD and CEETIA and (iv) positioning CETASD as one of the leading centres for research in environmental science and technology and CEETIA as one of the leading centres in research and teaching in water supply, sanitation and solid waste management (SWM) in Northern Vietnam.
Phase II clearly focuses on an improvement of the research capacity (methodological know-how, research experience, quality insurance) up to international recognised level and reliability. It is assumed that the increased research capability will in turn have positive impacts on the other core two activities of the Centres: (a) as partly seen from the first phase, teaching and training will be more oriented towards practise and (b) a high research standard will facilitate the acquisition of monitoring and consulting mandates, specially in an environment where the Government of Vietnam seems clearly moving towards higher quality requirements.
The project continues to be managed and co-ordinated by the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG). It will be implemented by two national research Centres in Hanoi (CETASD and CEETIA).
SDC's total contribution for the 4 year phase (May 01, 2003 – April 30, 2007) amounts to CHF 3'100'000. --
