Summary of Results of Activities in Environmental Science and Technology in 2022 of The Institute of Environmental Science and Development (VESDEC)

In 2022 VESDEC did not obtained many projects, but only focus on implementing some important ones below.

1. Study and Preparation of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Report for Haugiang (Hau Giang) Province Planning for the Period 2021 - 2030, Vision to 2050

In 2022, the SEA Consulting Team of VESDEC, included environmental and social experts led by VESDEC Director has carried out a SEA study for the Haugiang Provincial Planning for the Period to 2050, implemented by the JV led by Royal HaskoningDHV Nederland. Haugiang Provincial People's Committee is the Project Owner.
This SEA study is carried out for the entire area of the Province with a total natural area of 1,621.71km2, bordering Cantho City to the North, Vinhlong Province to the Northeast, Soctrang Province to the Southeast, Kiengiang Province the West and Baclieu Province to the South. The SEA study started in March 2022 and the SEA report was preliminarily completed in September 2022. It was consulted with the Provincial Departments and other stakeholders in a workshop chaired by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee in October 2022. After revision the SEA report has been submitted to Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) for obtaining official comments. Then, the SEA report has also received comments from various ministries and experts through the workshop on the Haugiang Provicial Planning organized by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in November 2022.

Map of Haugiang Province.

A part of the present Songhau Industrial Park.

In the SEA, change tendency of the environmental components have been clearly identified. Below figure is an example: the change of BOD5 at the water quality monitoring sites in the period 2016 – 2020

The following photos show some key environmental issues of the Province.

Left photo: The water environment is key issue: Change in flow and increased pollution: The Hau River in Chauthanh district – the main water supply source, is slightly polluted; Right photo: Xano canal in Vithanh city – rivers and canals in the Western part of the Province are located in the water stagnant area: they accumulate pollution, impacting on aquatic ecosystems and society - big and hard environmental problem.

Left photo: The settlement models along rivers and canals is very common: Rivers and canals perform 5 functions: water supply, water ecosystem growth, fishery, inland navigation, and waste receiving and assimilation: the large and difficult environmental and social problems of the Province; Right photo: A Vithanh City new quarter: at present, urban areas in the Province have no wastewater treatment system and low green area.

The biological environment and biodiversity are very important for natural conservation, climate change impact prevention and socio-economic development, but they are under degradation. 2 photos: Survey of the SEA Team at Lung Ngochoang Nature Reserve: Preventing encroachment, controlling canal pollution and developing biodiversity are the top 3 priority tasks for this unique nature reserve.
The SEA research has carried out the main tasks:
1. Collecting on natural environment, socio-economic characteristics of Haugiang province.
2. Consult with the Provincial departments and localities on the most important environmental issues that need to be studied and forecasted and proposed protection solutions in this SEA.
3. Field survey and identification of environmental problems in the Provincial area, especially at the protected sites.
4. Identify the key natural and social environmental issues which may be greatly changed due to implementation of the planning options; setting up environmental zoning.
5. Study and forecast the change in trends of the key natural and social environmental issues (water environment, soil environment, biological environment/biodiversity, emission - pollution and social environment), including calculation of emissions from economic sectors, pollution forecasting, deterioration of environmental components, greenhouse gas emissions under development options, impacts caused by climate change, cumulative impacts; compare the environmental changes of the options: the current situation, the "No" option, the "Planning" option.
6. Research and propose solutions for environmental protection, nature conservation, climate change adaptation, environmental monitoring program and environmental management.
7. Stakeholder consultation on SEA.
8. Prepare and revise the SEA report according to regulations on content and structure in the Circular TT02/2022/TT-BTNMT of MONRE.
The SEA research has forecasted the change of environmental components according to the development options. For example, the below figures show a prediction of cumulative and inter-provincial impacts on the air environment due to coal-fired power projects in case of failure of the exhaust gas treatment system: large areas of dust pollution (left) and SO₂ pollution (right), effecting the air environment at the surrounding provinces.

Pictures of the workshop to consult with the Provincial departments and stakeholders on SEA issues: Left photo: Mr. Dong Van Thanh, Chairman of Haugiang Provincial People's Committee delivered a speech at the conclusion of the workshop; Right photo: the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, leaders of the Departments of Planning and Investment and Natural Resources and Environment took a photo with representatives of the SEA Consulting Team of VESDEC.

2. Continuing the task of “Researching and proposing directions for environmental protection; Conservation of nature and biodiversity in Package 07: Consulting for planning Baria - Vungtau province in the period of 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050"
Environmental experts of VESDEC have performed the following tasks according to the contract with the Institute of Strategy and Policy of Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE - MONRE): Collecting and processing documents on environmental quality, biological resources, diversity, socio-economic and socio-economic aspects of Baria - Vungtau province; conducting surveys of hot spots of environmental pollution and sensitive ecological zones in the whole province. This study runs from the end of 2021 to October 2022.
From the research results, the following thematic reports have been compiled:
1. Environmental zoning according to strict protection zones, emission-restricted zones and other regions oriented in the national environmental protection planning.
2. Proposing the province's biodiversity conservation goals and targets; objectives, organization and management measures for areas of high biodiversity, important wetlands, important ecological landscape areas, biodiversity corridors, nature reserves.
3. Plans on provincial environmental monitoring system, included monitoring components, sites, parameters, and frequency for the planning period.
4. Proposal of the management system of natural resources and environment in Baria - Vungtau province, included coordination mechanism between agencies, departments and localities in natural resources and environment management.
5. Synthetic reports on the environment, nature conservation, biodiversity and environmental monitoring and proposal of directions and solutions for environmental protection, nature conservation, biodiversity and projects for the period 2021 - 2030, vision to 2050 for Baria - Vungtau province: from March 2022 to June 2022.
6. Revision of the synthetic report according to the suggestions of the departments and sectors of the province: from June 2022 to October 2022.

Left: Administrative map of Baria – Vungtau Province; Right: Environmental zoning for Baria – Vungtau Province (inland part), prepared by VESDEC.
The Province has 2 national protected areas: Condao National Park and Binhchau - Phuocbuu Nature Reserve and an important estuarine-coastal wetland eco-region, while this Province has a great plan to strongly develop heavy industry, seaport and tourism. Therefore, integrate development with conservation is a particularly important task but can only be achieved if leaders at all levels and businesses have the right awareness.
Two images below: Left: Part of the ecological zones of Big Mountain, Small Mountain and Vungtau City; Right: SEA Consulting Group surveyed Binhchau - Phuocbuu Nature Reserve.

Left: Condao National Park: occupies most of the island area and 14,000ha of sea surface. These are areas that need strict protection; Right: Map of distribution of rare creatures in Condao National Park.

Left photo: Part of the mangrove forests along the Thivai River and the Longson coast have been converted into aquaculture areas; Right: Mangrove and fishery ecosystems in the Province have been and will be adversely affected by the development of a deep-water port cluster at Thivai – Caimep River and by the Southern Petrochemical Complex in Longson Islet.
3. Implement phase 6 of “Independent environmental monitoring for Benluc – Longthanhh Expressway Construction Project”
The Benluc - Longthanh Expressway Project is funded by ADB and JICA; the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) is the Investor. This is the transport project with the largest investment capital at present in Vietnam. VESDEC is an External Environmental Monitoring Consultant (EEMC) or Independent Environmental Monitoring Consultant (IEMC) with an initial term of 5 years (2015 - 2019), and an additional 2-year contract extension (2022 - 2023) by the updated contract with VEC signed in 2020.

Alignment of Benluc - Longthanh Expressway.

During the 6th mobilization (from June to September 2022), the main task of the EEMC is to read, comment and evaluate in detail nearly 100 monthly and quarterly environmental management and monitoring reports in the period from July 2019 to December 2021 prepared by the CSC/PMU and Contractors; conducted field surveys, consulted with Commune People's Committees and affected households along construction sites to clearly identify the environmental issues.

From the results of activities the EEMC Team has prepared a report on "Evaluation of environmental reports" (in English, Vietnamese) with an objective, detailed and clear assessment of the quality, advantages and disadvantages of each reviewed report, briefly assessment of the compliance of the PMU, CSCs and Contractors in environmental management and implementation of the Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM). The report also proposes in detail solutions to improve the quality of environmental monitoring, environmental reporting, responsibilities of the parties (PMU, CSC, Contractors) and recommends ADB/VEC to consider many issues in environmental management and monitoring of the Contractors. The report was submitted to the PMU from Mid-September 2022, revised according to ADB's opinion and returned in November 2022.

Meeting with CSCs, June 2022.	Meeting with the PC of Phuockhanh Commune.
Present status of construction of Thivai Bridge, August 2022	Filed visit at Package A7 constrcution sites, June 2022.
Implementing the recommendation of the EEMC (in it’s report 2019): Package A7 has opened a new road to the construction site, no longer using local roads. This is a very good mitigation action.	Mangrove forests along the rivers and canals surrouding the alignment are well protected: not encroached upon, cut down or dumped waste. It well complies with ADB SPS and Vietnamese laws.

4. Publish important booklets
July 2022 Science and Technology Publishing House has published the book "Advanced Methods in Environmental Impact Assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessment, Integrated Impact Assessment and Environmental Risk Assessment". The book included 400 pages, gathers and enhances lectures on these topics conducted by Prof. Le Trinh for the "Training of Trainers Programs” supported by the World Bank to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) for the 5 recent years. The author has searched for new concepts, contents, procedures and methods in these fields being applied in developed countries in combination with the new provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection (2020), Governmental Decree 08/2022/ND-CP and MONRE’ Circular 02/2022/TT-BTNMT, therefore, the book is very valuable in research, teaching and consulting in EIA, SEA, Cumulative Impact Assessment and Environmental Risk Assessment in Vietnam.