HANOI—As Vietnam's economy has boomed in recent decades, so too havepollution levels in its major cities, with experts concerned that airpollution could pose a major public health concern.
"Environmental pollution in Vietnam is a real problem," said Tuong Lai, former dean of Vietnam's Social Science Institute.
"It's not just foreign visitors who have complained about our dustpollution—people in our country are also very dissatisfied with it,"he said.
Pollution greatly affects the health of our people."
Tuong Lai, former dean of Vietnam's Social Science Institute
A study conducted by employment consultants ORC Worldwide put economicboomtowns Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi on a list of the 20 worst cities in theworld in which to live and work, for environmental reasons.
Air pollution was cited as a key factor for both Ho Chi Minh City, which was theninth worst place to live, and Hanoi, which was ranked 11th worst.
A 2008 environmental report by the World Bank ranked the two cities asthe worst in Vietnam for pollution, while an environmental study by 400international scientists in the same year said Hanoi and Saigon werethe worst-ranked cities for dust pollution in the whole of Asia.
Expert warning
And experts at a Southeast Asia air pollution seminar hosted by theIndustrial Institute of Asia warned that air pollution in Vietnam hadreached dangerous levels.
In 2007, Vietnam started to publish results of its own surveys, with anEnvironmental Protection Bureau report officially recognizing in 2007that dust pollution was a serious problem in Vietnam.
Vietnamese residents of the worst-ranked cities were well aware of the heath effects, and of the effect on tourism revenues.
"The atmosphere in this country is now seriously polluted, yet thegovernment has not found any solutions," one Hanoi resident said.
"The air pollution in Saigon and Hanoi has annoyed not only the peoplein the country, but also the Vietnamese who come back to Vietnam asvisitors," he said.
"It has disappointed so many foreign tourists, too."
Thousands of deaths
Health authorities say that thousands of cases of death or illness havebeen confirmed as having been caused by atmospheric pollution withcarbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, benzene, and fine particulates (dust).
In 2007 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that an average of16,000 deaths a year in Vietnam are now caused by air pollution, withthousands of people now confirmed to be suffering from pulmonarydisease.
Environmental studies blame fuel emissions from public transportation and industrial pollution from factories.
Pressure is now growing on Hanoi from international as well as domesticenvironment specialists to step up controls on industrial pollution andclarify the responsibilities of the various government agenciesinvolved in environmental protection.
Calls are emerging in domestic media for the government to enforce aswitch to cleaner fuels, and to punish or penalize anyone causingenvironment pollution.
"Pollution greatly affects the health of our people," Tuong Lai said.
"Therefore the government must make multiple efforts to make a healthyliving environment for the people who crowd such big cities as Saigon[Ho Chi Minh City] and Hanoi," he added.
Original reporting by RFA's Vietnamese service. Vietnamese service director: Diem Nguyen. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.