Ha Noi, 24 July 2020 – The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), organised the closing workshop of the “Viet Nam Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Sound Harmful Chemicals Management Project” aiming to share project results and propose follow up actions for continued sustainable management of harmful chemicals in Viet Nam. More than 100 representatives from government agencies, international development partners institutions and mass media agencies attended the workshop.

This GEF-financed project aims to continue the reduction of environmental and health risks through POPs and harmful chemicals release reduction. This 5-year project was built on earlier efforts by UNDP and the Government of Viet Nam to reduce the environmental and health risks associated with the use of dangerous chemicals. The Viet Nam Environmental Agency (VEA) under MONRE and the Viet Nam Chemical Management Agency (VINACHEMIA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) were responsible for the implementation of the project.

According to Mr. Vo Tuan Nhan, Vice Minister of Natural Resources and Environment noted “the project has contributed to the development of policies for the environmentally sound management of POPs and hazardous chemicals in Viet Nam. It has also supported the development of technical regulations, indicators, and guidelines for the management of POPs and hazardous chemicals in a number of industries and sectors.”

UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Ms. Sitara Syed applauded Viet Nam’s for its “great efforts to deal with POPs and hazardous chemicals to reduce environmental risks for the local communities.  she also noted that, UNDP is pleased to see many positive results of the project, including improvement of the environmental regulations, monitoring capacity, inventory of mercury sources, capacity for treatment of POPs-contaminated waste.”

The project benefited nearly 1,200 people from Lam Hoa commune in Quang Binh province through treatment and containment of more than 50 tons of residual pesticides 280 tons of pesticide-contaminated soil, respectively, returning safe land for agriculture activities and safe environment for the local people. More than 2,000 people were raised awareness through many communications events, and nearly 300 staff of the centers for environmental monitoring also received training in monitoring and analysis.

For more information, please kindly contact:
Le Hoai Nam
Vice National Project Director/Director,
Department of Environmental Quality Management, VEA, MONRE
Email: LeNamNew@yahoo.com

Phan Huong Giang
Media and Communications Analyst
United Nations Development Programme
Email: phan.huong.giang@undp.org

Hoang Thanh Vinh
Programme Analyst
United Nations Development Programme
Email: hoang.thanh.vinh@undp.org