Fisheries to cut greenhouse emissions

The domestic fisheries sector has set itself the target of reducing gas emissions, particularly in aquaculture activities, by 20 percent over the next 10 years.

Officials with the Vietnam Research Institute for Aquaculture (RIA) said the fisheries sector in general and aquaculture in particular have made important contributions to the national economy, but they were also guilty of polluting the environment with greenhouse emissions.
In 2010, the aquaculture sector recorded an output of 2.8 million tonnes but they also produced about 4.33 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide (C02), experts estimated.

They also estimated that the sector's gas emissions would reach 6.66 million tonnes by 2015 and 8.33 million tonnes by 2020 if farming conditions are unchanged.

In Vietnam, the use of fossil fuel energy in aquaculture is common. Petroleum products including petrol, diesel oil and kerosene are used for several purposes including feeding, pumping water, aeration of ponds and harvesting.

These activities accounted for 80 to 90 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions by the sector, RIA experts said.

Apart from aquaculture, the fishing industry also emits a significant volume of greenhouse gases.

In recent years, the fishing industry has developed rapidly, but small, low-capacity fishing still accounts for up to 84 percent of its fleet. Eighty eight per cent of these vehicles operate near the shore and 88.58 percent use old engines.

The country now has 700 shipbuilding establishments with a combined capacity of making 4,000 boats and repairing 8,000 boats per year. But they cannot build fishing vessels with new technology that reduces gas emissions.

To reduce gas emissions by the sector reduction target, RIA has prepared a seven-pronged plan that will be applied to aquaculture farms.

Suggested measures

The proposed measures include reducing the use of fossil energy fuels and increasing that of renewable energy sources; improving production efficiency and farm management; and effectively transforming available sources including residues to create biomass that will be used for fishing and aquaculture activities.

They suggest close co-operation between fishing enterprises, logistics firms and seafood processors operating in an area to increase operational efficiency and use less energy.

RIA deputy director Phan Thi Van said greenhouse gas emissions was a problem not only in Vietnam but also other countries in the world.

The Government should facilitate co-operation with other countries, particularly experts at universities and research institutes, to share experiences and exchange information in order to introduce more effective measures to minimise greenhouse gas emissions, she said.

Floodwaters receding in upper reaches of Mekong River

Floodwaters are beginning to recede in the upper reaches of Long Xuyen Quadrangular and Dong Thap Muoi in the Mekong Delta, reported the National Hydro Meteorological Forecasting Center Tuesday.

 Water levels have receded from the danger mark of level 3 to 4.3m at the Tan Chau Station on Tien River and 3.9m at the Chau Doc Station on Hau River.

Floodwaters will continue to recede for the next five days. By Friday they are expected to go down to 4.05m at Tan Chau, 3.65m at Chau Doc and 2.6m at Moc Hoa Stations.

However, high tide in the lower reaches of the Mekong Delta has raised flood levels, affecting parts of the southern region.

Several dyke sections have burst, unleashing floodwaters and inundating thousands of hectares of vegetable crops and seafood farm areas in Cu Lao Dung, Ke Sach, Vinh Chau and Tran De Districts of Soc Trang Province. Damage to agro and aqua production is estimated to reach VND52 billion (US$2.5 million).

Tien Giang Province has so far reported two person dead, one a five year old child. 34 schools have shut due to flooding. The province will face a total loss of VND20 billion ($952,000) in agriculture and seafood farming.

High tide has caused landslides on 60 dyke routes in Tra Vinh Province. About 600 hectares of sugar cane and hundreds of hectares of vegetable crops have been flooded in Tra Cu District. A 1,900m dyke stretch has collapsed in Duyen Hai District.

Interpol helps Vietnam protect tiger

A press conference on a project entitled Predator to support countries fighting crimes against wild animals including the tiger, which are in danger of extinction in Vietnam was held in Hanoi by Interpol on November 2.

David Higgin, Director of the Interpol Environmental Crime Division, said the project will provide a good opportunity for an exchange of information and experience in preventing the illegal hunting and trafficking of wild animals.

Higgin confirmed that major international organisations such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank (WB) and the Smithsonian Institution will join hands to improve law enforcement and create education programmes to raise public awareness in those countries.

Interpol encourages Vietnam to become more involved in the project and pledges to provide the nation with a number of support programmes.

The sharing of information among the member countries will enable Interpol to establish effective solutions to the issue, he added.

The Interpol official praised the role of the law enforcement agencies in Vietnam in the fight against environmental crimes.

Major-General Vu Hung Vuong, Deputy Head of the General Department for Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security said Vietnam always pays due attention to the protection of the environment and wild animals. Along with bolstering legislation to combine the preservation of forest and tiger, the country will continue to work on programs aimed at reducing poverty and raising public awareness of environmental protection.

Vietnam also needs support and cooperation from Interpol and other countries especially their neighbors, he added.

There are only 113 individual tigers in Vietnam and most of them are being raised in captivity. Thus, the development and preservation of the species faces extraordinary challenges. Increased participation by Vietnam in the project is expected to help solve the problems.

Forests fast shrinking in southeast, central highland regions

Over the last five years, forest area has shrunk by 158,000 hectares in southeast and central highland regions accounting for 32 percent of total forest land loss in the country, announced the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The ministry revealed this at a conference hosted recently in Buon Ma Thuot City of Dak Lak Province to discuss the problems of forest management and protection in the southeast and central highland regions.

Forest land has had to give way to rubber plantations from 2006-2010. Provinces in these regions have been permitted to convert 95,500 hectares of forest land into rubber plantations. This led to forest area being reduced by over 60 percent.

Besides, illegal logging has destroyed 9,700 hectares of forests, an average of 2,000 hectares are being chopped down annually.

Ha Cong Tan, Deputy Head of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry said that even if local authorities see forests being degraded they ignore action and leave responsibility to forest management officials or forest owners, most of whom are not adequately equipped to protect forests.

According to Nguyen Duy Hai,Deputy Chairman of the People’s Committee in Kon Tum Province, deforestation is not efficiently addressed in Vietnam.

For instance, cutting of over five cubic meters of Trac wood is a criminal offence, and less than that gets away with a small penalty. So lumberjacks chop down less than five cubic meters and willing pay off the penalty.

Mr. Hai proposed to inflict criminal charges if the value of the wood exceeded VND50 million. Although the People’s Supreme Court welcomed this suggestion, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has yet to approve.

Nguyen Duc Luyen, Deputy Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dak Nong Province proposed to review the forest area to assess area lost. He also said that forestry companies should be privatized as the government lacked funds to protect the forests.

Cao Duc Phat, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development asked local authorities to investigate the forest area still left, task companies to protect and handle deforestation cases and proposed to the Government to revise regulations on licensing sawmills.

Minister Phat instructed local authorities to remove all sawmills located near forests.