Vietnamese scientists believe that Vietnam has all conditions needed to develop a green economy, urging the government to take the actions right now to lay the cornerstone for the Vietnamese green economy.

The fishing port of Nam Du in Kien Giang province

Being a developing economy, Vietnam has been obtaining great achievements in economic growth, hunger elimination and poverty reduction over the last 25 years. However, scientists have affirmed that Vietnam needs a sustainable economic development with high growth quality, saying that a green economy is what Vietnam needs to strive to. 

In agriculture production, Cuba and Uganda have been targeting the organic agriculture for many years. The former began the organic agriculture development in 1990s, considering this an important solution to deal with the food crisis which weakened the nation at that time. The country turned the lack of pesticide, fertilizer and energy into the opportunity to develop organic agriculture which can bring big economic, social and environmental benefits.

Uganda has been known as the country with the lowest chemical fertilize use in the world, about one kilo per hectare, while the figure is 9 kilo in the continent. The low popularity of chemical fertilizer use proves to be the favorable condition to strive to the sustainable production.

Meanwhile, Barbados has pioneered in using clean energy with half of the households on the islands heating water with solar energy. South Korea encourages the reuse of waste as an energy resource. The project on taking back gas from rubbish dumps is a clean energy development project. In 2007-2017, the factory would help save 129 million dollars for the country.

China has been allocating significant budget to the development of green sectors with the focus on recycled energy and energy efficiency. Besides the development of wind power, the nation has also paid a special attention to solar energy. It has become the biggest solar cell panel manufacturer in the world and the biggest solar water heater market.

The World Bank, in a recent conference held in early June in Hanoi, affirmed that green economy not only fits developed economies. Mariame Fay, an expert of the World Bank, emphasized that green development should not be seen as a costly process which requires powerful financial capability. She said that all countries in the world can strive to green development, and that this is a necessary, effective process which absolutely fits Vietnam’s payment capability.

Vietnamese scientists have also urged the government to strive to the green development, saying that the rapid economic growth would lead to the environment degrading and the natural resource exhaustion. Vietnam needs to build up a sustainable development model which can ensure that urban areas, roads and factories can be designed and managed in suitable ways, and to exploit the natural resources, human resource and finance capability in an effective way.

Cao Thi Thanh Nga, MA, from the Research Institute for Environment and Sustainable Development, said that Vietnam has a long lasting agriculture product with 80 percent of population living on agriculture. 

The advantageous geographical position gives Vietnam a typical tropical climate which allows to produce profuse farm produce. The developing agriculture with a lot of produce being exported to many countries in the world, plus the stable political conditions and friendly society all provide Vietnam the big advantages to build up Vietnam into a green economy.

“Vietnam has the opportunities and advantages to strive to a green sustainable economy,” she concluded.

Source: KT & DT