OECC会報
第58号 2009年12月 環境協力のパッケージ化
Japan - Vietnam Cooperation in Environmental Capacity Building:perspectives from an overseas partner
By Do Nam Thang, PhD
Head of Environmental Science,
Institute of Science of Environmental Management - Vietnam Environment Administration - Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
Introduction
Together with a rapid economic growth, Vietnam is facing critical environmental problems. International cooperation is considered by the Government of Vietnam as an important measure to address the environmental problems. Among international cooperation projects, those supported by Japanese government and people have play an increasingly important role. In this article, I will highlight key features of the two projects that I am involved. I believe that the cooperation projects with Japanese counterparts produce helpful outputs to address environmental problems in Vietnam and that there are great potentials for enhancing environmental cooperation between the two countries. My other impression is that our Japanese counterpart has strong commitment to the assigned tasks, process scientific working styles and is very friendly.
Overviews of two environmental projects
I am involved in two cooperative environmental projects. The former is a joint policy research on environmental management between Ministry of Environment of Japan (MOEJ) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam (MONRE). In this project, I work as a project coordinator for the Vietnamese side. For the latter project on river basin management in Vietnam, I lead the Vietnamese study team, working with the Japanese study team recruited by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). These projects are one of the first cooperative projects on the environment between Japan and Vietnam.
Joint Policy Research project on Environmental Management
This project started from March 2009. It is expected to span over a three year period. It is jointly conducted by both parties and stakeholders from both countries. The Vietnamese counterpart is Institute of Science for Environmental Management (ISEM), Vietnam Environment Administration, MONRE. From the Japanese side, the Office for Environmental Management Technologies, Environmental Management Bureau, MOEJ is in charge with consultancy services provided by the EX Corporation and the Overseas Environmental Cooperation Centre (OECC).
This project has two main research components. The first component is reviewing Vietnamese environmental regulations and their implementation. Also under this component, issues and needs for "package" of schemes including rule and regulation, human resources including institutional arrangement and technologies for environmental management, are identified and analysed. The second component involves reviewing policy and economic instruments for environmental management in Vietnam, assessing the current regulations and schemes and its implementation in Vietnam, and proposing improved and/or new policy and/or economic instruments to fulfill the gap between effective enforcement of environmental management and reality of the field.
The outputs of the joint policy research projects will be reflected to future policy and measures for environmental management in Vietnam. It is expected that Japanese experience in formulating and implementing environmental policies will be tailored and transferred to the Vietnamese context. In particular, through this project, more information on Japanese environmental technology will be made available to Vietnamese enterprises who are looking for effective and efficient technology to combat against pollution.
The River Basin Management study
This development study started in May 2008 and will end in December 2009. This project is funded by JICA and implemented by Nippon Koei Co., Ltd. ie. The Vietnam Environment Administration formulated a Vietnamese study team to work with the Japanese counterparts. The long-term objective of the Study for Water Environment Management on River Basins in Vietnam is to strengthen the overall capacities of the governmental institutions to ensure the effective water environment management for river basins, such as Cau, Nhue-Day, and Dong Nai river basins, focusing on successful implementation of "the Master Plan on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Landscape and Ecological Environment of Cau River Basin and master plans for other river basins in the future. The main study area is Cau river basin. The Cau river model area is a upstream basin of Cau river. The outputs of this project are:
- Guidelines with a technical manual for designing water quality monitoring system at river basin level
- Guidelines for pollution sources inventory
- Consideration of regulatory approaches for water environment management in river basin using above guidelines and manuals as a management tool
- The Water Environment Management Plan for the model area in Cau river basin
- A Handbook on the formulation of water environment management plan for river basins
Project contribution
The outputs of the two projects have received proved to be helpful input to environmental management in Vietnam. Under the joint research project, several workshops and seminars on environmental regulation review have been organised. In these meetings, views on legal obstacles in environmental management were exchanged among national and local environmental managers and among academic research institutions. Proposed actions to improve the effectiveness of the regulations were also identified. In particular, the Vietnamese researchers from MONRE had an opportunity to exchange expertise and experience with the Japanese counterparts in the meeting in Tokyo in October. Although this project started only some months ago, it has made good progress and its research findings are expected to make significant contributions to policy making and implementing in Vietnam.
Unlike the joint research project, the river basin management study has nearly come to its end. Its outputs, including monitoring guidelines and pollution inventory guidelines, have proved to be helpful management tools for Vietnamese environmental managers. At a national level, the Centre for Environmental Monitoring under the VEA, MONRE has followed the pollution inventory guideline to conduct a pollution inventory for Nhue - Day river basin, one of the three main river basins in Vietnam that are facing increasing environmental pollution. The Centre also is using the monitoring guideline prepared under the study to develop its annual monitoring plan. Similarly, at a local level, the Sub Departments of Environment of two provinces: Thai Nguyen and Bac Kan, are using the two guidelines to develop their pollution inventory and monitoring plans. It is expected that these guidelines, together with other inputs of the study, will be applied in other provinces in the Cau river basin and then disseminated nationwide to improve water management capacity of Vietnam.
Some personal impressions
Although I had met with Japanese counterparts in some international workshops the past, I had not had opportunities to get to know about the Japanese culture and people until being involved in the two mentioned above environmental projects. I have three main impressions about the Japanese counterparts.
My first impression is that that our counterparts have high commitment to success of the cooperative projects. The entire counterpart whom I have been working with, regardless of their positions and duties, have demonstrated a respectable work performance. They always try their best to overcome difficulties arising during the project span. For example, for the joint policy research, as it is the first cooperative project between the two institutions, it was difficult at the beginning to set up a mutual understanding about many issues including local environmental problems, the Japanese supporting priorities and each party's expectation. To bridge this gap, in addition to numerous emails and phone calls, Mr Iwata, Director of Environmental Management Technology Office, MOEJ and his colleagues have flown over to Vietnam to meet with us a couple of times to clarify issues and clear up obstacles. Also, great efforts have been made by Iwata san' office and the OECC to overcome logistic obstacles and produce a highly successful visit by the Vietnamese counterparts to Japan in September 2009. I have the same impression when working with the Nippon Koei team under the JICA funded river basin study.
My second impression is that the Japanese counterparts have a scientific but flexible working style. All plans are made well in advance with substantial consultations from stakeholders. Deadlines are clearly set and strictly adhered to. We are pleased that although our counterparts have rigid work plan, they provide a high degree of flexibility when necessary to adjust to unpredictable changes when implementing the work plan. For example, when organising the visits to Japan, we had to change the participants several times due to time conflicts in our leaders' schedules. The Japanese counterparts always accommodated our request for changes and provided best assistance to ensure the success of the visits. This flexibility is indeed a critical condition for project success in the Vietnamese context in which contingent plans are always needed to address issues arising from a dynamic growing economy.
My third impression is that the Japanese counterparts are very friendly and easygoing. We often thought they are very formal during the first meetings. However, after a couple of meetings, once diplomatic formality and protocols stay behind the personal relationships, we can have very nice 'sake' or 'lua moi' (a Vietnamese sake) together and talk about various aspects of life including where to go shopping for a good value. In fact, when visiting Japan, during weekend, we were accompanied by Japanese counterparts (and friends, of course) to go shopping in Akihabara, Shijuku and other fancy places in Tokyo till the shops closed. When responding to our apologies for such inconvenience, our Japanese friends always smiled and said that they really enjoying coming out with us too. This friendship and social interactions really help us to understand each other better and hence, work toward the common goals of cooperative projects more effectively for improving the environment of Vietnam.
Concluding remarks and some suggestions
I believe that the Vietnam and Japan have great potential in having cooperative activities in environmental protection. The cooperation helps the two parties to address environmental issues, a global concern, and produce mutual benefits by transferring Japan expertise to Vietnam. As the cooperation in environmental is fairly recent, there are various fields of cooperation the two parties can embark on. Examples include building capacity for Vietnamese environmental managers and researchers through exchange programs in which Japanese experts come to Vietnam to deliver training and Vietnamese trainees attend training or research programs in Japan. Another field of cooperation could be Japan to support Vietnam to establish a regional research and training centre in Vietnam to conduct regional and global environmental research projects and provide training for the region in strategic manner. In any cooperative field, I strongly believe that the two parties will have high commitment to the success and that the cooperative outcomes will provide mutual benefits.
