CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS FROM THE MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT (MONRE) TO THE 3RD VIETNAM- KOREA EIA SCIENTIFIC CONFERRENCE - 2011
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Cach Tuyen, Vice-Minister of MONRE, Director General of Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA)
Distinguished Vietnamese and Korean environmental scientsists and guests!
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the process of analysis, prediction the potential impacts of investment projects to the environment in order to propose proper measures for environmental protection during project implementation. Requirement for EIA was legalized since the issuance of the Law on Environmental Protection in 1993, and became a very important tool in environmental management for prevention, mitigation of environmental pollution and degradation during the project implementation.
Since 1993, the legal document in EIA and SEA was continuously amended to fit with each socio-economic development period. The governmental organizations involving EIA have been set up and developed from central to provincial, district and commune levels to implement measures of environmental management towards development activities. Various universities, research institutes introduced EIA subject into their graduate and post–graduate training programs; some technical guidelines in EIA, SEA were prepared by MONRE; number of EIA/SEA consulting experts are increased and their professional quality improved. However, effectiveness of EIA/SEA is still limited, particularly at the local levels.
Vietnam is in the period of speeding up industralization and modernization. The development activities will impose great impact to the environment. In this period the role of EIA is ever more important and needed to be promoted as a preventive measure to curb the increase of environmental pollution and degradation. It is necessary to learn the environmental failure cases from other countries in the world. They have to spend huge financial and human resources for environmental restoration but can not bring the environment back to original situation. This is the cost they have to pay for their neglect of environmental protection process in development.
Therefore, this Third Scientific Workshop, co-organized by the Vietnam Association for EIA (VAFEIA) and the Korean Society on EIA (KSEIA) has great significance. From this workshop, environmental managers and scientists will obtain more information on the urgent issues involving EIA/SEA in Vietnam and Korea, particularly, on potential impacts of climate change – the main topic of this workshop. From the results of the workshop, VAFEIA should set up appropriate orientation in its activities and priority tasks to actively contribute in environmental protection process during the period of speeding up industrialization and moderalization of Vietnam.
I highly evaluate the activities of VAFEIA and hope to have close co-operation with the Association. On behalf of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment I wish the Workshop all the sucesses.