Born from the union of land and water, the Mekong Delta is today threatened with disappearance, victim of the lack of attention paid to the fragile and complex functioning of nature. Third article in a series of four.
As everyone knows, it is not always easy to reconcile economic development and environmental protection. This tension has been particularly felt recently by Vietnamese environmental experts and activists.
This is the kind of subject that we hesitate to approach too directly, but which we must keep in mind, as a journalist in Vietnam, when we are interested in environmental issues. Foreign governments and international environmental rights organizations have expressed concern about a phase of repression that Vietnam has entered over the past two years against recognized environmental experts and prominent activists.
Washington and London particularly said they were “concerned” by the phenomenon while the G7 countries pledged more than 15 billion US dollars in aid to Vietnam’s ambitious commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Hanoi rejects these accusations, calling them slander.
Generally very generous with their time and their explanations, the many people familiar with environmental issues in Vietnam interviewed by The duty became more reserved and discreet when the questions related to possible errors made by government authorities. Even under the cover of anonymity, we were especially inclined to want to emphasize the scale of the challenge for a developing country of around 100 million inhabitants which is trying to reconcile better protection of its environment and legitimate aspirations of economic advancement and level of well-being.
Covered words
We admit, however, that it is generally better to avoid criticizing the government too directly in public, but that this does not always mean that we will remain deaf to these criticisms if they are expressed otherwise.
It is added that the government is not a coherent whole and that its different ministries, like its different levels of authority, are not exempt from contradictory objectives and distinct games of influence.
Some also point out that Vietnam’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is not likely to please everyone, in addition to complicating things when we know that replacing coal-fired power plants with hydroelectric dams reduce GHG emissions, but disrupt the functioning of the river.
And then, construction firms and rice producers, on whom the economy depends so much, do not really want to change the way they do things and have considerable influence over decision-makers.
On the other hand, there are gestures and commitments in favor of the environment which are important, we insist. The carbon neutrality promise is an example.
The adoption by the Vietnamese government in 2017 of “Resolution 120” on the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta is another, it is said. Intended to guide the management of land use planning for the next decade, it advocates in particular for less intensive agriculture with greater added value; for the recognition of water as a precious resource rather than an enemy; and for a less compartmentalized approach to development in order to consider the delta as a single living body.
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund-The duty.