12. October 2018
On October 11, the final workshop for the project “Cultivation of Energy Crops on former Mining sites in Vietnam (CPEP)” took place in Hanoi. Approximately 50 guests, including many Vietnamese experts from different scientific and political institutions, participated in the event. 15 experts, who all were involved in this complex project, presented the diverse results. A 80 pages report in English and Vietnamese language was published and handled over to the participants of the workshop. The project started in 2015 and is financed by the International Climate Initiative from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety (BMU).
The director of the Department for Administration of the Vietnam Environmental Agency (VEA), Mr. Ho Kiem Trung, highlighted in his opening speech the importance of the project for many specialist departments of the Vietnamese environmental administration. According to his speech, the project contributes effectively to the goals of the Vietnamese Green Growth Strategy and to the implementation of the Paris Agreement in Vietnam. Furthermore, Mr. Trung highlighted the importance of the project for the environmental rehabilitation of mining sites in Vietnam. The mining companies that have been involved in the project, Nui Phao Mining and VINACOMIN, assumed a role as pacemakers for all 4000 mining sites in Vietnam.
Andreas Bieber from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety (BMU) emphasized that the CPEP project was very successful. During the implementation process of the project, many valuable experiences for sustainable and climate-friendly energy crop cultivation in Vietnam were made. Mr. Bieber expressed hope that after the first phase of the project, also a second phase can be implemented in the future.
Already on October 9, a final site-specific workshop took place on one of the project’s pilot sites in the Nui Phao Mine, Thai Nguyen. Here, representatives of the mining company, the University for Agriculture and Forestry of Thai Nguyen, and the provincial environmental administration (DONRE) discussed the site-specific cultivation systems that were implemented within the project.