22.04.2021

Since 2019 UfU and Ecologic Institute, commissioned by the GIZ, have been accompanying the legislative process for the amendment of the Vietnamese Environmental Law (LEP), especially the chapters on environmental permits and air pollution control. As part of the project “Development of recommendations (based on best practices, among others) on how to implement and operationalize the revised Law of Environmental Protection of Vietnam” UfU and Ecologic commented on the draft for the LEP amendment and provided recommendations for further improvements, for air quality management, and support in the preparation of the subsequent LEP implementation.

While the LEP amendment entails significant progress at the national level, the provinces often struggle with the implementation of national requirements. In the field of air pollution control, the new LEP requires all provinces to develop air quality management plans from 2022 on. In order to support this process, the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment prepared a Technical Guideline on Air Quality Management Planning for provinces. However, this guideline does not provide recommendations and guidance on the specific measures that the provinces could include into their management plans.

Therefore, UfU and Ecologic developed a package of three publications on concrete tools and recommendations for air quality management measures for the provincial authorities in Vietnam:

The first document, the AQMA-Table, lists potential measures that the provincial authorities can implement and include into their management plans in the areas of Agriculture, Construction, Industries, Energy and Electricity, Transport, Domestic Activities, Solid Waste Management, as well as Health Emergencies. The second document, the accompanying manual to the AQMA-Table, elaborates in a first step on the table and the different information it provides. In a second step, it outlines the process of how to choose appropriate measures for a province’s air quality management plan. Finally, the third document serves as a toolbox for immediate action within the provinces. Since the new LEP and thus also the provincial air quality management plans will not enter into force before 2022, but with air pollution already being an urgent issue at the moment, immediate action against air pollution is of utmost importance. Therefore, the document provides recommendations on measures that can be implemented right away, i.e. that can be taken within the current national legal framework, without the establishment of new regulations, and without further research and evaluation. In this way, the three documents can support the provincial authorities in the development of the program of measures of their air quality management plans and encourage them to become active against air pollution already before and during the development phase of the plans.