01/07/2016
Rural areas account for 80% of the total land of the country and are home for 67% of its population. Rural areas play an important role in socioeconomic development. Main rural activities include agricultural production (cropping, livestock and aquaculture), forestry and fishery processing, production in craft villages and livelihood. Apart from economic benefits, these activities have been resulting in pollution and impact on sustainable development of rural areas.
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Increasing domestic waste partly due to agricultural, rural and craft village activities |
Pressure from socioeconomic development on the rural environment
Agricultural production
In cropping, increasing overuse of pesticides and fertilizers has created considerable pressure on the environment astheir residues cause water pollution, eutrophication and land degradation. Intensive cultivation has led to post harvesting by-products such as straws, rice husks, and food wastes being open burned, creating smokes containing CO, CO2, NOx, particular matters, and aldehyde and air pollution.
Over exploitation and old growth forest conversion into mono industrial cropping have led to forest land degradation and biodiversity losses. These are also causes of flooding, disasters and soil erosion in surrounding areas.
Increasing numbers of farms and livestock have worsened pollution due to increased animal wastes. Animal wastes include solid waste (dung, stall materials, animal feed leftover, animal carcasses) and waste water (urine, stall cleaning water and animal showering water). According to statistics, about 40 - 50% of the solid waste is treated. The remaining is discharged into ponds, lacks and canals.
Cattle and poultry slaughtering has created an alarming situation of pollution, veterinary sanitation situation and food safety. Slaughtering places are scattered in residential areas and on an ad hoc basis. Slaughtering wastes have been directly discharged into rivers and drainage systems, causing serious pollution.
Agriculture, forestry and aquaculture processing
Aquaculture wastes including decayed leftover food; residue chemicals, antibiotics, Sulphur, sludge from pond dredging, aquaculture wastewater with high organic, nutritious and suspended particulars have changed color of receiving water and caused unpleasant smell.
Waste from aquaculture processing include raw material cleaning, food processing, workshop cleaning, equipment cleaning, by-product (bones, intestines and heads), hazardous waste from chemical storage tanks, disinfectant liquid (for example chlorine) and chemicals and chemical products. In addition, aquaculture production also has created pressure on the coastal mangroves.
Most of the processing units are based near the supply areas. The units have been developed on an ad hoc basis, scattered and use small scale and backward technologies. In addition, these units consume a large amount of energy and water. By-products and scraps of the units are not properly collected and treated, causing serious pollution.
Production in craft villages
Over the past years, production activities in craft villages have developed rapidly but mainly spontaneously at a small scale with basic and outdated technology and limited space. These factors have created pressure on the environment of rural areas and local human health. In addition, inadequate infrastructure has failed to meet demand for expanded production. Limited space prevents the production facilities from installing waste treatment plants. Landscape has been destroyed due to land conversion to production sites and waste storage areas.
Domestic activities
With rural population of over 67% of the nation’s population, rural activities have significant impact on the environment. With industrialization, waste generation continues increasing. Untreated domestic wastewater is polluting water and soil environment, influencing daily lives. Proportion of plastic, rubber chemical storage in domestic solid waste in rural areas has been increasing, creating difficulties in applying traditional waste treatment methods. Spontaneous non-sanitary landfills have been causing air odor pollution, surface and groundwater pollution due to untreated leachate, soil composition change and having negative impact on human health.
Development of residential areas, industrial zones and industrial cluster zones in rural areas and suburban areas has led to decreased areas for cultivation and significant changes in rural traditional life and landscape. Many industrial cluster zones have established without proper waste treatment and environmental protection systems. In addition, some industrial zones and economic zones in adjacent areas have discharged untreated wastes into the rural environment. In particular, climate change has created negative impact on crops, livestock and the rural environment.
Projected socioeconomic pressure in the coming period and orientations for integrated pollution prevention and control in rural areas
Based on approved master plans, plans and strategies for rural development, trends of development in terms ofquantity, areas and productivity in crops, livestock, aquaculture and production in craft villages can be projected. It is foreseen that with the current development strategies and master plans by 2020, vision for 2030, agricultural and rural development will continues to grow at a rate of 4 - 5% per year. It is estimated that in the next 5 - 10 years, with a business as usual scenario, wastes from cropping and livestock will increase by 20 - 40%. This figure is of great concern, as increasing soil, surface water and ground water pollution will have significant impact on the environment and human health.
Together with socioeconomic development, domestic wastes have increased in quantity, composition and type, in particular for wastewater and solid waste. With an assumption that by 2020, rural population remains unchanged, the amount of waste remains unchanged but the compositions and types are more various, it is projected that pressure on the environment will increase significantly. In particular, in rural areas where domestic and industrial wastes are not segregated, the complexity of solid waste composition is augmented. In addition, untreated wastewater will infiltrate into soil and underground water, causing serious problems to human health.
Sustainable development is a main direction for development activities in Việt Nam. This also applies for rural environment. Socio-economic development has integrated environmental protection, ensuring balance between environment and socioeconomic development for rural areas. This needs to be clearly realized in implementing policy. Rural environment must not be sacrificed for short term economic growth. Agricultural benefits need to take into account environmental protection benefits so that sustainable development for rural areas can be achieved.
To this end, it is necessary to develop suitable policy measures for agricultural-rural areas, implement policy and regulations on environmental protection in rural areas, develop and strengthen capacity for environmental authorities at different levels, in particular for commune and district levels, select and develop environmental technology solutions for pollution prevention and control, enhance environmental education and awareness raising and increase public participation in environmental protection■
References
Law on Environmental Protection 55/2014/QH13
Directive 10/CT-TTg dated 29/5/2015 by Prime Minister on enhancing pollution control and remediation in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture activities
Master plan for agricultural development by 2020, vision by 2030
Sectoral development plan for agriculture and rural development 2016 - 2020
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment - State of the Environment 2014 - Rural Environment
Dang Kim Chi (ed.) Vietnamese Craft Villages and the Environment, part 1,2,3 - Science and Techniques Publishing House 2012, 2013, 2014
Prof. Dr. People’s teacher Đặng Kim Chi
Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment
