Vietnam
witnessed an impressive economic growth during recent decades. Both in the
economic results of the country and in the globalization of the economy, ports
have a pivotal role. Ports have also increasingly local responsibilities as
main actors in the societal life of the cities they connect with the rest of
the world.
Ports
and port activities increase in Vietnam. Over 3200km of coastline offers bays
and estuaries where ports as those of Hai Phong in the North and of Ho Chi Minh
City in the South develop since almost two centuries. However, the long coastal
area also offers ample opportunities developing newer initiatives as in central
Da Nang and in most other coastal provinces of the country.
Increasing
impact on the economy, more employment and more intense trade activities also
affect the environment. Pollution of air, water, soil, noise, waste
increasingly degrades the environment. Ports consume energy, water and other
resources which may be used in a more efficient way. Modem, well performing
ports show a continuous demand for land, which often conflicts with the
traditional use of land in the area. Apart from these generic environmental
problems, ports face specific deterioration issues: the water is increasingly
contaminated with oil; bilge water from all over the world offers a risk of
introducing alien organisms in the local ecosystem, which may turn into pests;
and the endocrine disruptor tributyltin not only protects ships from overgrowth
of marine organisms on their submerged sections, but also contaminates the
water soil.
The complexity of the environmental problem increases with
changing priorities. Today, climate changes are probably the most important
environmental issue demanding urgent action. Ports, definitely in the sunny areas
of Vietnam, have particular responsibilities in this context: saving energy,
generating their own electricity in a sustainable way which does not depend
upon carbon, and should rank high in their management agenda. Analogously,
ports have responsibilities on biodiversity and sustainable mobility, just
listing these two examples.
This is exactly
where this book is all about. It is organized in three sections. The first one
overviews the instruments for environmental management in ports. It takes off with
environmental planning and subsequently deals with assessment methods
preventing environmental damage (environmental impact assessment, strategic
environmental assessment, and sustainability assessment). Environmental
management systems allow limiting and mitigating impacts of port operations
that inevitably have on the environment. Each chapter deals with problems dealt
with by these instruments, the methodological aspects and the legal context
both in Vietnam and abroad. Each of these chapters is illustrated with
applications of these instruments in ports in Vietnam and elsewhere in the
world.
The second section
deals with case studies on environmental management for ports. It entails
chapters on the state of the environment in the main Vietnamese ports. All
together, these chapters illustrate the need applying the existing instruments
to alleviate the environmental footprint of the expanding socioeconomic
activities. Here is currently no alternative as denying these environmental
imprints will cause major problems in the resilience of ports to storms, floods
and sea level rise. On its turn this will result in continuously increasing
social and monetary costs of operating ports. Finally, this will end up in
counterproductive aspects of ports aiming at contributing to the welfare of the
country and the region they operate.
The third section
presents the efforts of Vietnam governments and international communities in
environmental protection of ports and port areas in Vietnam. The chapters in
the section deal with issues of legal and institutional arrangement for
environmental protection as well as participatory management that was made in
international cooperation projects on port environmental protection. The last
chapter provides the analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
challenges in sustainable management of seaport.
Next
to its earmarking to Vietnam, this is the first book in the international
literature reviewing environmental management for ports to this degree of
systematics and in depth analysis. It combines aspects of research with
application. It illustrates and contributes to interdisciplinary approaches
which are hardly needed in environmental science and management.
The chapters in this
book result from more than 20 years of collaboration between the Institute of
Marine and Environmental
Resources (IMER, Hai Phong, Vietnam) and the Human Ecology research
activities in Flanders, Belgium. IMER contributed by in situ
measurements of the environmental quality to the physical- technical aspects of
the equation; human ecology as an interdisciplinary approach to environmental
issues focused on the socio-managerial aspects. Over the years, this proved a
most successful and awarding scientific combination. It resulted in an
impressive list of reports and scientific publications which are listed in the
references to this book.
Research on the topics discussed in this book during over two
decades was only possible with the active support of many people and
organizations. Hoping not overlooking essential anchor points we explicitly
acknowledge the contributions and support of:
-
The Flemish Community of Belgium, The Flemish
Interuniversity Council, and the European Commission for their financial
support.
-
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology for its
supports.
-
Dr. Nguyen Van Thanh of the Hai Phong city for his
personal engagement, active support and interest in this interphase between
policy and science.
-
Ass. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi who initiated this
research at IMER and continued supporting it over the years.
-
MSc. Do Due Tien, Vice Director of Vietnam Maritime
Administration during the period covered by this research. His support to the
projects and his hospitality were essential keys to success.
-
Ir. Freddy Wens of the Flemish Community of Belgium for
his long lasting support to and personal interest in the projects. His
continuous support was highly appreciated.
-
Frank De Mulder of the Belgian province of
East-Flanders who was the driving actor behind the planning activities which
found their place in this book.
-
The numerous IMER and Human Ecology co-workers who
performed research in the framework of these projects. Without them the wealth
of results presented in this book did not exist.
This book is for our families, our wives and our children who were
missing us when we were on the road executing the projects which are the
foundations of this book.