Viet Nam Human Rights
Implementing sustainable development policies in Vietnam at present
4/10/17
Difficulties and challenges for
sustainable development
The Political Report of the
Central Committee of Party, 11th Ternure on 30 years (1986-2016) of sustainable
renewal and development of the country identifed many contraints and
limitations. Macroeconomic growth has increased but not sustainable; problems in
education and training, science and technology, socio-cultural fields were not
sustainably resolved; Constraints in management of resources, environment and
response to climate change resulted in implications that threaten sustainable
development.
Difficulties and challenges
to sustainable development in Vietnam are shown in several aspects:
There has not been great
changes in awareness, sense of responsibility on protection of natural
resources and environment among cadres, public servants and society. Several
Party committees, authorities, unions and people have not fully aware of the
value of resources toward survival and sustainable development, and understood
that development of green growth and green economy are means for sustainable
development in society. Consideration has not been given to overall and equal
interests and benefits among concerned stakeholders and generations while
harnessing resources for economic development and generating budget
revenue.
There are a number of
contrainsts in policy framework, laws and the state management of resources
protection. Policy solutions have not been taken to ensure consistent
implementation of the principle that resources are national capital, assets,
resources and living environment for sustainable development. Policy solutions
to encourage the development, and use of renewable energy, new energy, promote
and encourage the thrift, rational, effective and sustainable use of resources
for sustainable development have not been fully developed. Solutions and
policies on environmental protection have not been synchronized with those of
market economy institutions; solutions and policies towards new environmental
issues have not been complete. Stakeholders’overlapping and unequal
participation in environmental and resource protection, especially in waste
management, biodiversity and intersectoral and interregional environmental and
resource issues have remained.
In addition, compliance with
policies and laws on resources management and environmental protection is not
strict, coordination between ministries, branches and localities is poor.
Compliance with legislations and policies is weak. Non compliance, lack of
management in resources and environment in many localities are quite common,
especially in the management of mining, waste water, and gas emission.
Information in the management of resources and environment, especially in terms
of land and waste is not transparent. There are limitations in effective
management of intersectoral and interregional resources and environment.
Inclusion of environmental and
resource issues in development decisions has not yet met the requirements of
sustainable development. The issue of resources and environment has not been
fully taken into account in policy development and implementation. Monitoring
of the implementation of new policies on resources and environment has been
carried out in only some aspects, and fields mainly focusing on environmental
sanctions rather than prevention. Many pressing environmental issues, such as
protection and conservation of biodiversity and resources, the thrifty use of
natural resources, energy and water resource protection have not yet included
in policy monitoring.
The ineffective and
unsustainable exploitation and use of resources have resulted in some
resources’ exhaustion which cannot guarantee resources for socio-economic
development in the future. Wasteful use of land, ineffective use of land,
forest, water and mineral resources, fragmented exploitation and mining of
mineral resources, obsolete exploitation and processing technology are other
problems. Aquatic resources in the watersheds and coastal areas have been
overexploited leading to their inability to regenerate and restoration.
Meanwhile, environmental
pollution tends to increase in both urban and rural areas. Sources of
environmental pollution have rapidly increased in quantity, scale and level,
causing negative impacts on environment, poluting land, water, air in many
places, very serious in some places. Pollution of water source and river basins
and sea tends to increase. Air quality in major cities is declining.
Biodiversity depletion
threatens large scale ecological imbalance. Natural ecosystems have been
shrinking. Primeval forests have been reduced. The number of endangered species
and plants has increased. River, lake and lagoon ecosystems are overexploited.
Marine ecosystems, such as mangrove forest, coral reefs, seagrasses, and
biodiversity have degraded and shrunk. Conservation of indigenous genetic
resources, and control of invasive alien species, management of genetically
modified organisms are still inadequate.
Science and technology have not
made much practical contribution to the protection of resources and
environment. Research and activities to protect resources and environment have
been still limited. Low capacity of and and low level of technology
application, use, processing of resources and environmental protection have
been identified.
Investment and recurrent
expenditures have come mainly from the state budget and fallen short of
expectation; resources mobilized from society is limited; financial management
is poor. Annual recurrent expenditures for environmental, though reaching 1% of
the total state budget expenditures, are far below demands and have been mainly
focused on waste management and management apparatus. Mobilized resources are
small. Official Development Assistance (ODA) for environmental protection is
low, scattered and decreasing.
Database for resources and
environmental management remains limited; information on resources and
environment is not transparent. The information system for monitoring, and
supervision of resources management, environmental protection and sustainable
development is seriously deficient. People and communities’ access to
information on resources and environment is limited. Complaints and petitions
about resources management, and environmental protection have increased and
complicated.
Macroeconomic growth is not
stable. State budget balance faces difficulties; the structure of budget
revenues and expenditures is not suitable. Credit quality is not high. There
are difficulties in bad debt settlement. The capital, security, real estate
markets’ development is not synchronous with slow recovery and potential risks.
In the period of 2011-2016, the average growth of gross domestic product (GDP)
was lower than the previous 5 years; agricultural production gained low
efficiency; industry and servicess growth was lower than in the previous
period. Business performance is not high; Large-scale enterprises are few in
number. National competitiveness is not much improved, especially in terms of
economic institutions, infrastructure and technological innovation.
Investment efficiency,
especially public investment, is on a downward trend and stands at low level.
Investment decentralization mechanism is inadequate, wasteful, inefficient and
this has led to dependence of localities on the central level. Frangmented
investment, slow progress, bad debt in capital construction have not been thoroughly
overcome. Management, process, and allocation of investment have not been
transparent. Private sector’s resources have not been mobilized at the highest
level for development investment. Financial and bank restructuring have been
delayed and failed to achieve objectives; State-owned enterprises’
restructuring through equitization and state capital withdrawal has been
delayed.
Vietnam's financial and
monetary market has been relatively low and inadequate. Although basic
components have been made available, the financial system has still relied
heavily on commercial banks; non-banking financial institutions have played a
fairly limited role. Modern banking services have not yet developed. Stock
market has been still very small with limited type, size and membership.
Exports and imports have
depended quite a lot on the outside, and so all fluctuations of the world have
quickly affected domestic economy. The quality of Vietnam’s economic openess
has been still low with high proportion of raw materials, initially processed
goods and assembled goods in the total export turnover; support industries have
developed slowly hence low export value; the import of raw materials and
auxiliary materials has been quite high.
The job market has not fully
developed, workers have to accept low quality jobs, low wages in the nonformal
economy, or accept informal employment agreements to earn a living. Therefore,
although the unemployment rate of Vietnam is currently low, in the long term it
is a negative factor. Laborers are less motivated to improve their
qualifications and skills due to the lack of pressure on labor standards.
Vietnam's public debt is still
under control, but in terms of its debt structure, the problem may actually be
more serious. There are discripancies in public debt and foreign debt of
Vietnam from different sources and at different times so risk assessment of
public debt cannot be based on debt record books. Though bad debts of
State-owned enterprises are not guaranteed by the Government, when faced with
solvency, state budget is still used for payment. State budget deficit and
public debt tend to increase in recent years. Public expenditure of our country
is very high. Government spending in Vietnam has accounted for more than 30% of
GDP in recent years (1). Budget overspending continued to increase from the
projected VND 224 trillion in 2014 to VND 226 trillion in 2015.
There remain constraints in
cultural development and social progress. The life of a part of the people is
still difficult. The development of an advanced culture imbued with national
identity falls short of requirements. Degradation of ethics, lifestyle causes
resentment among people; social evils are complicated. Management of cultural,
artistic and festive activities is not good in many aspects. Cultural life,
especially in remote areas, is still limited. Management of information, media,
especially internet governance is still inadequate. Poverty reduction results
are not sustainable with high risk of relapse; the gap between the rich and
poor, between regions, communities is still large. Labor restructuring is slow;
labor proportion in the agricultural sector remains high.
The quality of public service
delivery is limited. People's healthcare and quality of medical examination and
treatment, especially at grassroots level have not met requirements. Life
expectancy increases but the quality of life is not high. The quality of
education, training, especially higher education and vocational training is low
compared to requirements, hence lack of high quality labor. The education
system lacks continuity of levels as well as synchronization. Training does not
associate with science research, production, business and demands of labor
market.
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All comments [ 10 ]
Sustainable development has emerged as a top concern of mankind. The issue is echoed at various international forums, in public documents, as well as in national policies and plans of action.
In Vietnam, sustainable development is one of the fundamental elements of economic growth model reform and a primary goal of the national economy.
The concept of sustainable development came from growing environmental awareness and was inevitable.
Thinking about sustainable development began with an awareness of the importance of environmental protection and subsequently followed a growing need to address issues of social instability.
In Vietnam sustainable development has caught the close attention of researchers and policy makers.
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of present generations without doing harm to the ability to meet the needs of future generations based on a close and harmonious combination of economic growth, guaranteed social progress, and environmental protection.
From the concept of sustainable development, it is obvious that to achieve sustainable development goals, a number of issues related to economics, society, and the environment need to be resolved.
Keeping abreast with the era’s trends, the Vietnamese Party and Government promptly realized the importance of sustainable development.
Although Vietnam started implementing the Strategy for Socio-economic Development not long ago, it has achieved encouraging results, paving the way for the next steps.
Recently, Vietnam has been quite successful in implementing tasks for sustainable development. However, achievements and progress have not matched the country’s potential.
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