Incorporation of environmental considerations into projects and development programs aims at making investments more sustainable and generating greater benefits for the country as a whole. Good upstream environmental work can often result in cost savings from reduced impacts and mitigation costs. The Bank in Vietnam supports this agenda in two important ways: - i) by incorporating and strengthening Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) into Vietnamese national systems; and
- ii) ensuring compliance with World Bank safeguard policies to minimize environmental impacts of our projects and maximize environmental benefits.
National EIA Policies The Government of Vietnam has a comprehensive set of laws and policies governing EIA. The Bank provides targeted assistance in specialized areas of policy and legislation involving EIA. The implementation of EIA policies is however often thwarted by a lack of capacity in provinces and ministries and significant weaknesses in applying environment provisions subsequent to approval of EIA studies. The Bank provides some support to capacity development. The following are examples of the Bank’s involvement in EIA policies in Vietnam: The Technical Working Group on EIA Harmonization is chaired by MONRE and ADB. The Bank provides technical inputs and guidance, and it has financed a few key studies done by the Technical Working Group through a World Bank-managed trust fund (CCBP) with MPI.
MPI staff, including personnel of the Development Strategy Institute (the lead agency in the formulation of master plans at MPI) received assistance from the World Bank in formulating their socio economic master development plan for the Red River Delta (period 2011-2020). Capacity was built by setting up an SEA team within MPI. A team of experienced consultants was hired to carry out a rapid SEA assessment under the close supervision of an international mentor. Specific activities included: staff trainings at the national and provincial levels; experts’ consultations and data collection to identify environmental issues and trends for the Red River Delta; review of environmental impacts as included in the 20 background papers prepared for the master plan; and a final workshop to share results with the planning team and other stakeholders. An SEA report is in the process of being prepared by the SEA team and their consultants.
- Institutional Development Fund (IDF) grant: A recently closed (2004) Institutional Development Fund (IDF) grant for Vietnam on strengthening environment and social safeguards looked into establishing a set of technical guidelines for the transport and rural development sectors. (“Technical Guidelines on the World Bank’s environmental and social safeguard policies for the Transport and Agriculture and Rural development sectors”). As the result of a comprehensive consultative process, the guidelines prepared under this grant were intended to assist government agencies, including Central Project Management Offices, Project Management Units, as well as consultants, NGOs, and contractors, to enhance institutional capacity in conducting safeguards activities and better integrate them with the World Bank requirements on the matter.
Bank Safeguard Policies World Bank defines EIA as “an instrument to identify and assess the potential environmental impacts of a proposed project, evaluate alternatives, and design appropriate mitigation, management and monitoring measures.” On regional and global implementation of World Bank safeguards, read more here In Vietnam, about 75 percent of the combined time of our environment staff is dedicated to safeguards issues – on preparation and supervision of our own projects. Currently, safeguard work focuses on: - (i) mainstreaming environmental issues into project design; and
- (ii) supervision of environmental provisions during project implementation.
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