Hai Phong moves towards becoming Viet Nam's first "Green Port" city

Location: Hai Phong City, Viet Nam. 27th Mar 2014

The Hai Phong Peoples Committee, Viet Nam in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) under Mangroves for the Future (MFF) initiative, co-organized a National Workshop on ”Green Growth – Green Port City”. During the workshop, stakeholders discussed ways to implement green growth, blue economy and shared international best practices as well as lessons learnt at the local level in Hai Phong to provide recommendations for successfully implementing Viet Nam's Green Growth Strategy.

The port city of Hai Phong is the third largest in Viet Nam and serves as a major sea port for maritime activities. As part of Viet Nam Green Growth Strategy 2011-2020, Hai Phong is taking the lead in awareness raising and taking action to become the first "Green Port City" in Viet Nam by 2020.

Green growth is an important element of sustainable development, and is regarded as a pathway to reconcile the environmental pressures brought on by rapid economic development and climate change, to meet the economic aspirations of developing nations and their peoples. In 2012, the Prime Minister of the Government of Viet Nam approved the Decision number 1393/QD-TTg dated 25 September 2012 on “National Strategy on Green Growth in the 2011- 2020 period and vision to 2050”.

"While it is true that the pace of economic development in Hai Phong has more than doubled in the last decade, much needs to be done to respond to the serious environmental challenges that face our land, water, air and coasts,..” said Dr. Nguyen Van Thanh, Chairperson of Hai Phong People’s Council.

“In order to implement the Conclusion number 72 of Political Bureau developing Hai Phong as Green Port City, it requires great efforts from the city on raising awareness, taking action; political will of high level managers; the active participation of business sector and communities; shifting economy from extensively to intensively, increasing Total Factor Productivity (TFP), implementing Energy Efficiency (EE) and reducing Greenhouse Gas Emission”, he remarked.

“Do not let green growth become a slogan and a dream. Let’s share ideas, develop policies and take joint actions from today!,” shared Dr. Vo Tri Thanh – Deputy Director of Central Institute for Economic Development (CIEM) – Ministry of Planning and Investment “Hai Phong can become a pioneer and be successful in developing a Green city – although the road ahead is very challenging and difficult, it is very meaningful for the development of the port city people’s life.”

IUCN Viet Nam under the Mangroves for the Future (MFF) Initiative is currently making efforts to support Hai Phong in applying nature-based-solutions and build resilience of its coasts and communities to better manage environmental problems brought on by economic development and climate change. Some activities include applying Marine Spatial Planning, Ecosystem-Based Management in the coasts of Viet Nam; restoring the ecosystems and improving the local livelihoods through its Small Grant Facilities; developing Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) framework, and responding to geographical oil spills.

Speaking at the workshop, Dr. Steen Christensen, Regional Coordinator of MFF said, “We need to introduce effective ways to manage our natural resources, while also allowing for economic growth and securing better lives for coastal communities. This is the reason we focus our coastal resilience initiative on prevention and planning rather than response.”

Hai Phong City People Committee
In order to effectively implement Decision number 1393/QD-TTg dated 29 September 2012 approved by Prime Minister on “Viet Nam Green Growth Strategy in the 2011-2020 period and vision to 2050”, Hai Phong People Committee have developed an action plan to implement some major solutions: raising awareness, developing and finalizing policies and regulations, reorganizing developing models; conducting researches and applying new advanced technologies into production and consumption; promoting environmental protection and sustainable development; expanding international cooperation and green production,.. Hai Phong is currently mobilizing all resources and intellectuals of party members, local authorities, and local people to successfully implement it targets by 2020 “Develop Hai Phong towards “green port”, civilized and modern city.
www.haiphong.gov.vn

Hai Phong "Green Growth - Green Port" city Workshop

Hai Phong "Green Growth - Green Port" city Workshop, Hai Phong, Viet Nam © IUCN, 2014

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