Australia-Vietnam: Strengthening Capacities for Australia-Vietnam: Strengthening Capacities for Self-monitoring, Reporting and Recordkeeping in Self-monitoring, Reporting and Recordkeeping in

Ho Chi Minh CityHo Chi Minh City

Do Hoang Oanh

Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Kyoto, 10-12 November, 2010

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• Overview of the twinning partnership

• Objectives of twinning partnership

• Activities and outcomes

OVERVIEW OF PARTNERSHIP

• Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) has over 10,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

• Only 40% of enterprises submit self-monitoring report to Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment (DoNRE), many with inadequate content

• DoNRE Priority: strengthen self-monitoring and reporting program to support prompt enforcement responses in situations of non-compliance

• Focus area: industrial wastewater

• Challenge: limited human and technological resources

PARTNERS

• DoNRE of Ho Chi Minh city – joined AECEN network in 2009

• New South Wales Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW)

• Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulation Network (AELERT)

• Network of environmental regulatory agencies in Australia and New Zealand

• Facilitate the sharing of information and improve the regulatory compliance capacity of member agencies

• Cooperates with AECEN to facilitate twinning partnerships between AECEN and AELERT members

OBJECTIVES OF PARTNERSHIP

1. Adopt improved policies and practices on pollution self-monitoring, self-reporting and recordkeeping by piloting the improved system with 1 or 2 target industries with a focus on wastewater

2. Deploy supporting technologies for information management to enable for effective management of self-reporting data to support enforcement response

3. Build implementation capacity of DoNRE staff to collect, store, analyze and use the collected information though targeted training

ACTIVITIES: 2010

• Conducted background assessment (desk study and interviews) on legal basis for implementing self-monitoring, self-reporting, and record- keeping requirements in HCMC basis for designing the twinning partnership

• AELERT identified Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) as appropriate partner for DoNRE

• DoNRE established a “working group” comprising of representatives from the Environmental Management Division and Inspection Division

• Conducted site visits to target industrial factories to better understand needs and capabilities

ACTIVITIES: 2010

• DoNRE working group visited Sydney city, New South Wales, Australia in August 2010 to understand and learn from DECCW’s systems and approaches

• Partners agreed on work program, including focused training and technical assistance by DECCW

• DoNRE developed draft reporting forms based on DECCW experience

ACTIVITIES: 2011

• Convene consultation meetings with target industries (e.g., paper, food processing, textiles) to gather feedback on proposed adjustments to reporting procedures

• Organize training by DECCW experts of DoNRE officials on self-monitoring and evaluate draft procedures

• Include DoNRE officials from key industrial centers and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to begin replication of experience nationally

• Convene Working Group for official adoption of new procedures, including new reporting forms and plan for information management systems

• Pilot new system in target industries and collect feedback.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

1. Development of improved policies and practices for DoNRE on industry self-monitoring, self-reporting, and recordingkeeping

2. Increased human and institutional capacity on DoNRE

3. Adoption of the improved policies and practices by DoNRE Management

4. Pilot implementation of the improved policies and practices.

Thank you for your attention!