VZCZCXRO7532
RR RUEHAST RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHSL RUEHTM
RUEHTRO
DE RUEHHI #0639/01 1901017
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091017Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9871
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 6000
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 6808
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 000639 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, OES AND INL 
DEPT PASS USAID TO LAC/RSD, LAC/SAM, G/ENV, PPC/ENV 
JUSTICE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES (JWEBB) 
EPA FOR DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR SCOTT FULTON AND FOR INTERNATIONAL 
(MKASMAN) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV TBIO ECON SOCI VM
SUBJECT: THE CASE FOR INCREASED EPA ENGAGEMENT IN VIETNAM 
 
Ref: A. 07 Hanoi 1476 (JAC) B. 08 Hanoi 1088 (JAC) C. 08 Hanoi 981 
(Industrial Zones) D. Hanoi 119 (Craft Villages) E. 08 Hanoi 
(Industrial Pollution) F. Hanoi 417 (Bauxite) G. 08 Hanoi 537 
(Climate Change) H. 07 Hanoi 1706 (MPS) 
 
HANOI 00000639  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Over the past several years, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) experts have provided critical assistance to 
U.S.-Vietnamese cooperation on Agent Orange/dioxin legacy issues and 
to the development of Vietnamese capacity to manage growing 
industrial pollution.  Increased EPA engagement in Vietnam would 
better prepare the country to balance rapid economic growth with 
environmental protection, while promoting key U.S. environmental 
policy goals.  These policy goals include improving U.S. human 
health and the environment, benefiting the environment in Vietnam 
and Southeast Asia, buttressing U.S. foreign policy goals, and 
focusing on issues key to ongoing EPA programs.  Timely 
interventions will have practical and demonstrable impacts, while 
this environmental diplomacy will help the United States broaden and 
deepen our relationship with the Government of Vietnam (GVN) and 
buttress our standing with the Vietnamese people.  End Summary. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2. (U).  With a population of 87 million, Vietnam is the 13th most 
populace nation on earth.  As of 2008, Vietnam's per capita GDP 
stood at just over USD 1,000, reflecting the nation's 7.5 percent 
average growth from 1997-2007.  Though the global economic slowdown 
dropped GDP growth to 6.2 percent in 2008, Vietnam is one of the few 
countries in the world that expects positive (though modest) 
economic expansion in 2009. U.S.-Vietnamese economic engagement 
continues to grow.  The United States remains one of the largest 
investors in Vietnam and U.S. companies remain quite interested in 
Vietnam despite the global financial crisis.  For the first four 
months of 2009, Vietnam's exports to the United States stood at USD 
3.74 billion, up 0.3 percent from a year earlier.  By contrast 
exports to the United States from every other ASEAN nation declined 
during the same time period.  While U.S. exports to Vietnam declined 
in early 2009, total numbers for January to April still totaled over 
USD 825 million.  However, in contrast to our burgeoning economic 
relationship, U.S. assistance to Vietnam, other than substantial 
funding pursuant to the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief 
(PEPFAR) program and financial assistance for Vietnam's efforts to 
combat avian influenza, remains quite small. Annual non-health 
related U.S. assistance totals less than USD 20 million, with 
environmental programs a small fraction of that amount. 
 
Existing EPA Engagement 
----------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Since 1995, the EPA has provided crucial scientific and 
technical assistance to U.S. Agent Orange/dioxin efforts in Vietnam, 
one of the highest profile and most sensitive issues in the 
U.S.-Vietnam relationship.  Currently, EPA plays a prominent role on 
the U.S.-Vietnam Joint Advisory Committee on Agent Orange/dioxin, 
which is chaired by the EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator for 
Science and which provides technical and scientific advice to policy 
makers on possible environmental remediation and health projects 
(Refs A and B).  With funding from the U.S.-Asia Environmental 
Partnership, EPA has supported GVN efforts to develop a PCB 
management plan and provided related safety training.  More 
recently, EPA experts have traveled to Vietnam to provide technical 
assistance to Vietnamese efforts to reduce methane emissions from 
landfills and agriculture as part of the Methane to Markets 
program. 
 
Where Can EPA Help: Effects from 
Unchecked Economic Growth and Industrialization 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶4. (U) Fueled by rapid economic growth, urbanization and 
industrialization, and exacerbated by poor planning, weak or 
un-enforced laws, and a lack of capacity and attention to 
environmental threats by central and local authorities, Vietnam now 
faces serious environmental problems in a broad range of areas.  In 
most cities, every form of infrastructure or service delivery lags 
significantly behind growing demand, including water, sanitation, 
sewage collection and treatment, solid waste collection and 
disposal, road networks and public transportation. Industrial Parks, 
Export Processing Zones, and Craft Villages, while fueling much of 
the country's rapid growth, are polluting soil, water, and air at 
unprecedented rates (Refs C, D and E). Surpassing the GVN's ability 
 
HANOI 00000639  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
to implement an effective governance and regulatory framework, these 
industrial areas have caused unmitigated damage to aquatic 
ecosystems and human health, the economic impacts of which the 
country will suffer for the foreseeable future.  At the same time, 
Vietnam's limited capacity to manage its natural resources has led 
to poor environmental conditions in the extractive industries, such 
as coal and bauxite mining (Ref F). 
 
Where Can EPA Help: 
Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) A 2007 World Bank study listed Vietnam as one of the top five 
countries most at risk from sea level rise.  Already, Vietnam has 
witnessed increased temperatures and rising sea levels.  Experts 
agree that climate change will affect Vietnam in many forms, 
including more frequent and intense floods, droughts, and typhoons; 
altered river flows; changing habitat and wildlife community 
structures and migrations; ocean acidification and temperature 
effects on fisheries; and sea-level rise (Ref G).  According to the 
World Bank report, a one meter rise in sea levels in Vietnam would 
result in a 10 percent decline in GDP, dislocate 11 percent of the 
population, and submerge 7 percent of agricultural land and 28 
percent of the nation's wetlands.  Though starting from a low base, 
Vietnamese greenhouse gas emissions are increasing rapidly. 
According to the UNDP Human Development Report 2007/08, Vietnamese 
CO2 emissions increased from 0.3 tons per capita in 1990 to 1.2 tons 
per capita in 2004, a 400 percent increase.  The 25.8 percent annual 
growth rate was three times that of China and 12 times higher than 
the average world growth rate.  As Vietnam's need for energy grows, 
it will utilize more and more fossil fuels.  As a result, the 
Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) 
predicts CO2 emissions of 268 million tons by 2020. 
 
Where Can EPA Help: Water 
------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Vietnamese water sources have become increasingly polluted 
with most lakes and canals in urban areas becoming sewage sinks, a 
problem compounded by the discharge of untreated wastewater from the 
growing number of Industrial Parks, Export Processing Zones, and 
Craft Villages.  Thousands of these industries discharge hundreds of 
thousands of cubic meters of wastewater containing thousands of tons 
of industrial waste each day.  Nationally, less than 5 percent of 
industrial wastewater is treated.  Several water segments have been 
declared virtually dead, with high BOD5 loads, hazardous and toxic 
chemicals, heavy metals, and pathogens.  Agriculture and aquaculture 
contribute to these loads, as do medical, industrial (including 
toxic materials) and solid wastes and generally inadequate systems 
for collection, treatment, and disposal.  The economic, health, and 
environmental costs of water pollution are significant. Outbreaks of 
cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and malaria in a recent four-year 
period resulted in six million cases and medical costs of at least 
USD 22 million.  Within Vietnam, diarrheal disease is the second 
leading cause of child mortality in the country. High levels of 
arsenic, nitrates, heavy metals, and pathogenic bacteria are 
routinely found in drinking water throughout the country. In June 
2008, WHO reported that 20,000 people die each year in Vietnam from 
contaminated water and poor sanitation. 
 
Meeting EPA Goals: 
Improving U.S. Health and Environment 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Limiting industrial discharges will help lessen pollution in 
the agricultural sector, which will in turn improve food safety 
domestically and in products exported to the United States, such as 
fruits, fish and seafood.  Discharges of certain toxic chemicals and 
heavy metals (including airborne mercury emissions from Vietnam's 
rapidly expanding number of coal fired power plants), cause impacts 
beyond Vietnam's borders and similar pollutants released into the 
environment from Asia have been detected in the United States. 
Efforts to reduce these emissions, therefore, will limit their 
presence in the United States.  EPA climate change mitigation 
support will help limit Vietnam's greenhouse gas emissions, thereby 
making a contribution to reducing the rate of global warming, which 
benefits all countries.  Vietnam's eagerness to address climate 
change and its established history as a good partner on other global 
issues (such as its model response to avian influenza) make it an 
excellent candidate to serve as a laboratory for mitigation and 
adaptation efforts that can then be transferred to the United 
States.  For example, the U.S. Geological Survey-supported Delta 
 
HANOI 00000639  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
Research and Global Observation Network (DRAGON) program has opened 
an Institute at Can Tho University that will study the impacts of 
climate change on the Mekong Delta with the explicit goal to then 
use that information to help guide U.S. responses to climate change 
in the geologically similar Mississippi Delta. 
 
Meeting EPA Goals: Benefiting the Environment 
in Vietnam and Southeast Asia 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) EPA assistance can lead to direct and quantifiable 
environmental benefits within Vietnam.  Reduced air, water and solid 
waste emissions will lessen the nation's pollution burden, improve 
people's health, and provide long-term economic benefits.  Assisting 
Vietnam to develop and implement regulations and policies in a 
transparent manner will increase public awareness and acceptance of 
new environmental controls.  This should buttress civil society's 
ability to monitor environmental compliance, while making it easier 
for regulated entities to understand the applicable regulatory 
regime.  Techniques and technologies piloted in Vietnam then can be 
expanded for use in other Southeast Asian nations, while better 
Vietnamese environmental practices could reduce downstream water 
impacts (for example, preventing or limiting industrial discharges 
from bauxite mining/alumina production in the Central Highlands from 
entering the Sre Pok river basin, which flows into Cambodia). 
 
Meeting EPA Goals: Buttressing U.S. Foreign Policy 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Continued assistance on dioxin-related programs will assist 
the United States remove one of the final barriers to full and warm 
relations with Vietnam.  Improved GVN and provincial environmental 
management, monitoring and enforcement capacity will force polluting 
industries to upgrade their environmental practices, expanding 
markets for U.S. exporters of energy efficient production 
technologies and environmentally friendly equipment and services. 
Environmental partnerships in Vietnam on dioxin and pollution 
control allow the United States to partner with ministries normally 
less willing to work with Americans - the Ministries of Defense and 
Public Security (Ref H).  By establishing confidence and trust with 
these entities through environmental cooperation, we can overcome 
many of their lingering suspicions of U.S. intentions and build 
cooperation in those agencies core competencies, military affairs 
and law enforcement.  Public opinion polls already show that USAID 
and EPA-led dioxin efforts have resonated with the Vietnamese 
public.  Given the state-controlled media's recent focus on 
environmental issues, EPA activities in Vietnam will receive broad 
local coverage, further boosting the image of the United States with 
the Vietnamese people. 
 
Meeting EPA Goals: 
Focusing on Issues Key to Ongoing EPA Programs 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶10. (U) The issues of greatest importance in Vietnam - reducing the 
effects of industrial pollution, safeguarding public health, 
responding to climate change, preserving natural resources, and 
improving environmental management - each match EPA domestic and 
international priorities.  For example, Vietnam repeatedly has noted 
its willingness to join international greenhouse gas mitigation 
efforts.  EPA could assist Vietnam's efforts to monitor, report, and 
verify (MRV) greenhouse gas emissions and reductions.  Our 
Vietnamese interlocutors note their openness to expanded 
participation in the U.S.-led Methane to Markets initiative. 
Pollution control activities directly promote public health, 
particularly among the millions of Vietnamese children affected by 
exposure to growing numbers of industrial emissions and other 
pollutants.  Given the large number of Vietnamese who still rely 
upon coal or biomass for cooking and to heat their homes, boosting 
Vietnamese participation in the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air 
(PCIA) would limit health risks from carbon monoxide, pollutants and 
other particulate matter. 
 
Now Is the Right Time to Engage 
------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (U) Reflecting continued economic growth despite the global 
financial crisis, the GVN aims to enter the ranks of middle-income 
developing countries by 2010 and achieve industrialized country 
status by 2020.  Goldman Sachs recently predicted that by 2020 
Vietnam would enjoy a higher per capita GDP than Indonesia and the 
Philippines.  Vietnamese industry and power generation will explode 
 
HANOI 00000639  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
to support this sustained economic growth.  Therefore, now is the 
time to intervene in Vietnam - before the need to spend greater 
amounts to remediate, retrofit and adapt.  The United States can 
help Vietnam get it right the first time by working to increase the 
efficiency of energy generation and reduce industrial and extractive 
emissions before they reach problematic levels. 
 
EPA Engagement Complements 
Other U.S. and Donor Initiatives 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶12.  (U) Aside from building on its earlier dioxin and PCB control 
efforts, EPA assistance on water, pollution management, natural 
resource conservation, climate change and environmental management 
would dovetail nicely with planned USAID initiatives, including 
regional programs in clean energy and environmental governance, as 
well as activities under USAID/Vietnam's first five year 
environmental strategy which is expected to be completed this year. 
EPA engagement also would complement efforts from other donors, many 
of which have initiated projects in the areas of reducing industrial 
pollution and wastewater treatment, while filling the gaps in area 
without strong international donor support.  Finally, EPA programs 
in Vietnam could build upon its work in other Asian countries, such 
as medical waste management (China), toxic waste control (India) and 
cleaner fuel and vehicles (Indonesia). 
 
How Can EPA Assist? 
------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) EPA expertise can assist Vietnam in a variety of ways, from 
formal bilateral agreements to informal cooperation.  The GVN 
repeatedly has told the Embassy that it views the EPA as the gold 
standard for environmental management and would agree to work 
together in many different areas.  Alone or in partnership with 
other USG agencies, donors or NGOs, EPA can provide: training and 
workshops on hazards and risks; assistance developing a 
fully-functioning regulatory regime and preparing pollution 
inventories; technical assistance for amendments to relevant 
environmental laws and regulations; training and technology 
transfer; transfer of incentive and enforcement tools; and community 
outreach.  Given the GVN desire to cooperate with EPA across such a 
broad spectrum of ideas, we believe Vietnam can serve a laboratory 
for EPA to pilot new initiatives or approaches to environmental 
concerns. 
 
MICHALAK