Environmental experts and scientists discussed the establishment of aset of appropriate criteria to evaluate the environmental sustainabilityof Vietnamese cities at a conference in Hanoi on November 21.

Urbanisation in Vietnam is moving rather fast, said Nguyen The Dong,Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Environment Administration underthe Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), adding thatcities play a crucial role in the country’s process of economicdevelopment and contribute greatly to GDP growth.

Dong noted that many cities are facing serious environmental degradationin green space and biodiversity, caused by a fast-growing population,migration from rural to urban areas and the extensive construction andupgrade of facilities.

Urban planning in Vietnamesecities is not yet coupled with environmental factors, including solidwastes, wastewater, and air pollution from industrial and transportactivities.

Thus, the set of criteria looks to buildup environmentally sustainable urban areas and cities and keep up withthe development trend of cities around the world, also serving as anefficient instrument to assess the sustainable level of Vietnamesecities and the challenges they are facing.

Accordingto the MoNRE Institute for Science of Environmental Management, the setincludes six groups of criteria related to water, air, solid wastes,green space, the effective use of energy including new and renewableenergy, and transportation.

The criteria also helpurban managers clarify priority issues and prepare action plans tobalance the aforesaid environmental factors in line with the process ofdevelopment.

At the conference, the majority ofparticipants agreed with the set of criteria and also put forthadditional suggestions related to the establishment of separate criteriafor each city.-VNA