SOS Environment participated in the training workshop on “Prevention and settlement of marine environmental incidents” organized by MONRE and USAID

Under the framework of cooperation on strengthening Vietnam’s marine environmental management and monitoring capacity, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) jointly organized a training workshop on “Prevention and settlement of marine environmental incidents”. The training workshop were held from 05 to 08 March 2018 in Danang city.

Participants in the training workshop included:

1) Leaders of MONRE:
– Mr. Pham Phu Binh – Director General, International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
– Mr. Tran Phong – Director of Southern Environment Department
– Mr. Pham Hong Son – Director of Central Vietnam Environment Agency
– Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan – Department of Pollution Control, VEA
– Mr. Dao Van Hien – Department of Investigation, General Administration of Sea and Islands
– Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son – General Department of Sea and Islands

2) Leaders of DoNRE and technical staff of Sea and Islands Department, Department of Environmental Protection of 26 coastal provinces of Vietnam (the delegates from Ho Chi Minh City and Khanh Hoa were not presented).

3) Special topics were presented at the training workshops of leading experts from six countries (USA, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Russia, Philippines):
– Pure Earth Organization’s experience and solutions to low-cost environmental pollution treatment (Dr. Petr Sharov, Regional Director of Pure Earth). Russia.
– Pollution overview – health (Report of the Lancet Committee); River systems, basins and the impact of chemicals on the marine environment (Dr. Robert Kurkjian, Tetra Tech). USA.
– Water pollution – Australian experience (Dr. Mark Patric Taylor, Macquarie University). Australia.
– Solutions to solve water pollution; Impact, Risk, and Needs Assessment (Dr. Kym L. Morton). South Africa.
– Case study – a number of marine environmental incidents such as Exxon Valdez and the Deepwater Horizon; An emergency response team makeup (Dr. Walter Janicek). USA
– Coastal and marine pollution – Mexican experience (Dr. Porfirio Alvarez, UNIDO Executive Secretariat for the Consortium of Marine Research Institutions). Mexico.
– Water quality monitoring network with multi-stakeholder participation for water-based scientific management (Dr. Lorele Trinidad, National Institute of Molecular Biology). Philippines.
– Rescue marine organisms according to different terrains and geochemical conditions and use them for pollution detection (Dr. Nadezhda Khristoforova). Russia.
– Pollution of the marine environment – Experience of the Russian Federation (Dr. Yana Blinovskaya). Russia.

On the Vietnamese side:

– Mr. Tran Phong (Director of the Southern Environment Department) with the topic: “An overview of some marine and coastal environmental issues in Vietnam”, and

– Mr. Pham Van Son (Director of SOS Environment Company) with the topic: “Some inadequacies in responding to environmental incidents caused by oil and chemicals in Vietnam and practical measures to enhance oil/chemical spill response capacity at the provincial level.

In the presentation on local pollution issues, Mr. Truong Trung Kien (Head of Pollution Control Division, Sub-Department of Environmental Protection, Quang Tri DoNRE) shared with the participants experience in response activities to oil spill at Con Co island with emergency support of SOS Environment Company in June, 2017.