Life expectancy in craft villages shortens
Duong Thi To from the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and the Environment VACNE said that in order to have convincing figures about how the environment pollution affects people’s health; the association’s officers surveyed 33 craft villages in 12 provinces and cities. There, at the villages, the officers interviewed 100 people and found out that the local residents often suffer from respiratory diseases, digestive and skin diseases.
The surveys at 3 mechanical engineering craft villages and one mine area showed that the percentage of people suffering from cancer is higher than the average level. The diseases relating to brain and blood tend to increase at lead recycling villages.
The surveys have also pointed out that the life expectancy of local residents at some craft villages is shorter than that in the areas which do not bear the influences of the production, and lower than the average life expectancy of the country.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Environment Science and Technology, a unit of the Hanoi University of Technology, has released a report showing that 100 percent of the waste water samples from craft villages have the toxic substances higher than the allowed levels, while surface and underground water both shows signs of being polluted.
None of the surveyed craft villages have the waste treatment systems which can meet the requirements stipulated by the Environment Protection Law.
The inspection tour by the Hanoi city’s local authorities to the Phu Vinh craft village in Phu Nghia commune of Chuong My district, where more than 90 percent of households make bamboo and rattan products for export, has found that the environment here has been seriously polluted because of the chemical substances during the production. The waste water at the craft villages is not treated before it is discharged to sewers.
Another recent survey conducted at 19 economic zones and 48 craft villages throughout the country shows that the majority of craft villages have small production scale; therefore, they do not obey the current regulations on environment protection. Most of the waste, liquid, solid and hazardous waste, has not been collected and treated in a reasonable way, but has been discharged directly to the environment.
Restructuring craft villages – an urgent task
In fact, the pollution in craft villages has been alerted for the last many years. However, according to Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department for Natural Resources and the Environment Pham Van Khanh, the problem cannot be settled overnight, stressing that it will take a lot of time, efforts and money to treat the environment in craft villages.
Dr Dang Kim Chi, Chair of VACNE’s Science Council, who spent 17 years on research over the environment at craft villages, said that in order to clear the environment at craft villages, it is necessary to apply reasonable policies which allow encouraging the application of sciences and new environment-friendly technologies at the villages.
Environmentalists have also urged local authorities, especially the localities with high numbers of craft villages such as Hanoi, to draw up a master plan for the craft village development. The tardiness in the craft village programming would lead to the continued spontaneous development of the villages, which will cause serious pollution and badly affect people’s health.
The report released by the supervision team of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee in October 2011, showed that there are 4575 craft villages nationwide, while the growth rate is 6-15 percent per annum.
The craft villages have created 11 million jobs and attracted 30 percent of labor in rural areas. On average, a worker in the craft villages can earn 450,000-4 million dong a month, or 1.5-4 times higher than a worker in agricultural production.
Source: Kinh te & Do thi
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