VĨNH PHÚC — The media played an important role in raising awareness and participation in sustainable consumption and production efforts, said experts attending a workshop on sustainable consumption and production held on April 7 in the northern province of Vĩnh Phúc.

The workshop attracted environmental experts and reporters from local and central newspapers.

Mai Thanh Dung, deputy director of the Vietnam Environment Administration, said that the public weren’t very concerned with sustainable consumption and production, so the media should contribute to improving this.

The media should co-operate with the Vietnam Environmental Administration and other concerned organisations to obtain information on sustainable consumption and production and raise awareness of the issue towards a more environmentally friendly stance, he said.

Over the past few years, Việt Nam conducted a number of programmes related to sustainable consumption and production. The country enforced the national action plan on clean production in 2002, and the national action programme on sustainable consumption and production last year.

Using natural resources was not feasible and caused waste and environmental pollution, he said.

The country had more than 1,000 mineral mines, but most of them were not managed well leading to losses and pollution, according to the Ministry of Nature Resources and Environment (MONRE).

The amount of solid waste increased by 10-16 per cent per year, which seriously affected socio-economic development and residents’ health, he said.

The southern province of Bình Thuận has nearly 600 million tonnes of titanium and the province had 67 projects exploiting titanium, but only three of them were licensed.

Dung said that last year MONRE founded a club of professional reporters on natural resources and environment to share their knowledge and professional skills on the issue

Individuals, organisations and enterprises could also join the club to study state management on the issue, and supply information to reporters.

Trần Thu Hường, an Industry and Trade newspaper reporter, proposed stronger punishments for enterprises which did not protect the environment, used natural resources improperly, and prevented reporters from working.

Reporters should also report good examples of environmental protection, such as enterprises using energy saving light bulbs, re-arranging materials to save time and reduce lost raw materials, so that enterprises could learn from each other, she said. — VNS