Do Hoang Oanh Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

1. Australia-Vietnam: Strengthening Capacities for Self-monitoring, Reporting and Recordkeeping in Ho Chi Minh City Do Hoang Oanh Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Kyoto, 10-12 November, 2010

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE • Overview of the twinning partnership • Objectives of twinning partnership • Activities and outcomes

3. OVERVIEW OF PARTNERSHIP • Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) has over 10,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) • Only 40% of enterprises submit self-monitoring report to Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment (DoNRE), many with inadequate content • DoNRE Priority: strengthen self-monitoring and reporting program to support prompt enforcement responses in situations of non-compliance • Focus area: industrial wastewater • Challenge: limited human and technological resources

4. PARTNERS • DoNRE of Ho Chi Minh city – joined AECEN network in 2009 • New South Wales Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) • Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulation Network (AELERT) • Network of environmental regulatory agencies in Australia and New Zealand • Facilitate the sharing of information and improve the regulatory compliance capacity of member agencies • Cooperates with AECEN to facilitate twinning partnerships between AECEN and AELERT members

5. OBJECTIVES OF PARTNERSHIP • Adopt improved policies and practices on pollution self-monitoring, self-reporting and recordkeeping by piloting the improved system with 1 or 2 target industries with a focus on wastewater • Deploy supporting technologies for information management to enable for effective management of self-reporting data to support enforcement response • Build implementation capacity of DoNRE staff to collect, store, analyze and use the collected information though targeted training

6. ACTIVITIES: 2010 • Conducted background assessment (desk study and interviews) on legal basis for implementing self-monitoring, self-reporting, and record- keeping requirements in HCMC  basis for designing the twinning partnership • AELERT identified Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) as appropriate partner for DoNRE • DoNRE established a “working group” comprising of representatives from the Environmental Management Division and Inspection Division • Conducted site visits to target industrial factories to better understand needs and capabilities

7. ACTIVITIES: 2010 • DoNRE working group visited Sydney city, New South Wales, Australia in August 2010 to understand and learn from DECCW’s systems and approaches • Partners agreed on work program, including focused training and technical assistance by DECCW • DoNRE developed draft reporting forms based on DECCW experience

8. ACTIVITIES: 2011 • Convene consultation meetings with target industries (e.g., paper, food processing, textiles) to gather feedback on proposed adjustments to reporting procedures • Organize training by DECCW experts of DoNRE officials on self-monitoring and evaluate draft procedures • Include DoNRE officials from key industrial centers and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to begin replication of experience nationally • Convene Working Group for official adoption of new procedures, including new reporting forms and plan for information management systems • Pilot new system in target industries and collect feedback.

9. EXPECTED OUTCOMES • Development of improved policies and practices for DoNRE on industry self-monitoring, self-reporting, and recordingkeeping • Increased human and institutional capacity on DoNRE • Adoption of the improved policies and practices by DoNRE Management • Pilot implementation of the improved policies and practices.

10. Thank you for your attention!