1. Assessment of Vietnam’s Policy and Legal Framework on Contaminated
Strengthening Contaminated Soil Monitoring in Vietnam
AECEN Twinning Partnership: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam and Ministry of Environment of Korea
Regional Consultation Workshop, 29 – 30 November 2011, Hanoi, Vietnam
Assessment of Vietnam’s Policy and Legal Framework on Contaminated
Soil Monitoring

2. Outline
Assessment of policy & framework for contaminated soil monitoring in Vietnam:
Quick analysis & assessment of the existing legal documents
Implementation efforts for issues related to contaminated soil remediation and management
Major challenges, gaps
Technical guideline of contaminated soil monitoring
Recommendations for future collaborations (Office 33, AECEN, KMOE and other relevant organizations)

3. Introduction: Environmental issues related to soil contamination in Vietnam
Open landfill dumping sites in Asian developing countries including Vietnam: potential sources of dioxins and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals.
Agent Orange/Dioxin from former US Army Bases during US-Vietnam War: heavy dioxin contamination in soils, sediment, biota & human.
POPs pesticides & their stockpiles: widespread contamination throughout the country

4. Open landfill dumping sites for municipal wastes in major
cities from Asian developing countries including Vietnam
Uncontrolled burning of wastes (burning by low temperature & waste pickers
Located near human habitats
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Country
Area (ha)
Capacity (ton/day)
Quezon, Philippines 23
200
Phnom Penh, Cambodia 3
Chennai, India
140
1300
Hanoi, Vietnam 5
1360
Hochiminh, Vietnam 30
4000
Chennai, India

5. Source: Minh et al. (2003). Environ. Sci. Technol. 37, 1493
Dioxin residues in soils from dumping sites in Asian
countries exceeds environmental guideline values
Source: Minh et al. (2003). Environ. Sci. Technol. 37, 1493
10000
(3)
1000 pg TEQ/g dry wt: Japanese Standard
and ATSDR, VN standard
1000
(2)
250 pg TEQ/g dry wt: Japanese Government
100
(1)
50 pg TEQ/g dry wt: ATSDR
TEQ concentration (pg/g dry wt.) 10
ATSDR for bioavailability, ingestion rates, ect.
Japanese Government, for continuous monitoring necessity
Japanese Standard and ATSDR guidelines for stronger action
& research on exposure and health studies 1
0.1
0.01
ATSDR:
Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry
India
Philippines
Cambodia
Vietnam-Hanoi
Vietnam-Hochiminh

6. Heavy dioxin contamination in soils, sediment, biota & human from Agent Orange/Dioxin hotspots
Phu Cat, 2008
Bien Hoa, 2008
Da Nang, 2010
100000
10000
TEQ Concentration (pg/g dry wt)
1000
100 10 1
Buffer
Lake A
Lake B
Lake C
Z1 Area
Former storage
Former loading
SE Airbase
Sediment tank
Pacer Ivy site
Perimeter Z1
Landfill
Former washing
SW Airbase corner
Canal sediment
Pond & Lake sediment
Sen Lake sediment
Soil near Sen Lake
Former storage
Former mixing & loading

7. POPs pesticides: elevated contamination of DDT
Sources: Minh et al Rev. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 193,
PCBs and DDT residues in soils from different regions
in the world
South Korea, urban soil
PCBs
Vietnam, Hanoi, rural soil
DDTs
Vietnam, Hochiminh, rural soil
Vietnam, Hanoi, dumping site soil
Vietnam, Hochiminh, dumping site soil
Cambodia, rural soil
Cambodia, dumping site soil
India, rural soil
India, dumping site soil
Ireland, urban soil
Russia, agricultural soil
Slovak Republic, waste site soil
United States, general soil
United States (Alabama), agricultural soil
Argentina, agricultural soil
Egypt, urban soil
0.01
0.1 1 10
100
1000
Concentration (ng/g dry wt)

8. Introduction
Soil contamination remediation and management is one of priorities of Vietnamese Government
Examples of major issues related to soil contamination
Contaminated soil/sediment
in Agent Orange/Dioxin
at hotspots: former US Airbases,
Bien Hoa, Da Nang & Phu Cat
POPs pesticides stockpiles: old storages & sites including contaminated soils: throughout the countries

9. MONRE-KMOE Twinning partnership
USAID
ECO-Asia Project
Asian Environmental Compliance & Enforcement Network (AECEN): 16 Asian Countries including Vietnam
Technical exchange
Korea Ministry
of Environment (KMOE)
Office 33, MONRE
Target training
Strengthen policy & practices on
soil contamination monitoring

10. Objectives & Outputs * Partnership:
Promote transfer of best practices & experiences from Korea to Vietnam related to soil contamination monitoring & management
Identify gaps on existing regulations related to contaminated soil monitoring & management in Vietnam & develop recommendations to strengthen the regulations & soil monitoring practices
* Outputs:
Rapid assessment report on legal framework related to contaminated soil monitoring & management in Vietnam
Recommendations of contaminated soil monitoring guidelines for Vietnam
Capacity strengthening of issues related to contaminated soil monitoring and management (criteria, parameters for contaminated soil, procedures for establish standards & regulations, legal framework for contaminated sites monitoring and management)

11. Review of legal documents related to soil contamination monitoring &
management in Vietnam

12. Legal documents: law, regulations, standards
Law: Law on Environmental Protection
Provisions: Environmental standards, environ. monitoring
programs, reports on status of the environment,
environmental protection in agricultural production
Legal documents from
Governmental level
- Political bureau
- Prime Minister
Legal documents from
ministerial level
- Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (MONRE)
- Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST)
- Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development (MARD)

13. Governmental level General environmental protection issues Specific
Decision No. 16/2007/QD-TTg
Overall national planning of monitoring network
for natural resources & environment
General environmental protection issues
Resolution No.41-NQ/TW, 2004 environmental protection
in industrialization & modernization in Vietnam
National strategy on environ. protection until 2010 &
vision towards 2020, issued in 2003
Decision No. 64/2003/QD-TTg
Plan for thoroughly treatment of the establishments
causing serious environ. contamination
Instruction No. 17/2008/CT-TTg
Urgent measures, institutional roles & respon. of ministries
to speed up the thorough treatment of the establishments
causing serious environ. contamination
Specific
issues for environ.
treatment/remediation,
chemical management
Decision No. 67/2004/QD-TTg
Implementation Plan for remediation of problems caused
by toxic chemicals used by the American Army during the War
Decision No. 1946/2010/QD-TTg
Approval of the treatment & prevention plan for environ. pollution
caused pesticide stockpiles
Decision No. 184/2006/QD-TTg
Approval of the NIP for Stockholm Convention on POPs

14. Ministerial level Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (MONRE):
03 National : - threshold level of 5 heavy metals in soil
technical - threshold level of 39 pesticides in soil
regulations - threshold of hazardous wastes
02 circulars: - Regulation on economic & technical norm
for investigation & assessment of soil quality
(Circular No. 28/2010/TT-BTNMT)
- Regulations on procedure of soil monitoring techniques (Circular No.33/2011/TT-BTNMT)
01 decision: - Launching program on treatment &
prevention plan for environ. pollution caused
by pesticide stockpiles
(Decision No. 2357/QD-BTNMT, 2010)

15. Ministerial level 13 technical standards (TCVN)
Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST)
02 standards: classification of soil pollutants by chemicals, thresholds values of 5 heavy metals, 39 pesticides, & dioxins in soils from heavily contaminated hotspots
02 standard: terminology on soil quality
13 technical standards (TCVN)
05 standards: different issues for soil sampling
04 standards: procedures for determination of various parameters in soils: heavy metals, PCBs, PAHs, chlorinated & phosphorous pesticides

16. Ministerial level 02 Circulars:
Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development (MARD)
02 Circulars:
Regulations on management of plant protection chemicals, including verification of quality & residues of plant protection chemicals
List of plant protection chemicals that are allowable, restricted and prohibited to use in Vietnam

17. Hierarchy of legal documents on environmental protection & management including those related to soil contamination
Resolution No.41-NQ/TW, 2004 environmental protection
in industrialization & modernization in Vietnam
National strategy on environ. protection until 2010 &
vision towards 2020, issued in 2003
Decision No. 16/2007/QD-TTg
Overall national planning of monitoring
network for natural resources & environment
Decision No. 67/2004/QD-TTg
Implementation Plan for remediation
of problems caused by toxic chemicals
used by the American Army during the War
Decision No. 184/2006/QD-TTg
Approval of the NIP for Stockholm
Convention on POPs
Decision No. 64/2003/QD-TTg
Plan for thoroughly treatment of the
establishments causing serious
environ. contamination
Decision No. 1946/2010/QD-TTg
Approval of the treatment & prevention
plan for environ. pollution
caused pesticide stockpiles
Instruction No. 17/2008/CT-TTg
Urgent measures, to speed up the thorough treatment of the establishments causing serious environ. contamination
Decision No. 2357/QD-BTNMT, 2010
Launching Program on treatment & prevention
for environ. pollution caused by pesticides
stockpiles during

18. Analysis & assessment

19. Issues need to address/discuss
Power, effectiveness of the legal documents: Do they have enough legal power to cover most important issues related to environmental protection including soil contamination? Gaps, overlapping?
Technical aspects: technical regulations and standards: Are they technically enough to cover relevant issues? And do they have good topicality, technical quality and timely update?
National capability for implementation of the legal regulations and implementation effectiveness: Do governmental & national agencies/institutions have enough capability to implement the regulations and how effective it is?

20. Power & effectiveness of the legal documents
Complicated legal system, overlapping in functions/mandates of agencies
Change and update often, sometimes due to low quality of the drafting process, thus affect the implementation
When legal documents have good quality, the application still remains weak due to lack of capacity of agencies, financial resources, equipment & technology
Currently no comprehensive and systematic legal framework or documents specifically designed for soil contamination monitoring & management

21. Example
Some overlapping issues in Decisions regarding treatment plan of the
establishments causing serious environmental pollution & pesticide stockpiles
Decision No. 64/2003/QD-TTg
Plan for thoroughly treatment of the establishments causing serious environ. contamination (including pesticide stockpiles)
Decision No. 1946/2010/QD-TTg
Approval of the treatment & prevention
plan for environ. pollution
caused pesticide stockpiles
Similar/overlapping issue:
treatment & prevention plan for
environ. pollution caused by
pesticide stockpiles
Instruction No. 17/2008/CT-TTg
Urgent measures, to speed up the thorough treatment of the establishments causing serious environ. Contamination
(including
pesticide stockpiles)
Decision No. 2357/QD-BTNMT, 2010
Launching Program on treatment & prevention for environ. pollution caused by pesticides stockpiles during

22. Technical aspects: regulations & standards
Many technical standards (TCVN) are available for threshold levels of chemicals in soils, soil sampling techniques, chemical analysis of pollutants in soils, but information scattered and there is lack of comprehensive and synchronous system of actions and solutions specific for soil contamination monitoring
Some existing technical standards (TCVN) is outdated and need to be updated, such as methods for determination of chemical parameters
Existing standards and regulations are still sometimes overlapped and not complementary
Lack of technical regulations on threshold levels of important toxic chemicals in soils such as POPs (PCBs, PAHs) and heavy metals (Hg, Ni, Cr …)
Standards for dioxins are available in soils/sediments from heavily contaminated hotspots, but not for general sites.
Lack of a synchronous system of criteria for monitoring, management and remediation (such as level of concern & action level)

23. Example Gaps: - Classification of soil polluted by chemicals
MOST:
TCVN 5300:2009. Soil quality – classification of soil polluted by chemicals (MOST)
MONRE:
National technical regulations on threshold
of heavy metals and pesticides in soils:
QCVN 03:2008 & QCVN15:2008/BTNMT
Similar content:
threshold levels of 5 heavy metals &
39 pesticides:
Gaps:
- Classification of soil polluted by chemicals
only based on levels of 5 heavy metals & 39 pesticides
No other important chemical pollutants?
Overlapping in function/mandate of issuing agencies

24. Example
Circular No.28/2010/TT-BTNMT: Regulation on the economic and technical norm for investigation & assessment of soil quality.
Some regulations on technical aspects on investigations and assessment of soil quality available: sampling techniques, physical, pedologic and chemical parameters; but not comprehensive & technically detailed, lack of clear objectives
On the other hand: very detailed economic & technical norm: content of work, equipment and consumable materials: too much details that give feeling unpractical to implement or even sometime unnecessary

25. National capability for implementation of the legal regulations and implementation effectiveness
Lack of technical expertise & capacities, budget constrains are barrier for effective implementation of legal requirements
Lack of proper awareness of the necessity of interested issues (soil contamination monitoring)
Lack of effective coordination, unclear division of responsibility and conflicting mandates
Example:
Decision No. 64/2003/QD-TTg
Plan for thoroughly treatment of the
establishments causing serious
environ. contamination (including
pesticide stockpiles)
Due to slow and not quite effective implementation
Instruction No. 17/2008/CT-TTg
Urgent measures, to speed up the thorough treatment of the establishments causing serious environ. contamination (including pesticide stockpiles)

26. Current situation of contaminated soil
monitoring & management in Vietnam
Results obtained for soil management in Vietnam
Economic and regulative tools were established for protection of soil environment: Strategies, circulars, laws, plans, decisions, guidelines …
focus on the following issues:
+ Management, collection & treatment of wastes, hazardous wastes
+ Sound management and effective use of chemicals, collection and treatment of pesticides, treatment of obsolete pesticide stockpiles
+ Environmental protection of urban, industrial areas, trade villages
+ Management and control of pollution sources, establishments causing environmental problems
+ Environmental impact assessment
+ Land use planning and some others including protection of soil
+ Economic norms for different issues related to wastewater and solid water, fee for environmental protection in mining, manufacture, business, etc.

27. Key gaps & challenges Soil contamination monitoring Lack:
a synchronous system
solutions & actions
Lack: consistent & consensus
among issuing authorities
Soil contamination monitoring
Lack:
updated technical standards
for thresholds & procedures
Lack: technical capability

28. Gaps in soil management in Vietnam
Lack of specific and concrete regulations on soil management in existing legal documents in Vietnam
There is no strategic plan for environmental soil management in Vietnam
+ How to have good management for each type of soil to mitigate adverse impacts due to natural and anthropogenic factors
+ Appropriate measures to remediate degraded and contaminated soil
+ How to deal with land/areas with serious soil contamination
- Currently no comprehensive and systematic legal framework or documents specifically designed for contaminated soil monitoring & management

29. Implementation efforts on issues related to soil contamination monitoring & remediation in Vietnam

30. 03 soil monitoring stations: North, central & south
National environmental monitoring network established in 1994, comprising 03 soil monitoring stations
Ministry of
Agriculture & Rural Development (MARD)
Ministry of
Science, Tech & Environment (former MONRE & MOST)
03 soil monitoring stations: North, central & south
31 chemical parameters can be analyzed in soils
North: 01 Ph.D., 3 Msc, 4 eng.
Central: 1 Ph.D., 3 Msc, 3 eng
South: 01 Ph.D., 01 Msc, 5 eng.
Equipment:
AAS, GC/MS, HPLC
- Sampling equipment

31. Two major issues: Agent Orange/dioxin at contaminated
hotspots & POPs pesticides stockpiles
Contaminated soil/sediment
in Agent Orange/Dioxin
at hotspots:
POPs pesticides stockpiles
Efforts to tackles issues
Legal documents:
02 Decisions from Prime Minister
National action plan for environmental remediation drafted
Actions:
Monitoring programs (Ministry of Defense, Office 33 & Inter. Agencies, companies)
-Isolation, containment programs of dioxin contaminated soils
-GEF-UNDP Project: environ. Remediation of AO/dioxin contaminated hotspots
Legal documents:
01 Decisions from Prime Minister & 01 decision from MONRE
Actions:
Monitoring programs to identify stockpiles (VEA, MONRE & research institutes)
-Isolation, containment programs of pesticides contaminated soils
-GEF-UNDP Project: Sound management and disposal of POPs pesticides stockpiles

32. Implementation effectiveness
AO/Dioxin:
Research and technology programs: Soil monitoring & remediation from hotspots: Bien Hoa, Da Nang, Phu Cat airbases: MOD, Office 33, Committee, International agencies, consulting companies
Reduction of dioxins levels in soils and other environmental media
POPs pesticides stockpiles:
Extensive surveys to identify more than 200 sites throughout the countries: old storages and sites including contaminated soils
Chemical treatment and isolation of pesticide stockpiles in some hotspots: Nghe An province

33. Technical guideline for contaminated soil monitoring
General provisions
Overall objectives
Scope of application
Definition and terminology
Criteria for contaminated soils
Classification of soil
Classification of contaminated soil
Technical guidelines for implementation of contaminated soil monitoring
General requirement for contaminated soil monitoring techniques
Technical content of contaminated soil monitoring techniques

34. Technical guideline for contaminated soil monitoring
General provision
Objectives, scope of application, definitions
Objectives: Detailed technical guidelines for procedure of monitoring contaminated soil
Scope of application: similar to those applied for draft circular on general soil monitoring procedure: state agencies in charge of environmental management at national and sub-national levels, environment monitoring stations and any entities and individuals involved in soil monitoring and reporting monitoring data and results to national and sub-national environment authorities.

35. Technical guideline for contaminated soil monitoring
Criteria for contaminated soil
Classification of soil: 5 land-use categories
Agriculture
Industry
Recreation and residential
Forestry
Commercial and service
Classification of contaminated soil: based on frequency of detection and contamination levels of 39 pesticides and 5 heavy metals
Heavily contaminated
Medially contaminated
Mildly contaminated

36. Technical guideline for contaminated soil monitoring
Technical content of the guidelines for implementation of contaminated soil monitoring
Principle of site investigation
Preparation for fieldwork and sampling
Principle of collection of representative sample
Sample handling and transport
Procedure for decontamination
Field QA/QC
Laboratory analysis
Sample handling in the laboratory
Sample preparation/treatment methods/procedures
Analytical methods
Data reporting

37. Technical guideline for contaminated soil monitoring
Principle & procedure for site investigation (survey)
Procedure for preparation of fieldwork and sampling
Content of guidelines for contaminated soil monitoring
Procedure in the laboratory: sample preparation/treatment, analytical methods
Data interpretation and reporting

38. Recommendations for future collaborations
Tackle problems related to contaminated environment
Establish/develop national framework/strategy for contaminated land management
Technical assistance & investment for monitoring and pilot treatment/remediation of contaminated environment

39. Future collaboration proposals
Establish official guidance documents for monitoring of contaminated soil
Contribution to the establishment of the overall national framework for
contaminated land management
Creating comprehensive framework/strategy
Capacity building for technical and management staffs for
land/contaminated site management: exchange training courses,
joint local and regional workshops, conferences, etc
Development of technical assistance framework for monitoring of soil, water, air contamination and pilots for treatment/remediation technology
Monitoring of contamination: exchange trainings, field surveys programs for monitoring of soil, water, air environment for important parameters (heavy metals, POPs,
Investments for pilot for treatment/remediation of contaminated site hotspots of pollution (POPs pesticides & dioxin hotspots)

40. Thank you!