In recent years, air pollution has become a serious problem in the capital city, which affects social life and health of the people remarkably. It has drawn attention from the government at all levels from central to localities as well as public opinion.
In June of 2016, the Government announced Action Plan for Air Quality Management to 2020, vision to 2025, aiming to manage emission sources and air quality monitoring. Hanoi has also taken the first steps in realizing the plan, such as handling dust and setting up air monitoring stations.
Speaking at the seminar, the attendees gave assessment on air pollution in Hanoi, pointed out some reasons of the problem and measures to improve air quality.
According to Nguy Thi Khanh, Director of Green Innovation and Development Centre Vietnam (GreenID), Hanoi has set up monitoring stations and enhanced popularization to control air pollution. In recent days, the city has to deal with the extreme hot weather with highest temperature recorded; it has direct influence on air quality in city center, especially in urban districts.
Other attendees voiced their concerns that natural environment has limited capacity of self-purification; as the emission increases, pollution concentration will exceed the safe threshold. Therefore, more actions and drastic effort are strongly required to handle air pollution.
