17 August, 2011 - A pilot initiative to develop Hoi An City into an eco-town kicked off yesterday in the central Viet Nam province of Quang Nam. The aim is to develop a local-government-driven planning approach for green industry in the town. The pilot model will help ensure resource efficiency and cleaner production in sectors such as crafts and accommodation (hotels), including their supply chains. The intiative also focuses on addressing local environmental and climate challenges while balancing business and community development and enhancing income and employment opportunities for local people, especially women

The Hoi An eco-town development, which is funded under the UN's One Plan Fund with  technical assistance from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Viet Nam, envisions the active facilitation by the Hoi An Peoples’ Committee of the implementation of green industry practices in small and medium enterprises, particularly from tourism, crafts and related sectors.

The pilot also looks into solutions for improved delivery of energy and environmental services, based on the internationally acclaimed ‘eco-town’ model. Green industry opportunities, in particular for combined implementation of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production and Corporate Social Responsibility, will be identified and promoted for implementation through on-site assessments in selected hotels and restaurants and their supply chain and dissemination of results and experiences. Moreover, policy support will focus on review, synthesis and strengthening of eco-town and related environment and energy policies in Hoi An, and capacity building on eco-town planning for local government of Hoi An, Quang Nam Province and selected other provinces and cities

Speaking in his opening speech, the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Hoi An, Mr Le Van Giang confirmed that eco-town development in Hoi An is the town’s strategy until 2030 and UNIDO technical assistance is of important significance to this long-term process. The Chairman said: “Hoi An is honoured to be a partner in this project, which creates opportunities for enterprises and all the stakeholders to show their commitments and to take actions to protecting the environment, especially in the tourist service sector and craft villages. The pilot project will help the town materialize its plan of becoming the first eco-town in Vietnam”

The Hoi An eco-town development component is part of the Project “Policy Advise on Environmental Management: Green Industry Development”.  UNDIO Country Representative, Mr Patrick J. Gilabert stressed that: “The Project has been designed to enable the Government of Vietnam to adapt and adopt innovative green industry - based policies for sustainable industrial development of key sectors, whilst mitigating greenhouse gas and other emissions and wastes and reducing vulnerabilities to the likely impacts of Climate Change. The Project will therefore contribute to the formulation and adoption of a Green Industry policy for the Ministry of Industry and Trade, including up-scalable example initiatives for selected sectors and regions. It will also seed voluntary actions with non-governmental stakeholders including businesses, academia and professional and/or other associations and sub-national government entities in continuing and replicating successful pilots of green industry as a means to secure their constructive engagement in implementation of national policies.”

In addition, the Project also introduces the trial and evaluation of three specific pilots for scaling up and mainstreaming green industry concepts and practices. These pilots pertain to steel sector through benchmarking and technology road mapping for Electric Arc Furnaces, in cooperation with MOIT and Vietnam Steel Association; the city of Hoi An through eco-town development, in cooperation with the Hoi An People’s Committee  and Quang Nam Province; and the crafts villages by investing in model systems for waste and resource recovery and sustainable crafts production, in cooperation with the Waste Management and Environmental Protection Authority, Vietnam Environmental Administration.

At the workshop, the international expert, Mr Anthony SF Chiu shared international experience in eco-town development. Mr Chiu explained: “The keys to the eco-town success are resource efficiency and cleaner production. In addition, businesses need to show their responsibilities toward their community, their society. A company should bear in its mind that its business has an important role to play in protecting and enhancing the environment for the future generations, and help secure the sustainable development. And the strong determination of the Hoi An local authorities to eco-town development is equally important.”

Detailed discussion on possible supports to hotels and restaurants in Hoi An to achieve cleaner and more efficient service delivery.

For more information, please contact:

Dinh Thu Huong
Press & Communication Officer
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
72, Ly Thuong Kiet, Hanoi, Vietnam

tel. + 84 4 3942 40 00 ~ fax. + 84 4 394 224 84
mob. + 84 9 13 30 15 39
web. www.un.org.vn ~ www.unido.org

• < Prev
• Next >