Environnement : Hanoi’s Air quality monitoring network, one year after…

'Hanoi cooperates with France to improve air quality

The Hanoitimes - On Oct 17, Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Duc Chung welcomed the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of France in Vietnam, Mr. Bertrand Lortholary. Ambassador Bertrand Lortholary affirmed, based on the long-term relationship between France and Vietnam, the desire to expand cooperation with Hanoi capital, especially in the field of environmental protection and air quality improvement.

One of the typical projects in this field is the 'Technical Assistance Project for Assessing the Air Environment Status in Hanoi City' signed between the Consultant- AirParif Agency (France) and the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment in 2016. In which, non-refundable ODA from Funds for Expertise and Capacity-Building (FERC) of the French Development Agency (AFD) enabled this project in Hanoi with 10 air monitoring stations to be put into operation in 2016.

Scene of the meeting

During the meeting, representatives of Airparif organization reported preliminary results of the project after one year of implementation. Director of this organization, Mr. Frederic Bouvier said that the research process is aimed at overall air quality monitoring and is expected for the cooperation and support of the Hanoi government in the next phase of the project.

With the initial results of the project, Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee affirmed that this project is effective and practical. Based on the results, Hanoi will develop an appropriate program to improve the air quality.
Recognizing the efforts as a research consultancy unit, Chairman of the City People's Committee wished Airparif will actively evaluate to overcome, upgrade the unqualified air monitoring station as well as supplement and improve the air quality. Accordingly, the Airparif shall provide mobile devices to easily identify regional air quality as well as plans to integrate all data for convenience for residents and visitors. Most importantly, on the basis of the research results, the organization will propose solutions to purifying air at the monitoring station. By the way, Chairman of the City People's Committee also expects to receive support from the French Embassy for the project to be completed in 2018 as well as to receive support for the training of personnel operating the monitoring system.

Thanks to the cooperation of the Hanoi government, Ambassador Bertrand Lortholary acknowledged the proposals from Chairman of the City People's Committee and affirmed that efforts will be made to create conditions for cooperation between France and Hanoi in particular and Vietnam in general in the coming time.In September, Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID), a Hanoi-based NGO, released a report on air quality in Vietnam in the first half of this year. It compared air quality in 2017's first six months and in the same period of 2016.
Based on the report, from January to June, Hanoi suffered 139 days of excessive PM2.5 level, according to international standards. PM, or particulate matter, is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets in the air. PM2.5 particulates are about a thirtieth as thick as the width of a human hair and can pass through lung tissue and into the blood, harming human health. The data showed no relation between the concentration of pollutants and peak traffic hours, meaning air quality has been affected by different pollution sources, notably the energy industry.
Nguyen Thi Anh Thu, GreenID's environment expert, said that though the air quality has improved, millions of Hanoians rarely enjoyed fresh air. The Hanoi People's Committee in January launched an online service with information about weather conditions and environment indexes, including air quality index, rainfall and flooding.