Environment

Another strong cold spell that dramatically brought the temperature down to 1-2 degree Celsius has hit the lives of ethnic and minority people in the northern province of Ha Giang.

Dong Van and Meo Vac border districts in the northernmost province of Ha Giang reportedly saw widespread snowfall on the night of January 12, with temperatures dropping to minus one degree Celsius.

For several years, thousands of residents in the Yen Binh district in the northern province of Yen Bai have endured significant pollution generated by a local cassava starch processing factory.

The Central Steering Committee for Forest Fire Prevention and Protection has alerted local authorities and citizens in six provinces of the high risk of forest fires during this dry season.

A communication campaign has been launched in the northern province of Quang Ninh in a bid to raise public awareness about the need to protect bears during the first tourism months of 2014.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat, recently instructed citizens to prevent forest fires and urged them to make it a top priority during this dry season.

Pollution in the Dong Nai River killed tonnes of fish in Bien Hoa City in the past few days, according to local authorities.

A community-based programme has been carried out to successfully protect the fish and animal life in 10 zones totalling 307 hectares of Tam Giang – Cau Hai lagoon in central Thua Thien-Hue Province.

A list of urban areas forecast to suffer the harshest effects of climate change is scheduled to be completed by 2020 under a project recently approved by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.

The PM has agreed the establishment of Bach Long Vi marine preservation zone with a total area of over 27,000 hectares.

Hundreds of people in Ha Nam Province have built tents around a local cement factory to oppose the pollution coming from it.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the southern province of Dong Nai will jointly host a Vietnam Forest Festival, the first of its kind in the country, in November 2014.

The main rubbish dump of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho was closed on January 1 due to the serious pollution it has caused to surrounding areas.

The northern mountainous provinces have been urged to take prompt action to protect crops and livestock from a cold snap which is forecast to hit the region in the evening of December 26.

Residents around Sin Quyen copper mine in the northern province of Lao Cai have blamed mining operations for years of recurrent air pollution in the area.

Many people around two lakes in Hanoi have been lining up for their turn to use a type of exercise machine that helps purify polluted lake water.

A cave discovered near the source of Indonesia's massive earthquake-spawned tsunami contains the footprints of past gigantic waves dating up to 7,500 years ago, a rare natural record that suggests the next disaster could be centuries away.

The HCM City People’s Committee has approved a climate change mitigation and clean water supply project worth more than 4.7 million euro (over VND134 billion).

The capital city of Hanoi will set up concentrated wastewater treatment systems at its 16 industrial clusters during the 2014-2015 period.