The initial research conducted by a group of scientists from the Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change shows that the influence from air pollution from China across the border to the northern part of Vietnam is worrisome.

“In winter, there is the spread of air pollution from China to the north of Vietnam. The polluted air goes towards the northeast along with the northeast monsoon,” the report said. 

The report also pointed out that in winter, 40-50 percent of pollutants in the north of Vietnam originate from outside the Vietnamese territory, from the north and northeast.

The researchers found that in winter, the Chinese air pollution may be up to 55 percent for SO2, 48 percent for NO2 and 30 percent for CO. The polluted air is brought to Vietnam by the strong northeast monsoon.

Theis a one-way influence, i.e. wind brings polluted air from China to Vietnam only, not from Vietnam to China.

The CO and NO2 concentrations in Quang Ninh and Lang Son provinces are approximately 0.1 ppm, while the figures are 0.25-0.75 ppm (the unit to measure the toxicity level) in other provinces. The SO2 concentrations are approximately 0.015 ppm in Quang Ninh and Lang Son, and 0.0025-0.05 ppm in other localities.

The impact of the China’s air pollution on the northern provinces of Vietnam is weaker in summer, when the localities receive southwest and southeast monsoon. The concentrations of air pollutants sourced from China only account for 4 percent for SO2, 2 percent for CO and 1.5 percent for NO2.

Vietnam also sustains persistent organic matter with high concentration like SO2. Scientists warned that high SO2 concentrations cause acid rain, harmful to crops and agricultural production.

According to Duong Hong Son, Deputy Director of the Institute of Science Hydrometeorology and Climate Change, scientists only focused on analyzing SO2 in the air, because the southern part of China, which is close to the northern part of Vietnam, is the area which has coal thermal power plants.

Many measures have been suggested to deal with the cross-border air pollution, but no perfect solution has been found. 

“The solution is strengthening cooperation in researching and controlling air pollution between Vietnam and the countries which border Vietnam, especially China,” Son said.

However, Son admitted that it is difficult to implement a solution, as China has few scientific research works on environment pollution. Research works, if they exist, only focus on the pollution in the country, while China does not exchange information with Vietnam.

Dat Viet