Hi everyone! In today’s second post of the week, I will be writing my last case-study post. We are coming to the end of the semester and it’s a pity that I have to focus on my other modules and assignments. It has been a joy searching up on these countries on the Global South and their journey with pollution. I hope to make this last write-up as meaningful as I can – I found 7 articles!
I want to start off my reviewing the paper by Babut et al. (2019) that looks at contaminants in bed sediments. It remined me of the second seminar conducted by Dr. Chen; through studying the concentration of pollutants in soil, we can predict how and what other cascading effects are brought into other realms such as the atmosphere and water sources. Babut et al. studied the Saigon River bed to investigate the presence of organic contaminants in Ho Chi Minh City, a city in Vietnam which is one of the most polluted in Southeast Asia, as mentioned in my previous post. They distinguished certain organic chemicals in the river bed – PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), PFAs (perfluoroalkyl substances) and insecticides. They found that PAHs in Vietnam were of similar concentration levels as other cities in Southeast Asia, and were influenced by the Saigon River’s tides, water management and monsoon control systems.
Then I found a paper by Nguyen et al. (2020) that examines the Saigon River as well, but focuses on heavy metals in the sediment of the river. They provided a unique study because they integrated questions on seasonal and spatial variations. Through their study, they found that during the rainy season, there was a higher concentration of 11 heavy metals than during the dry season. They also found that river catchments and low-lying areas were the sources of these heavy metals. These heavy metals were mainly Mn, Al, Fe, Zn, Sr, In, B, Ni, Co, Pb, and Cd.
I also found papers on air pollution. Le et al. (2014) provided a descriptive paper to prove the correlation between air pollution and vegetation fires. They showed that during March, the forest fire hotspots in the Northwest and Central Highlands emit vast amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere. To understand more about the socio-economic conditions in Vietnam, I referred to a short paper done by London (2019). You could also refer to the paper if you are interested in learning about the country’s general growth and progress. What I found more interesting was Kim et al.’s (2019) paper on studying more humane issues of pollution in Vietnam. Kim et al. examined the factors that influenced public awareness regarding pollution in Vietnam. Even though Vietnamese people are aware of the consequences of pollution, and are dissatisfied with their governments, they do not provoke opposition to the maintenance of coal-fired power generators in the country. As such, Kim et al. wanted to find out if education levels played a role in changing the mindsets and behaviours of Vietnamese people. Their results showed that Vietnamese people will only call out their leaders for effective policy measures to control pollution only if they are educated.
I started to include research on pollution and COVID-19 during the week I searched on Pakistan. As such, I also decided to integrate such a paper in this blog post. The paper by Ngo et al. (2021) examines the reduction in air pollution levels during the COVID-19 lockdown, or period of social isolation in Vietnam. They found that NO2 concentration levels in the atmosphere reduced significantly when countries worldwide implemented lockdowns, which is unsurprising, given the slowing down of all socio-economic activities.
Finally, the paper by Hoang et al. (2019) suggest various strategies Vietnam, and other developing countries to adopt to control environmental pollution. They focus more on sustainable development, so I suggest that you take a look at it, to see how tackling environmental pollution is crucial to protect the environment for our current and future generations. This would be a good way to end this blog post. I hope you enjoyed this lengthy piece today!
Up next, some ways to move forward. See you in the next one! ✿
References
Babut, M., Mourier, B., Desmet, M., Simonnet-Laprade, C., Labadie, P., Budzinski, H., Alencastro, L. F. D., Tu, T. A., Strady, E. & Gratiot, N. (2019) Where has the Pollution Gone? A Survey of Organic Contaminants in Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon River (Vietnam) Bed Sediments. Chemosphere. 217, 261-269. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0045653518321052?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 1 April 2022].
Hoang, T. C., Black, M. C., Knuteson, S. L. & Roberts, A. P. (2019) Environmental Pollution, Management, and Sustainable Development: Strategies for Vietnam and other Developing Countries. Environmental Management. 63, 433-436. Available from: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00267-019-01144-z.pdf [Accessed: 1 April 2022].
Kim, S. E., Harish, S. P., Kennedy, R., Jin, X. & Urpelainen, J. (2019) Enviromental Degradation and Public Opinion: The Case of Air Pollution in Vietnam. The Journal of Environment & Development. 29(2), 196-222. Available from: https://journals-sagepub-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/full/10.1177/1070496519888252?utm_source=summon&utm_medium=discovery-provider [Accessed: 1 April 2022].
Le, T. H., Nguyen, T. N. T., Lasko, K., Ilavajhala, S., Vadrevu, K. P. & Justice, C. (2014) Vegetation Fires and Air Pollution in Vietnam. Environmental Pollution. 195, 267-275. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0269749114003157 [Accessed: 1 April 2022].
London, J. (2020) Vietnam in 2019: The Politics of Growth, Progress, and Pollution. Asian Survey. 60(1), 93-99. Available from: https://online-ucpress-edu.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/as/article/60/1/93/109896/Vietnam-in-2019The-Politics-of-Growth-Progress-and [Accessed: 1 April 2022].
Ngo, T. X., Do, N. T. N., Phan, H. D. T., Tran, V. T., Mac, T. T. M., Le, A. H., Do, N. V., Bui, H. Q. & Nguyen, T. T. N. (2020) Air Pollution in Vietnam during the COVID-19 Social Isolation, Evidence of Reduction in Human Activities. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 42(16), 6126-6152. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/full/10.1080/01431161.2021.1934911 [Accessed: 1 April 2022].
Nguyen, B. T., Do, D. D., Nguyen, T. X., Nguyen, V. N., Nguyen, D. T. O., Nguyen, M. H., Truong, H. T. T., Dong, H. P., Le, A. H. & Bach, Q. V. (2020) Seasonal, Spatial Variation, and Pollution Sources of Heavy Metals in the Sediment of the Saigon River, Vietnam. Environmental Pollution. 256, 1-12. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0269749119338084?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 1 April 2022].