US embassy cable - 05HANOI882

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000882 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES MARSHA GOLDBERG 
STATE PASS TO AID/ANE TIM RESCH, PATRICIA CHAPLIN 
STATE PASS TO NOAA/OIA JONATHAN JUSTI 
BANGKOK FOR ECON JIM WALLER 
BANGKOK FOR AID/RDMA TIM BEANS, WINSTON BOWMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, KSCA, EAID, TBIO, VM 
SUBJECT: VIETNAM: USAID AND NOAA SUPPORT FOR OIL SPILL 
RESPONSE PLANNING IN SAIGON RIVER ESTUARY 
 
REF: A) HANOI 766 B) HANOI 515 C) HANOI 820 
 
1. Summary.  USAID's U.S.-Asia Environmental Partnership (US- 
AEP) and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric 
Administration's (NOAA) Office of Response and Restoration 
have supported the project "Improved Oil Spill Contingency 
Planning in Saigon River Estuary in Ba Ria-Vung Tau 
Province."  This project seeks to improve the Government of 
Vietnam's (GVN) human and institutional capacity at the 
local and regional levels to plan for and respond to coastal 
and marine oil spills through technical assistance and study 
exchanges.  From March 7-11, USAID, NOAA, and the U.S. Coast 
Guard conducted a five-day training workshop on Oil Spill 
Response and Shoreline Assessment in the Saigon River in 
Vung Tau City.  STATE/USAID/NOAA support for Integrated 
Coastal Management (ICM) projects in Vietnam during 2002- 
2005 is approximately $850,000.  ICM projects in Vietnam 
have been successful and demonstrate great potential for 
further cooperation.  Post strongly endorses a recent NOAA 
proposal to continue ICM activities in Vietnam.  End 
Summary. 
 
2. Since 2003, US-AEP and NOAA's Office of Response and 
Restoration have supported the project "Improved Oil Spill 
Contingency Planning in Saigon River in Ba Ria-Vung Tau 
Province."  The primary GVN counterparts include 
PetroVietnam's Research Centre for Petroleum Development 
Safety and Environment (RDCPSE) and the Ba Ria-Vung Tau 
Province People's Committee.  Other partners include port 
authorities of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and Vung Tau City, 
oil spill response companies and relevant environmental 
agencies of HCMC, Dong Nai, Binh Thuan, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau 
Provinces. 
 
3. The project seeks to improve the human and institutional 
capacity at local and regional levels to respond to and plan 
for coastal/marine oil spills.  Activities have included 
study exchanges to the United States to learn about local, 
regional, and national oil spill response systems, 
stakeholder discussions on an oil spill contingency 
planning, technical training in the science of oil spills 
and shoreline assessment and development of Geographic 
Response Planning (GRP) maps for the Saigon River Estuary in 
Vung Tau Province. 
 
4. From March 7-11, USAID, NOAA, and the U.S. Coast Guard 
conducted a five-day training workshop on Oil Spill Response 
and Shoreline Assessment in the Saigon River in Vung Tau 
City.  The workshop was co-sponsored by the Ba Ria-Vung Tau 
Province People's Committee and PetroVietnam.  The training 
focused on the science of oil spills, response planning at 
local, regional and national levels, and included a field 
trip/shoreline assessment of how to respond to oil spills at 
beach, mangrove, and mudflat habitats.  Over thirty 
individuals from government agencies, port authorities and 
regional oil spill response teams from Vung Tau, HCMC, Dong 
Nai, Binh Thuan, Danang, and Hanoi participated in a 
tabletop oil spill emergency response drill.  A final 
technical workshop focusing on development of a GRP map for 
Saigon River Estuary is planned for June 2005. 
 
5. Over 10,000 vessels per year traverse the shipping lanes 
of the lower Saigon River, an area that supports 
aquaculture, tourism, and mangroves of the Can Gio UNESCO 
Man and Biosphere Reserve.  Approximately six to eight 
significant oil spills occur every year in the Saigon River 
waterway, challenging local authorities and fisherfolk to 
improve response and remedies.  With oil/gas development, 
tourism and fisheries topping the list of Vietnam's hard- 
currency earning sectors, the GVN has been keen to improve 
their oil spill response capacity considering the negative 
impact marine oil spills may have in the project area. 
In February 2005, Vietnamese news media reported that Deputy 
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung requested the National 
Committee for Search and Rescue to expedite plans to 
establish three regional oil spill response centers for the 
northern, central, and southern regions of Vietnam. 
PetroVietnam has been authorized to manage and operate the 
oil spill response center for the southern region, while a 
company owned by the Vietnamese Navy operates the oil spill 
response center for the central Vietnam region. 
 
6. STATE/USAID/NOAA support during 2002-2005 is 
approximately USD 850,000, funding projects such as 
"Building Capacity for Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) 
in Tonkin Gulf", "Improved Oil Spill Contingency Planning in 
Saigon River" and "Establishing Pilot Marine Protected Area 
(MPA) Training and Certification Program in Vietnam."  ICM 
Programs in Vietnam have been successful and demonstrate 
great potential for further cooperation.  NOAA has recently 
submitted a proposal to continue ICM activities in Vietnam, 
which Post strongly endorses (Ref A). 
 
MARINE