Comprehensive solutions to cope with air pollution in Hanoi

Hanoi enters "pollution season" with alarming indicators

Recently, Hanoi has been continuously covered with thick layers of fog, obscuring many high-rise buildings and streets, making the air stuffy.

Data from the air quality monitoring application IQAir shows that the air pollution index since early October has been at 200-300 µg/m³, many times higher than the recommended level of the World Health Organization (WHO).

At the dialogue between the Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee and young people, delegates raised the hot issue of air pollution.

Mr. Le Thanh Nam - Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment - said that Hanoi currently has 17 industrial parks, more than 1,300 craft villages, 8 million vehicles, consuming millions of liters of gasoline every day... these are the main causes of pollution.

Faced with this situation, improving air quality is not only the responsibility of the authorities but also requires active participation from the community to protect their own health and living environment.

Community cooperation is the most effective solution

Currently, Hanoi City and many experts have proposed urgent and long-term solutions to minimize air pollution. To save Hanoi's sky, Mr. Le Thanh Nam - Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment - said that the city is implementing a series of drastic measures, focusing on renovating lakes and rivers; converting to clean energy; developing a green transport and urban system.

The goal is that by 2025, household waste will be treated with incineration technology to generate electricity, reducing landfill space. At the same time, from 2025, Hanoi will pilot the implementation of low-emission zones. Crowded areas and air pollution hotspots will have polluting vehicles restricted.

In addition, Mr. Nam also emphasized that developing green transportation, from electric buses to smart traffic infrastructure, will be the key to helping Hanoi reduce congestion and pollution, bringing a cleaner future to the capital.

According to Mr. Nguyen Phi Thuong, Director of the Hanoi Department of Transport, the fundamental solution to reduce pollution and also play a role in reducing traffic congestion is to invest in the urban railway system. The current planning has increased to 14 routes with nearly 600km. However, for this network to maximize its effectiveness, the routes must be interconnected.

Prof. Dr. Hoang Xuan Co, Head of the Science Department, Vietnam Environmental Economics Association, said that the decline in Hanoi's air quality shows that there are problems with air quality management.

Therefore, to minimize environmental pollution, it is necessary to clearly identify which unit or agency is responsible for air quality management and who is responsible for this work in order to come up with the most specific measures. At the same time, agencies also need to build a serious, strict, synchronous and unified air quality management mechanism from the central to local levels.

In addition, Prof. Dr. Hoang Xuan Co also said that the role of researchers in reducing pollution is also very important. However, to bring about the most effective solutions, representatives of enterprises, ministries and sectors need to provide and prepare the most accurate data, from which, scientists can create solutions that are closely linked to reality.

Also discussing solutions to air pollution in the capital, Associate Professor Dr. Le Van Hung, Senior Lecturer at the University of Natural Resources and Environment, affirmed: "There are many solutions to reduce air pollution, but they require consistency and unity from the policy system to the implementation process. Therefore, appropriate investment from the State and cooperation from the community are needed because this is a difficult problem that is not easy to handle."