Accounting for 20 – 55% of total national assets, natural resources are a major contributor to global economic growth.
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| To achieve the sustainable development goals in the country's Agenda 21, Vietnam needs to invest more in protecting and enhancing natural capital reserves through concrete actions. (Source: VNA) |
Natural resources include forests, agricultural land, atmosphere, oceans and mineral resources, which provide a number of ecosystem services essential for human survival such as food, water, energy and shelter.
Three main resources
Forest and agricultural land
Vietnam is a country with approximately 70% of its population living in rural areas and nearly 90% of its total land area used for agriculture and forestry. The Southwest region is the agricultural center of the country located in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). The subregion is a geographical area consisting of countries and territories located in the Mekong River basin: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Yunnan and Guangxi provinces of China.
Since 1992, with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the above countries and territories have jointly carried out economic cooperation and environmental protection programs. This area is considered a “hot spot” for biodiversity by the United Nations Conservation International.
East Sea, continental shelf
Resource capital is made up of the resources and ecosystem services of the natural world, in which the country's geopolitical position is a valuable resource capital. Therefore, Vietnam today, with its important position in the East Sea, is always an indispensable partner in the agenda of the Indo-Pacific region.
As a coastal country located on the West coast of the East Sea, Vietnam has a very important geopolitics and geo-economics that not every country has. Vietnam has a coastline of over 3,260 km stretching from North to South and for every 100 km2 of land there is 1 km of coastline. Of the 63 provinces and cities of the country, 28 have sea and nearly half of the population lives in coastal provinces and cities.
Notably, the sea area under Vietnam's sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction covers an area of about 1 million km² of the East Sea (3 times the land area) with about 3,000 large and small islands and 2 offshore archipelagos, Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. The islands and archipelagos are distributed quite evenly along the length of the country's coastline, with a particularly important position, as a frontline defense line to protect the eastern flank of the country.
Rare earth
Currently, Vietnam has 4 types of minerals with reserves in the top 5 largest in the world including: rare earth, bauxite, tungsten, fluorite. Of which, the 2022 announcement of the US Geological Survey shows that the reserves and resources of rare earth in Vietnam reach about 22 million tons, worth about 3,000 billion USD, ranking 2nd in the world. Rare earth is the only resource that can create semiconductors and produce chips.
According to the US Geological Survey, rare earths include 17 types of substances with special magnetic and electrochemical properties. Rare earths are a special type of mineral, rare earth elements play a very important role and are strategic materials for the development of cutting-edge, high-tech engineering industries such as electricity, electronics, optics, lasers, superconducting materials, and luminescent materials.
Three limitations in resource capital management
Despite having large natural resources, in the process of managing this resource capital, Vietnam still has three major limitations that need to be noted:
Firstly, agriculture only contributes about 20% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to low labor productivity, lack of investment, etc. Meanwhile, in developed countries such as the UK, France, the US, etc., only nearly 5% of the population works in agriculture but contributes about 40% of GDP, not only ensuring the country's food needs but also being able to export at high prices. Technology developed according to a modern logistics model is one of the important factors contributing to that success.
Second, the natural capital approach of the majority of the population with the common perception that natural resources are worthless or infinite simply because they are freely available. In addition, there seems to be a misconception among governments and businesses that protecting and investing in natural capital is too costly and does not contribute to improving competitiveness and economic growth. In particular, the agricultural and forestry sector is very vulnerable to climate change, especially in low-lying coastal areas that play an important role in agriculture and fisheries. All these limitations have led to overexploitation of resources and environmental degradation in the long term.
Third, due to the level of technology and limitations in investment as well as quality human resources for the mineral processing and high-tech industry, in the past, Vietnam mainly exported raw minerals for many precious minerals such as coal, oil, etc. Currently, Vietnam's semiconductor industry has not developed strongly and cannot be the basic fulcrum for creating the best added value for rare earth exploitation. Therefore, the State needs to seriously control the process of rare earth exploitation.
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| Ba Be Lake, Bac Kan. (Source: VGP) |
Investing heavily in four areas
To achieve the sustainable development goals in the country's Agenda 21, Vietnam needs to invest more in protecting and enhancing its natural capital stocks through strong investment in further research in four major areas:
GMS Cooperation: It is necessary to proactively cooperate with GMS countries to cooperate and effectively exploit the GMS region for the common benefit of the entire region. In the immediate future, it is necessary to coordinate with Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and China in developing large hydropower dam projects on the Mekong River, Kra Canal, etc.
Zero carbon: Vietnam has committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions (Net Zero) by 2050. This commitment was reaffirmed at the COP28 Conference in early December 2023, demonstrating that Vietnam is a responsible member of the international community in responding to climate change. Vietnam needs to soon have a specific strategy and plan to realize the Net Zero ambition by 2050. In addition, it is necessary to plan and manage land use well and restructure the production and business model in the agriculture and forestry sector to improve land use efficiency.
Increasing pressure from increasingly stringent environmental regulations from developed countries is urging the Vietnamese Government and businesses to engage more quickly and strongly in green transformation and sustainable development. Reducing emissions has now become a national imperative.
East Sea and marine economy: It is necessary to apply high technology to effectively implement Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW on "Strategy for sustainable development of Vietnam's marine economy to 2030, vision to 2045" so that the "East Sea frontage" resources truly become a resource for national development.
Semiconductors: Building appropriate strategies to develop semiconductor industries in the context of international integration focuses on two core areas: training high-quality human resources for the semiconductor industry and building semiconductor infrastructure to promote development and attract investment.
It can be said that when natural resources are well planned and deployed, it will build trust among investors and social consensus, impact other resources such as products, people, society and especially finance, creating positive development resonance for the overall economy.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/viet-nam-can-lam-gi-de-su-dung-nguon-luc-tu-nhien-hieu-qua-279729.html
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