Strengthening the transmission, reception, and control of automatic, continuous environmental monitoring data in Vietnam

Strengthening the transmission, reception, and control of automatic, continuous environmental monitoring data in Vietnam​ (Image from the internet)

On May 15, 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam issued Official Dispatch 3054/BTNMT-KSON regarding enhancing the transmission and control of automatic, continuous environmental monitoring data.

Enhance the transmission and control of automatic, continuous environmental monitoring data in Vietnam

In order to strengthen the management of transmission and control of automatic, continuous environmental monitoring data, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam has issued official dispatches to the Committees (Official Dispatch No. 1729/BTNMT-TCMT dated April 16, 2019, Official Dispatch No. 3178/BTNMT-TCMT dated June 15, 2020). Subsequently, on December 14, 2023, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment issued Official Dispatch No. 10533/BTNMT-KSONMT regarding the upgrade of the environmental monitoring data management software (Envisoft software) sent to the Committees, and assigned the Environmental Pollution Control Department to install it for localities for unified management of environmental monitoring data nationwide.

After a period of implementation, the Envisoft software has been upgraded, completed, and transferred to 63 provinces and centrally-governed cities. Up to now, nearly 2,000 automatic, continuous monitoring stations have connected and transmitted data to the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment and then to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. However, monitoring shows that some provinces and cities still use different software (locally developed) to consolidate automatic, continuous monitoring stations data from automatic, continuous monitoring stations stations in their area and then use Envisoft software to transmit the consolidated data to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. This leads to failure to ensure the consistency, interconnectivity, and integrity of the data as required by Article 40 of Circular 10/2021/TT-BTNMT dated June 30, 2021, by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, which stipulates technical requirements for environmental monitoring and data management of environmental quality monitoring. Additionally, the data monitoring results transmitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment show that nearly 40% of automatic, continuous monitoring stations stations have data transmission rates and data quality that do not meet the required standards.

To ensure effective transmission and control of automatic, continuous monitoring stations data, meeting the required standards, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment respectfully requests the Committees to direct relevant specialized agencies in the area to perform the following tasks:

- Consistently use the Envisoft software to receive data from automatic, continuous monitoring stations stations in the area to the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment and then transmit it to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to ensure data consistency, interconnectivity, and integrity as required.

- Continue to review, urge investors in projects, establishments, concentrated production, business and service areas, and industrial clusters subject to the installation of automatic, continuous monitoring stations systems as required in the area; ensuring the completion of automatic, continuous monitoring stations system installation and data connection and transmission no later than December 31, 2024, as prescribed in Articles 97 and 98 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP dated January 10, 2022, by the Government of Vietnam detailing several provisions of the Environmental Protection Law.

- Direct the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment to strengthen measures to control and monitor automatic, continuous monitoring stations data and promptly handle any non-compliance with environmental technical standards or technical issues regarding connection and data transmission.

In the implementation process, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment assigns the Environmental Pollution Control Department to cooperate with the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment to receive, control data, and provide technical expertise and professional support to localities to ensure compliance with regulations.

More details can be found in Official Dispatch 3054/BTNMT-KSON issued on May 15, 2024.

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