ENOn September 23rd, 2021, a meeting between the Institute for Circular Economy Development (ICED), Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City, and Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) was held to explore potential areas for collaboration in sustainable production and consumption, and plastic waste management.
For this meeting, ICED was represented by Associate Professor NGUYEN Hong Quan – Director of ICED, Dr. LE Quang Dung, Dr. NGUYEN Minh Tu, MSc. THACH Phuoc Hung, MSc. BUI Le Thanh Khiet, MSc. LE Ba Nhat Minh, and MSc. TRAN Thi Diem Phuc while Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) was represented by Dr. PHAM Ngoc Bao, who is the Deputy Director of the “Adaptation & Water” Research Unit and an expert in Wastewater Engineering, Solid Waste Management and Sustainable Production and Consumption.
In the meeting, ICED and IGES discussed collaboration towards circular economy in relevant topics such as strategies for plastic waste management, joint crediting mechanism and action plans for different national administrative levels in sustainable production and consumption. Prof. Nguyen was also pleased to share ICED’s on-going projects while Dr. Pham shared his experiences in research in the fields of circular economy in Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam as well as opportunities for collaboration with international institutions in development projects whose fields of action and expertise are really similar to ICED’s directions.
Both parties also discussed future collaboration activities including managing wastewater and microplastic pollution, assiting the country’s efforts in establishing a regional research centre on plastic waste or submitting joint research proposals to different partners as well as planning for action plans of SDG12 in provincial levels of Vietnam.
Dr. Pham Ngoc Bao
About Dr. Pham Ngoc Bao
Dr. Pham Ngoc Bao received his Ph.D degree from the Department of Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo in Japan. He has over 15 years of working experience in conducting and leading policy-oriented interdisciplinary research and technical assistance projects in Asia, especially related to water supply & sanitation in developing countries, decentralised domestic wastewater and septage management, circular economy perspectives for plastic and solid waste management, sustainable consumption and production, and climate change adaptation & mitigation, particularly in water sector. He currently serves as Deputy Director of Adaptation and Water Area at IGES. Dr. Bao is also a member of the Water Environment Partnership in Asia (WEPA) Secretariat funded by the Ministry of the Environment – Japan. (Source: https://www.iges.or.jp/en/about/staff/ngoc-bao-pham?page=%2C4)