The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) have pledged $5 million for a project to clean up dioxin-contaminated areas in central Vietnam. The UNDP and the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) signed a deal on the project in Hanoi June 28, the Tien Phong newspaper reported June 28. The UNDP will cooperate with the MoNRE, Ministry of Defense and local authorities to carry out the project, focusing on decontamination at Bien Hoa, Phu Cat and Danang airports and other smaller hotspots, UN resident coordinator John Hendra was quoted as saying. Addressing the signing ceremony, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Pham Khoi Nguyen hoped more international partners to participate in the clearance of dioxin contaminated areas in the country. Up to 75 million liters of AO/dioxin and other defoliants were sprayed by American troops on southern Vietnamese battlefields from 1962-1971. An estimated 4.8 million Vietnamese people are exposed to the deadly toxic chemical and more than three million of them are facing health problems resulted from the exposure.
