Singapore has seized 12.9 tonnes of pangolin scales found in a shipping container destined for Vietnam, the biggest seizure of its kind globally in five years, authorities said yesterday.

 The usage rights of greenhouse gas and air pollution interactions and synergies (GAINS) model has been transferred to the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment (DoNREs) of Hanoi, Bac Ninh, and Hung Yen. 

Several supermarkets in Hanoi have started using banana leaves to wrap vegetables as a way to protect the environment.

 Residents in Ly Son Island, Quang Ngai Province, have expressed concern about the shortage of underground water as drought looms over the island as summer starts.

 Air pollution in Hanoi is real but there is no basis to say it is at the second highest level in Southeast Asia, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan claimed at a Government press conference in Hanoi on April 2.

 Hanoi plans to set up more air quality monitoring stations in the face of worsening air pollution, according to local authorities.

More than 100 young people cleaned Da Den Beach at Danang’s Son Tra Peninsula on March 31.

 Vietnam is home to nearly 14.5 million ha of forest nationwide, announced the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on March 29.

 The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the IUCN signed a cooperation agreement in Hanoi on March 28 on the building of a protection and breeding programme for the saola, one of the rarest and most threatened mammals on the planet. 

 The amount of alluvium in the Mekong Delta has dropped about 65-75 percent and is forecast to decrease over 90 percent in the future, heard a workshop in An Giang province on March 27. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue multiplication for a number of the Sao La, the world’s rarest wildlife were discovered at the Truong Son Mountain Range of Vietnam and Laos. 

 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Vietnam Association of National Park and Protected Area (VNPPA) held a workshop on the management of conservation sites in Vietnam in Hanoi on March 27.

 Two brothers in Hanoi’s outlying district of Ba Vi has been fined VND1.5 million (USD65.21) for posting a clip killing two rare birds on Youtube.

 Vietnam is moving towards a green tourism development, which is associated with environmental protection and promotion of traditional cultural values, according to Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Quang Tung.

 Like other provinces in the Central Highlands, Dak Lak is currently in the middle of the peak dry season.

 Police in Bình Thuận Province have started criminal proceedings against four leaders and officials from the Là Ngà Protective Forest Management Board for violating regulations on the exploitation and protection of forests.

The southernmost province of Ca Mau is taking measures to cope with climate change and rising sea level as the impacts have become more pronounced in recent years.

 More than 67,160 ha of farmland nationwide are likely to be hit by drought and saline intrusion in the coming time if a lack of rainfall persists, according to the Directorate of Water Resource under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. 

 The southern province of Kien Giang is carrying out a project to develop eco-tourism in U Minh Thuong National Park for 2019-2020 with a vision to 2030, with a total investment of over 150 billion VND (6.46 million USD).

 Tonnes of rubbish have covered My Khe Beach in the central city of Danang after heavy rains.