Information-poor environments: Asian tigers - Environmental Reform in the Information Age - page 257

Department of Tourism, Commerce, Science and Technology in coop-
eration with the Centre for Business and Commercial Enhancement
(based in HoChiMinh City) started thinking about branding vegetables
of Dalat. 38 Vietnam does produce organic food (such as organic cashew
nuts, tea, grapes and organic pineapple juice; it is aiming to enter major
crops such as organic coffee) for the international markets, especially
in the United States and Europe, using internationally recognised labels
and certification organisations (such as SKAL International). But the
institutional setting and capacity for a more coordinated take-off of
organic food production and export is poor. Labelling and certification
institutes, standards and technical support, knowledge, and specified
distribution and marketing channels are hardly developed compared
to China.
Other environmentally relevant information also can be found inci-
dentally - for example, references to GMOs in China (Keeley, 2006 )-
but in general the relevance of these kinds of information for domestic
consumers and producers is rather limited.
In all, the actual domestic consumption of and domestic pressure for
organic food is low in both countries, as a result of low incomes and
purchasing power, lack of knowledge and awareness of organic food
among broad segments of the population, lack of shops and retailers
willing to sell these products, confusion regarding the different labels,
standards and certification schemes (e.g., clean vegetables, green veg-
etables, organic vegetables, healthy food, as well as a number of private
labels), and a civil society that fails power and possibilities to press for
cleaner food production (UNESCAP, 2002 ; UNCTAD/WTO, 2007 ;
Thiers, 1999 ).

4. Transitional democracy? Civil society, public space and
media control

China and Vietnam have been characterized for the past twenty years
by limited freedoms for the press and civil society in countervailing
the political elite and in criticising - among others - the disastrous
environmental consequences of a one-sided development path. We
have seen, however, that such public spaces are essential for effective

38

See http://www.vneconomy.com.vn/vie/index.php?param = article&catid =

0909&id = 041222143232, accessed September 2005.