Việt Nam to improve environmental quality

Although pollution, solid and hazardous waste management has been strictly implemented, and nature and biodiversity conservation has been enhanced, Việt Nam's environmental sector still has shortcomings and limitations, according to experts.

The National Strategy for Environmental Protection to 2030 with a vision to 2050, approved by Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on April 13 this year, set a target that by 2030, Việt Nam's environment will be of good quality, ensuring people's right to live in a healthy and safe environment.

To develop the country in a sustainable direction, and one of the three pillars is environmental protection, Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành said that in 2022-25 and the following years, the environment industry needed to have strong action.

It needed transformation in thinking, awareness of a sustainable lifestyle in harmony with nature, and resolving the relationship between economic development and environmental protection.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment targets that by 2025, 90 per cent of urban daily-life solid waste, 80 per cent of rural-life solid waste, and 95 per cent of hazardous waste will be collected and treated based on a standard.

Over 30 per cent of urban wastewater will be treated up to standards. Thirty per cent of areas with serious soil environmental pollution are treated, rehabilitated and restored.

The days with a good and average air quality index (AQI) in urban areas remain at 70-75 per cent.

It will ensure that 92 per cent of industrial and export processing zones have a centralised wastewater treatment system meeting environmental standards. All industrial zones, businesses and service establishments will install automatic wastewater and emission monitoring systems and transmit data directly to the local department of natural resources and environment.

The country strives that by 2025, the area of nature reserves will reach 2.7 million hectares. In addition, the area of marine and coastal conservation zones will reach 1.5-2 per cent of the total national sea area.

In those works, each individual's role is especially important as Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính said, "This is a global issue, so a global approach is required. This issue affects everyone so we should have a people-wide approach."./.