Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha grants an interview to VietnamPlus. (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha has emphasised the urgent need to develop a circular and green and low-carbon economy in the context of pressure on exhausted natural resources, environmental pollution and climate change.
In a recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Minister Ha said Resolutions of the 12th Central Party Committee have created important foundations to promote transformation of the economic development model.
The natural resources and environment sector has also had to shape and change its policies.
The minister stressed the need to better harmonise economic growth with environmental protection, saying that it is necessary to have solutions to environment-related problems, towards sustainable development in the future.
Sea and river erosion seriously threatens the Mekong Delta region (Photo: VNA Vietnam is moving to shift to a circular economy where all natural resources are exploited and used reasonably in the most sustainable and effective manner, he said, adding the cost for economic development must include those for environmental protection.
Vietnam's economy needs to transit from a "brown” economy" to a "green” one, from using fossil fuels to environmentally friendly materials so as to preserve green living space for the mankind.
The natural resources and environment sector must focus on improving the quality of the environment and restore natural ecosystems, he said.
Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Regarding a project approved by the Prime Minister to grow 1 billion trees in Vietnam, the minister said his agency is developing a specific plan to implement it.
It's time to change the attitude of individuals towards nature, because nature is being greatly affected by economic development and the imbalance of natural ecology is an urgent danger, he stressed.
Planting trees helps restore the nature and ecosystems, and preserve biodiversity as well as leave a legacy for future generations, Ha said, noting that this work should be done regularly by all people and localities across the country.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment need to be at the forefront of the movement.
Ha called for initiatives from localities, businesses and people to effectively implement the movement.
Affirming that the environment is one of the three important pillars of sustainable development, Minister Ha said his ministry will focus on implementing the Law on Environmental Protection, in which the people play a central role in protecting and supervising the environment.
If every citizen attaches importance to, and has high consciousness and determination to protect the environment, Vietnam will make great strides in environmentally friendly and sustainable socio-economic development in the direction of effectively adapting to climate change, he affirmed.
The minister also touched upon difficulties facing the meteorology and hydrology sector amid extreme and unpredictable climate change, saying that attention should be paid to enhancing the ability to forecast more accurately, giving more timely warnings, and assessing the situation of climate change in order to develop comprehensive and timely response plans, towards changing from passive response to active adaptation.
It is necessary to build denser meteorology and hydrology monitoring networks in geological disaster-prone areas, he said.
According to the minister, over the last five years, climate change has caused increasingly large and severe impacts. Extreme weather occurs throughout the country such as severe cold, landslides, flash floods in northern mountain areas, drought in the south-central and Central Highlands regions, and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta.
The natural resources and environment sector improved in terms of resources management, environmental protection and coping with climate change, contributing to shifting the national growth model towards sustainability.
Environmental management methods have been reformed, helping prevent pollution and keep strict control of major projects with high risks of causing pollution like Formosa Ha Tinh, and Lee&Man in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang and Nghi Son Oil Refinery and Petrochemical in the central province of Thanh Hoa, thus ensuring they operate safely, contributing to national growth.
Over 950 trillion VND (over 41.4 billion USD) has contributed to the state coffer during the five years. Particularly, in 2020, the revenue from land has doubled that in 2015.
2020 witnesses unusual and extreme natural disasters that caused severe impacts (Photo: VNA)
Losses caused by storms and floods in 2018 were reduced compared to 2017 thanks to improvements in the forecasting work.
Infrastructure conditions such as land database and the digitalisation of geographic information systems and remote sensing metadata have been prepared with a view to optimising achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in national development, he added./.
