Environmental protection needs to 'take root' in the awareness of every citizen.

Photo caption — View of the meeting. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Reporting on the explanation, reception and clarification of issues of concern to National Assembly deputies, Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang said that the opinions of the deputies clearly demonstrated the sense of responsibility, vision and companionship of the National Assembly, which is an important source of encouragement and motivation for the Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, ministries, branches and localities to continue to innovate and improve the effectiveness of law enforcement.

Minister Tran Duc Thang said that the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection marks an important step forward in Vietnam's thinking and approach to sustainable development, affirming the spirit of innovation and action for a green future. The Law has designed many breakthrough policies, clearly shifting from a passive approach, dealing with consequences to proactive prevention, risk control and promoting market-based economic instruments.

After nearly 4 years of implementation, environmental protection work has had clear changes. Many new mechanisms and policies have initially shown effectiveness such as changing management methods, expanding the responsibility of producers in recycling, waste treatment and promoting community participation in monitoring. Practice has recorded many green development models, ecological urban areas, and circular industrial parks being formed; the application of digital technology and automatic monitoring has been expanded; environmental quality in many areas has improved and awareness of the whole society has changed significantly.

Regarding air pollution, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has submitted to the Prime Minister a National Action Plan for the 2026-2030 period, proposing synchronous solutions from institutional improvement to emission source control and conversion to green means of transport.

Regarding the development of the carbon market, the legal corridor has basically been formed and it is expected that in 2025, the Government will issue 3 related decrees to create a basis for businesses to implement. The Minister also frankly acknowledged the shortcomings and limitations as pointed out by the Monitoring Team and delegates such as the complicated development of environmental degradation, air pollution and some river basins have not been thoroughly resolved, waste treatment infrastructure is still limited... The subjective causes are identified as mainly due to some policies not being specified, staff capacity not meeting requirements and low investment resources.

To overcome these limitations, in the coming time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will focus on institutional and legal breakthroughs, focusing on environmental economicization; breakthroughs in waste management, solving bottlenecks and promoting circular economy; breakthroughs in science and technology and digital transformation, modernizing the monitoring system and building a carbon trading floor; promoting propaganda, raising awareness and building a team of environmental management staff with professional expertise.

Concluding the discussion session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan emphasized that our Party and State always advocate environmental protection as an important pillar of sustainable development, and have issued many resolutions and directives to strengthen environmental protection. The State's system of policies and laws on environmental protection is expressed consistently and thoroughly, and is regularly summarized, reviewed, supplemented and perfected to suit the country's reality and the development trends of the times.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan said that while in the past environmental protection was mainly about preventing and treating pollution, now the requirement is to create new development values based on the harmony between humans and nature. The task of protecting the environment does not mean paying for growth. Environmental protection is the responsibility and duty to preserve and promote natural capital closely linked in the new development space. Controlling waste sources, waste treatment, recycling and reuse must become links in a circular economic ecosystem. The world is entering a period where green economy is no longer a concept but is gradually becoming a national competitive advantage. Each locality needs to be considered a green nursery, a place to test and spread circular economic models, ecology, community tourism, and emission-reducing agriculture.

Affirming that the figures on waste treatment, recycling rate, and development of ecological industrial zones are remarkable, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan said that more importantly, we must turn those results into social awareness and new development motivation. Environmental protection will hardly be successful if it only relies on laws, measures, and sanctions.

Environmental protection requires systematic thinking and systematic action. Environmental protection is not only the State's business but must be the business of every citizen; it must be rooted in the awareness and daily behavior of every citizen. Each of us not only complies with the law on environmental protection but also protects ourselves, preserves and creates a living environment for our family, relatives, community and most of all, the future of future generations.

The opinions focused on analyzing the results achieved, shortcomings and limitations; at the same time, contributing many solutions to perfect policies and laws, overcoming bottlenecks in implementation with the motto of taking protecting the living environment and people's health as the top goal, resolutely eliminating projects that cause environmental pollution, joining hands for sustainable development.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan said that the opinions of the National Assembly deputies have been fully compiled. The National Assembly Standing Committee will direct the Supervisory Delegation and relevant agencies to study and absorb them to complete the draft Supervisory Resolution to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval...

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/bao-ve-moi-truong-can-ben-re-trong-nhan-thuc-cua-moi-cong-dan-20251028183205080.htm