Clear people, clear work, clear deadline, clear results

Discussing at the Hall this morning, October 28, delegates emphasized that the Resolution on thematic supervision of environmental protection must be an implementation Resolution, with clear people, clear work, clear deadlines, clear results, accompanied by rewards and fines from the budget, with strong enough sanctions for "not doing" behavior and publicizing data and images of violations for the whole society to monitor.

Publicly publish compliance rankings of provinces and cities

According to National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Minh Tam ( Quang Tri ), the monitoring results report has outlined a relatively comprehensive picture of the implementation of laws on environmental protection.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Minh Tam (Quang Tri). Photo: Ho Long

However, delegates said that the Report does not yet have content assessing the level of completion of the goals by 2025 stated in Decision 1746/QD-TTg of 2019 of the Prime Minister on the National Action Plan on Ocean Plastic Waste Management by 2030. Similarly, Resolution No. 06/NQ-CP dated January 21, 2021 of the Government; or the provisions in Article 64, Decree 08/2022/ND - CP, the roadmap to restrict the production and import of single-use plastic products, biodegradable plastic packaging and products and goods containing microplastics have not yet summarized, recognized and evaluated the results.

The delegate pointed out that currently, the amount of plastic waste dumped into the sea in our country is estimated at about 0.28 - 0.73 million tons/year. Plastic waste from the fishing industry (nets, fishing lines, ropes) accounts for an average of 51.7% in quantity and 73.3% in volume of plastic waste remaining. In many coastal tourist areas, the problem of plastic waste "overwhelming" the beautiful seascape is still recorded...

It is worth noting that the delegate frankly stated that the Monitoring Results Report has not established “responsibility constraints”. We are not clear who is ultimately responsible when targets are not met (the leading Ministry, the Provincial People's Committee, which department or branch), what the sanction mechanism is, and what the inspection, disclosure and handling procedures are.

Delegates attending the meeting. Photo: Pham Thang

The report and draft Resolution have mentioned in detail the current situation and the toolkit - these are noteworthy advances, but have not "named" the commitments for 2025 and have not attached responsibilities and sanctions to ensure timely implementation, avoiding the situation of "issuing a resolution and then leaving it there".

Therefore, the delegates requested the Supervisory Delegation to study and supplement the mechanism of binding responsibilities to clarify the people and the work. They requested the Government to assign the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the focal point for implementing Decision No. 1746/QD-TTg, to be responsible for supplementing the 2025 results report (target of reducing 50% of marine plastic waste; how far has 80% of coastal tourist destinations not using single-use plastic been implemented...). What is the roadmap for the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to realize the criteria for ranking tourist establishments with no single-use plastic?

Relevant ministries and sectors are requested to supplement the legal corridor and mechanism to realize the unfinished commitments. Specifically, a mechanism to encourage fishermen to collect plastic waste; a financial mechanism for fishing ports to buy plastic waste from fishermen, and a mechanism for port management boards to be responsible for handling fishing vessels that do not bring plastic waste back to shore.

Along with that, it is recommended that the Government boldly publicize the compliance rankings of provinces and cities (tourist sites, supermarkets, hotels that meet the "no single-use plastic" standard); revoke licenses, downgrade establishments that repeatedly violate the law, and even impose strong sanctions on provinces that do not meet the targets for implementing environmental commitments in the direction of reducing or retaining a part of the environmental career allocation for the following year; provinces that exceed the standards will be rewarded with increased spending.

“For the current environmental issue, we do not lack a legal corridor. What we are lacking is a mechanism to force action and awareness and responsibility to the end.” Expressing this point of view, the delegate suggested that this monitoring resolution must be an implementation resolution, with clear people, clear work, clear deadlines, and clear results; accompanied by rewards and fines from the budget; with strong enough sanctions for “not doing” behavior; and a mechanism to publicize data (images of violations) for the whole society to monitor.

Technical infrastructure is the "backbone" of environmental protection policy.

The current environmental protection technical infrastructure system is still unsynchronized, fragmented and has not received proper investment priority, this is a reality pointed out by National Assembly Delegate Ly Anh Thu (An Giang).

National Assembly Delegate Ly Anh Thu (An Giang). Photo: Ho Long

According to delegates, many localities lack wastewater and solid waste treatment systems, especially in rural areas and craft villages. Environmental treatment projects are often behind other socio-economic infrastructure projects such as transportation, schools, and hospitals. Capital allocation is small and prolonged; planning, land funds, and investment attraction mechanisms are still inadequate.

Many projects after investment lack operating funds and use outdated technology, leading to ineffective operations or even shutdowns. The inability to mobilize private capital for the environmental sector remains a major bottleneck.

The delegate emphasized that focusing on solving environmental problems does not stop at the task of state management or spending from the public budget. This is a common responsibility of the whole society, requiring mechanisms and policies to encourage, promote and strongly attract social resources for environmental protection.

In particular, it is necessary to promote the role of the private sector in activities such as pollution treatment, investment in technical infrastructure for the collection and treatment of wastewater and domestic solid waste in localities. In particular, the focus is on investing in the construction of urban wastewater collection systems and treatment plants, renovating and repairing seriously polluted river sections, and building synchronous infrastructure for the collection, transportation and treatment of domestic solid waste. This is not only a technical requirement, but also an urgent task to ensure people's quality of life, sustainable urban development and implementation of international commitments on emission reduction and climate protection.

Delegates attending the meeting. Photo: Quang Khanh

To overcome the shortcomings and meet the requirements of sustainable development, delegate Ly Anh Thu suggested that it is necessary to identify investment in environmental protection technical infrastructure as essential infrastructure, on par with other socio-economic infrastructure. Projects on wastewater collection, treatment, solid waste, and environmental restoration must be prioritized in the medium-term public investment portfolio and linked to the development targets of each sector and each locality.

It is necessary to review and compile statistics on environmental infrastructure projects that are behind schedule or lack capital, in order to have a definitive solution regarding capital, land fund, planning and investors; at the same time, create a specific mechanism to attract socialized resources, encourage the private sector to participate in investing, managing and operating waste treatment systems.

For completed projects, there should be a mechanism for regular operation and supervision, encouraging the application of advanced technology, and assigning management to professional or private units to avoid the situation of projects being "shelved" due to lack of funding or operating capacity.

It is necessary to assign targets and criteria for evaluating the results of public investment in the environment in assessing the management and operational capacity of heads of ministries, branches and localities. This will be a strong driving force to encourage localities to proactively allocate capital and effectively monitor investment.

Delegate Ly Anh Thu affirmed that environmental technical infrastructure is the “backbone” of all environmental protection policies. When infrastructure is invested synchronously, waste management, pollution treatment, and improvement of air, water, and soil quality can achieve sustainable effectiveness.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/ro-nguoi-ro-viec-ro-thoi-han-ro-ket-qua-10393274.html