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| Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh called on ministries, sectors, central agencies, local authorities, organizations, individuals and businesses to take practical actions to solve the problem of plastic waste pollution. (Source: VGP) |
World Environment Day on June 5, 2023 was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with the theme "Solutions to Plastic Pollution", focusing on the campaign "Beat Plastic Pollution".
The launching ceremony of “World Oceans Day and World Environment Day” was organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to promote and create practical actions with widespread impact to raise public awareness along with people's activities to protect resources and protect the marine and island environment.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh said that "solutions to plastic pollution" with a focus on implementing the "Fighting plastic pollution" campaign continues to be chosen as the theme of World Environment Day 2023.
This message, together with the theme "Ocean Planet: The Tide is Changing" of World Oceans Day, strongly conveys the message of building a sustainable lifestyle in harmony with nature; emphasizing the role of the ocean, the life of humanity depends on the ocean; humanity needs to join hands to protect the ocean as well as our entire blue planet.
The Minister emphasized that World Environment Day and World Oceans Day 2023 are an opportunity to affirm determination, change awareness, unify actions, proactively overcome difficulties and challenges, prevent the increase in the rate of pollution and environmental degradation, exploit and sustainably use marine and island resources, ensure ecological balance; gradually replace the use of hard-to-decompose plastic bags with environmentally friendly products in daily life, contributing to environmental protection for the goal of sustainable national development.
"We are facing many challenges as the issue of white pollution is closely related to economic development and social stability. With about 50% of the country's population living in low-lying and coastal areas, Vietnam is considered one of the most vulnerable countries and is subject to many negative impacts of climate change, environmental pollution, and rising sea levels.
That poses many challenges to the implementation of poverty reduction goals, millennium development goals and sustainable development of the country, requiring us to have practical and timely response solutions," the Minister emphasized.
In recent times, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has actively and proactively advised the Party and State to issue many important policies and guidelines on resource management, environmental protection, climate change response and sustainable development of the marine economy.
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| National launching ceremony of Vietnam Sea and Islands Week, Action Month for the Environment in response to World Environment Day (June 5), World Ocean Day (June 8), June 4 in Cua Lo town (Nghe An). (Source: Center for Natural Resources and Environment Communication |
Thereby, gradually raising public awareness of the harmful effects of plastic products and single-use nylon bags on the environment, ecosystem and human health; encouraging the production of environmentally friendly products to replace traditional plastic products is implemented synchronously nationwide; many movements to prevent and combat plastic waste are launched, attracting the participation of a large number of people.
However, Vietnam’s work of protecting the environment and managing marine and island resources is still facing many difficulties and challenges. The marine environment shows signs of pollution; natural resources and biodiversity continue to decline; exploitation and use of marine and island resources are still ineffective and unsustainable.
People's awareness of resource exploitation and use is not high, and the habit of consuming disposable plastic products has been posing enormous pressure on environmental management and protection.
Accompanying the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment at this launching ceremony, Unilever Vietnam officially launched the 2023 tree planting and reforestation campaign with the goal of planting 250,000 more trees, bringing the total number of trees planted to 630,000.
Pioneering in Vietnam in the initiative to build a circular economy in plastic waste management through the public-private partnership (PPC) model, Unilever has worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and other partners to help classify at source and collect and recycle plastic waste. Since 2020, Unilever's cooperation projects have collected more than 20,000 tons of plastic waste and created conditions for plastic recycling activities to flourish in Vietnam.
Since 2021, Unilever has actively cooperated with the Center for Natural Resources and Environment Communication, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to implement the tree planting and afforestation program "For a green Vietnam" with the goal of 1 million trees by 2025.
To date, 380,000 trees and 60,000 seed balls have been planted in 19 provinces and 9 national parks, reaching and inspiring more than 500,000 young people. This is also an activity that contributes to the regeneration of nature, creating a positive carbon source to help address climate change in Vietnam.
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