Launching the 'Make the World Cleaner' campaign in 2022 in Nghe An

On the morning of September 17, at Dien Thanh commune beach, Dien Chau district, Nghe An province, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment coordinated with the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union and the People's Committee of Nghe An province to organize the National Launching Ceremony in response to the Campaign "Make the World Cleaner" in 2022.

Attending the ceremony were comrades: Vo Tuan Nhan - Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment; Dinh Khac Dinh - Vice President of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union; Truong Xuan Cu - Vice President of the Vietnam Association of the Elderly.

On the side of Nghe An province, there was comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; also attending were representatives of leaders of provincial departments, branches and sectors and Dien Chau district.

Delegates attending the launching ceremony. Photo: Thanh Le

Towards sustainable development goals

The "Clean Up the World" campaign was launched globally by the United Nations Environment Program in 1993 and is held in the third week of September every year.

To date, the campaign has become an important annual international environmental event, attracting the participation of more than 180 countries, including Vietnam.

Comrade Vo Tuan Nhan - Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment launched the response to the "Make the world cleaner" campaign in 2022. Photo: Thanh Le

Environmental pollution, climate change, and resource depletion are global problems and the biggest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.

According to the World Bank's warning, the volume of global solid waste is increasing rapidly, from more than 3.5 million tons per day in 2010, forecast to reach more than 6 million tons per day by 2025 (an increase of 70% during this period).

The World Economic Forum also commented that without urgent action, by 2050, the oceans will be heavily polluted.

Comrade Dinh Khac Dinh - Vice President of the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union represented Farmers' Unions at all levels to speak in response to the program. Photo: Thanh Le

In Vietnam, with a population of more than 96 million people, the amount of waste discharged every year is very large, on average more than 61,000 tons of solid waste generated every day. The source of waste is large, but about more than 70% of the waste is mainly treated by landfill, which is wasteful, requires a lot of land, and if not well controlled, can cause pollution to the soil, water, and air.

Currently, most household waste is not classified at source, the amount of waste increases on average 10-16%/year, causing great pressure on waste treatment.

In 2022, continuing the theme launched by the United Nations, "Acting together to change the world", to improve the effectiveness of environmental protection work and aim for sustainable development goals.

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province spoke at the ceremony. Photo: Thanh Le

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan called on all levels, sectors and all organizations, individuals, communities, businesses, and press agencies to join hands in taking concrete actions for the environment, to fulfill environmental responsibilities through small but meaningful actions, thereby actively contributing to building the future of our "common home - the earth", creating a clean environment, maintaining ecological balance for the sustainable development of mankind.

Delegates presented trash bins to Dien Chau district. Photo: Thanh Le

Through the program, we also effectively deploy, propagate and guide to put the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 into real life, focusing on classifying solid waste at source; increasing recycling and reuse of waste; selecting appropriate waste treatment technologies that emit little into the environment, prioritizing waste treatment technologies combined with energy recovery; implementing circular economic models, green economy, sustainable development...

At the same time, organize activities to clean up, sanitize the environment and plant trees to create landscapes at residential areas, offices, schools... to raise people's awareness and responsibility for environmental protection,...

Specific, practical actions to protect the environment

Speaking at the ceremony, Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province highly appreciated and actively responded to the meaningful and practical activities launched by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in coordination with the Central Committee of the Vietnam Farmers' Union to implement the Campaign "Make the world cleaner" in 2022.

Delegates join forces to respond to the "Make the World Cleaner" Campaign in 2022. Photo: Thanh Le

Emphasizing the positive results that Nghe An province has achieved in recent times in environmental protection, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said that up to now, the number of serious environmental pollution points that have been thoroughly handled and the number of pollution points with residual plant protection chemicals that have been investigated, zoned, and treatment projects have been established has increased, the quality of the living environment in many places has been maintained and protected at a good level.

Members of socio-political organizations and unions, and farmers in Dien Chau district participated in cleaning Dien Thanh beach in response to the program. Photo: Thanh Le

The movement to reduce plastic waste has initially received the consensus and positive response of the people. Currently, the province has 322/411 communes meeting environmental and food safety criteria in new rural construction; has invested in modernizing the system of 21 automatic environmental monitoring stations connecting from the grassroots to the province and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; the forest cover rate has reached 58.5% with the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve having a high level of biodiversity - a "green area" in the province's environmental protection work.

Delegates plant trees in response to the "Make the World Cleaner" Campaign in 2022. Photo: Thanh Le

However, besides the achieved results, environmental protection work in the province still faces many difficulties and problems such as: Environment and environmental protection work in the province have not met the requirements of sustainable development, many environmental problems have not been thoroughly resolved.

The discharge of untreated or incompletely treated waste from domestic, livestock and production activities still occurs; many industrial clusters do not have centralized wastewater treatment systems. The collection and treatment of waste, remediation of pollution from landfills, and treatment of residual plant protection chemicals are still slow and inadequate.

A row of trees "Farmers thank Uncle Ho" was planted in Dien Thanh commune (Dien Chau) in response to the program. Photo: Thanh Le

Investment resources for environmental protection have been increased compared to the period 2011-2015, but still need to be supplemented to meet the needs of sustainable development of the province. The participation of economic and social components in environmental protection work is still limited.

Following the theme "Acting together to change the world" launched by the United Nations, this year's "Make the world cleaner" campaign aims to propagate and mobilize people to build a sustainable, greener, cleaner lifestyle, with specific and practical actions to protect the environment such as increasing cleaning and sanitation, planting trees, reducing plastic waste, recycling waste, etc. are also among the solutions that Nghe An province has been aiming for to solve environmental protection issues for sustainable development.

Farmers in Dien Chau district participate in tree planting in response to the program. Photo: Thanh Le

To join hands to protect the environment and improve the quality of living environment, on behalf of the leaders of Nghe An province, comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu called for the attention and active participation of agencies, unions, authorities at all levels, social organizations, sponsors, press agencies and communities to continue to pay attention to effectively implementing measures to improve and protect the environment; use natural resources rationally, economically and effectively; exploit together with recovery and regeneration; develop the economy in an environmentally friendly direction.

Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of State management in the exploitation, use and protection of resources, contributing to the rapid and sustainable socio-economic development of the province and the country and improving people's lives.

At the ceremony, delegates presented waste sorting bins from representatives of Coca-Cola Vietnam Company and representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to Dien Chau district; launched a community campaign to respond to the "Make the world cleaner" campaign in 2022.

Delegates also deployed the model "Farmer trees thank Uncle Ho" in response to the "Make the world cleaner" campaign in 2022.