Director of the Department of Seas and Islands Nguyen Duc Toan stated that, according to Decision No. 1462/QD-BTNMT of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the "Reducing Ocean Plastic Waste in Vietnam" project was officially approved and implemented in July 2020.

It declared the focus on the central land and ten provinces/cities, districts/towns, including Ha Tinh, Quang Binh (Dong Hoi), Thua Thien Hue (A Luoi), Da Nang, and Kien Giang (Rach Gia and Phu Quoc).

Nguyen Duc Toan, Director of the Vietnamese Department of Seas and Islands, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Photo: Vietnam Eco-friendly Products Manufacturer Association)

The project contributes to minimizing the impact of plastic waste on the marine ecosystem and conserving biodiversity of the marine environment. At the same time, it improves community and social knowledge about the relationship between plastic waste disposal and negative consequences on the environment and health. Another goal is to improve staff capacity in managing and implementing activities related to waste management and ocean plastic waste by 2030 in Vietnam.

Regarding the implementation of the project in 2023, Toan shared that it was deployed more extensively and comprehensively. It led to many positive results in contributing to the process of implementing the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, decrees and circulars under the law related to solid waste and plastic waste management. More localities have committed to becoming Plastic Reduction Cities. This year, this important content has been widely summarized nationwide by the Project at the Plastic Reduction Urban Conference on November 4 in Hanoi.

Thanks to the project's activities, in many localities, schools have developed educational programs on reducing plastic waste. Thousands of tons of plastic waste have been collected to prevent plastic waste going to the marine environment. The project also supported the Management Board of Marine Protected Areas to clean important coral reef and seagrass areas in Phu Quoc, Con Dao, and Cu Lao Cham.

Nguyen Duc Toan believed that localities in the past year have participated, cooperated and actively coordinated with project officials, which led to many positive results. As the Project Owner, Toan acknowledged and appreciated the localities and the project staff from WWF Vietnam for their effort.

The results of the Project have contributed positively to evaluating the country's efforts in environmental protection and sustainable development of the blue ocean economy in Vietnam, said Toan.

In particular, the "Reducing Ocean Plastic Waste in Vietnam" project contributes to the implementation of the Law on marine and island resources and environment, and the Environmental Protection Law 2020. It actively helps realize the National Action Plan on reducing ocean plastic waste and the Vietnam Project to proactively prepare and participate in building a Global Agreement on Ocean Plastic Pollution.

On the other hand, the localities within the project scope complete the legal framework and improve the management of household solid waste, minimizing plastic waste, which is widely spread to many localities outside the project area. As the result, the project supports the formation of good innovative models.

Mechanism shortcomings to overcome

Toan stressed that, during the implementation process, the project still faces challenges with the system of policies and project implementation mechanisms, namely problems with project operation using foreign funding, synchronous coordination mechanisms between state management agencies, and other partners on managing plastics and its waste. Other challenges include the public's awareness not comprehensively improved due to insufficient promotion and advocacy programs from local authorities.

Many activities will be difficult to maintain effectiveness without the interest of beneficiaries in protecting and promoting achievements, such as removing hot spot, and expanding of waste collection. Installing the communication and monitoring equipment, or setting waste classification at source...becomes especially difficult after the project closure period.

To overcome these challenges at the remaining period of the project, the agencies, branches, and localities must coordinate to create more favorable conditions to complete the project implementation, supervision, and inspection, as well as to ensure the quick and effective approval of the project results. The goals are to achieve the initial goals of the project and the adjustments proposed according to the actual situation.

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