Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Thenational strategy on environment protection should cover more issuesother than just biodiversity conservation, waste management andmonitoring.

The opinion was raised by environment expert TrinhThi Thanh at a conference on April 16 to discuss environment protectionplanning hosted by the Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA), the Instituteof Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment and the GermanAgency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

Since 2014 when the Law on Environment wasreleased, mechanisms to manage the environment which assess environmentalimpacts, develop nature protection strategies and set standards for waste havebeen deployed.

Despite these tools, many socioeconomicdevelopment plans have not taken environmental impacts into consideration,according to Thanh.

The lack of orientation and specific environmentmanagement tools specialising in certain areas with different socioeconomic andnatural conditions have challenged the strategy’s implementation.

Moreover, overlapping plans affecting thebalance between environment protection, biodiversity and culturalvalues urge for the co-operation of related agencies to deal with.    

Vu The Trung from the VEA stressed thesignificance of integrating environment protection policies in the developmentplans of the whole country as well as at regional and provincial levels.

Hoang Hong Hanh, from the Institute of Strategyand Policy on Natural Resources, considered zoning the first essential stepfor environmental protection planning.

Environmental zoning usually used amulti-criteria assessment tool to allow experts to focus on specialfeatures, clarify priority environmental goals and determine environmentalloads in different regions, she said.  

Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nhung, from Hanoi's Departmentof Natural Resources and Environment, said authorities had not approved thedivision into environmental zones due to conflicts with other urban developmentplans.

Also, water and air issues could not be handledby one individual region alone, she added.

The national strategy on environment protectionto 2020 with a vision to 2030 approved by then Prime Minister NguyenTan Dung in 2012 aims to control pollution, resources and biodiversitydegradation, while at the same time improving people’s living conditionsand climate change responses to achieve sustainable development goals.

It sets a vision to push back pollution andcreate fundamental conditions for a green, low waste low carbon economy by2030.-VNS/VNA