Also attending the Conference were Mr. Le Quang Nam - Vice Chairman of Da Nang City People's Committee; leaders and relevant officers of units under the Department of Environmental Pollution Control; representatives of the Department of Environment, Department of Nature Conservation and Biodiversity; representatives of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Management Boards of Economic Zones and Industrial Parks of 16 provinces and cities in the Central - Central Highlands region.

Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan said that 2023 is the time to summarize and evaluate the results of 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW dated June 3, 2013 of the 11th Party Central Committee on proactively responding to climate change, strengthening resource management and environmental protection; is a pivotal year to implement the goals and targets set at the 13th Party Central Committee Conference, in which environmental protection, pollution control and environmental quality improvement were identified as one of the key tasks in the coming time to develop the economy and society in a sustainable manner.

However, the environment of our country in general and the Central and Central Highlands regions in particular are still under pressure from the process of industrialization, urbanization, and over-exploitation of natural resources. The problem of environmental pollution continues to be complicated and there is a risk of pollution. The above issues have posed us with significant challenges in state management of environmental protection in general and environmental pollution control in particular.

“Determining the key task in 2023 to effectively and synchronously implement the regulations and policies of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and further improve the effectiveness and efficiency of State management of environmental protection, localities in the Central Highlands region need to clarify the current situation of water, soil and air pollution; existing weaknesses and limitations and propose control solutions so that we can move from passive to proactive, towards improving environmental quality,” Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan suggested.

According to Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan, localities in the Central Highlands region need to focus on implementing a number of important contents according to the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020. Specifically, localities focus on developing environmental protection contents in provincial planning to be consistent with the National Environmental Protection Plan, the draft Master Plan for the National Environmental Monitoring System for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050.

At the same time, focus resources on solving the current environmental pollution problem in the Central Highlands region; in which, focus on building wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure for industrial parks, industrial clusters, urban areas and craft villages that are operating but do not have a centralized wastewater collection and treatment system that meets environmental protection requirements. In particular, it is necessary to resolutely not accept, expand or increase the capacity of investment projects in industrial parks, industrial clusters and craft villages that do not meet environmental protection infrastructure requirements.

Along with that, implementing waste management work according to the provisions of law, focusing on developing a plan to classify waste and domestic solid waste at source to start implementing from 2025 according to the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 to increase the ability to recycle and reuse waste, contributing to promoting a circular economy.

In addition, develop solutions to strengthen inspection, examination and control of waste sources that pose a risk of environmental pollution, focusing on surprise inspections and examinations; closely monitor waste sources through automatic and continuous monitoring systems.

At the same time, develop solutions to overcome pollution and improve the environment for areas currently polluted by unsanitary landfills, river basin pollution and ocean plastic waste pollution.

According to the report on environmental pollution control in the Central Highlands region, in the period of 2020-2022, air quality is relatively good and stable, the concentration of pollution parameters is relatively low. The results of water environment monitoring in the past 2 years in the Vu Gia - Thu Bon and Huong river basins have not recorded any pollution hotspots. However, in the estuary area, saline intrusion continues and tends to increase in the dry season, typically in the estuary in the downstream area of ​​the Vu Gia - Thu Bon river basin. The quality of coastal seawater in this area is being affected and declining. In some areas, seawater quality is polluted by basic parameters (TSS, N-NH4+, P-PO43-, Fe) and specific parameters.

By the end of 2022, the entire region will have 39/51 industrial parks with centralized wastewater treatment facilities, 13/51 industrial parks without centralized wastewater treatment facilities (reaching the rate of industrial parks with centralized wastewater treatment facilities in the area of ​​76.5%), of which 10/16 provinces and cities will reach 100% of the rate of industrial parks with centralized wastewater treatment facilities. Regarding continuous automatic monitoring, currently, only 29/51 industrial parks have installed automatic wastewater monitoring systems, reaching a rate of 56.86%.

The worrying issue in this area is that urban domestic wastewater from type IV and above collected and treated to meet environmental technical standards in the area in the 3 years from 2020-2022 is still low, with rates of 19.98%, 19.19% and 29.77% respectively.

By 2022, the total number of production facilities at risk of causing environmental pollution under the management of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment operating in the Central and Central Highlands regions will be 80. The Department also assigned staff to regularly monitor automatic environmental monitoring data of the facilities, closely contact and guide the facilities in implementing environmental protection regulations, especially the new regulations of the Law on Environmental Protection.

In 2022, the collection and treatment rate of domestic solid waste in the whole region will reach about 79.19% and this rate will remain almost unchanged compared to 2020 and 2021, averaging about 80%; this rate is 5% lower than the collection and treatment rate for 28 northern provinces/cities and about 5.16% lower than the national average. The technology for treating domestic solid waste is still mostly sanitary landfilling, of which 50 are sanitary landfills and 105 are unsanitary landfills....

At the Conference, delegates representing the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of 14 provinces and cities in the Central Highlands region discussed, shared and recommended the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to remove some difficulties and obstacles in the implementation of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, documents guiding the implementation of the law as well as proposed some contents to consider and absorb to continue to improve the legal system on environmental protection, supplementary and amended contents of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP and Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT in the coming time; inspection of the implementation of the contents of the Environmental License under the authority of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and localities; Management of domestic solid waste, management of industrial waste and hazardous waste.

On that basis, representatives of the leaders of the units under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment answered and resolved a number of difficulties and obstacles in the process of implementing the law on environmental protection such as: Environmental pollution control; monitoring and responding to environmental incidents; management of domestic solid waste; management of wastewater generated from industrial parks, clusters, craft villages, and livestock; appraisal and assessment of environmental impact; inspection and examination of environmental protection...

From 2016 to 2022, the Central and Central Highlands Environmental Pollution Control Department conducted inspections and examinations of environmental law compliance at more than 400 establishments in 16 provinces in the Central and Central Highlands regions; advised on the issuance of administrative sanctions for environmental violations with a total fine of nearly 18 billion VND.