The World Environment Day (June 5), launched by the UN Environment Programme, has been celebrated in Vietnam since 1982 and become a nationwide movement, helping raise public awareness of environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and climate change response. This year, the day is themed "Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience”. All-level Party Committees and administrations in Hoa Binh province continue to view improving awareness, restoring land, and fighting drought and desertification as an indispensable part of the socio-economic development plan and an important task during the sustainable development process.
Young people in Chieng Chau commune, Mai Chau district, clean up a road to Lac village.
According to the provincial People’s Committee, natural disasters caused losses worth over 129 billion VND (5 million USD) in Hoa Binh in 2023. In particular, prolonged and widespread heat last year resulted in water levels of many local rivers and springs falling down to below the dead level. This situation may repeat in 2024 as the province’s hydro-meteorological station forecast strong heats will continue this summer, posing risk of widespread drought and water shortage.
Pham Thi Hoa, head of the environmental protection division, said risks of land erosion, drought, and desertification have never been so obvious like at present. This year’s World Environment Day is themed "Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience” to appeal to countries around the globe to work together to restore land, fight desertification, and improve drought resilience, thus slowing down climate change, protecting the nature, and improving livelihoods and food security for billions of people worldwide.
Viewing environmental protection as a foundation, focal factor, and prerequisite for sustainable economic development, Hoa Binh is pressing on with comprehensive solutions to protect the environment and cope with climate change.
In particular, it is stepping up the implementation of the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection and the document guiding the implementation of the law; the Government and the province’s programmes, resolutions, decisions, and directives on active response to climate change, environmental protection, and greenhouse gas emission reduction; measures for responding to heat, drought, water shortages, and saltwater intrusion; along with carbon credit management.
Local authorities are reviewing and monitoring the land environment quality; building and implementing plans to treat and restore polluted land areas; and devising measures for prenventing and minimising drought and desertification.
Coordination is being enhanced among all-level authorities, sectors, and localities while conditions are created for locals to access anti-drought and desertification information and techniques.
Efforts are being stepped up to protect and develop forests, efficiently use land resources, develop livelihoods for residents in desertifying areas and those at risk of desertification. Advanced solutions are also being considered and applied to efficiently use water resources and protect land surface.
Besides, Hoa Binh is working to improve public awareness. It identifies land restoration and drought and desertification prevention as an indispensable part of the socio-economic development plan and also an important task during the sustainable development process.
The province will also expand effective models of land restoration and drought and desertification prevention, especially in the areas directly affected by natural phenomena.
In recent years, under the leadership of the provincial Party Committee and People’s Council, and through the concerted efforts of local Party organisations, authorities, and ethnic communities, Hoa Binh province has achieved significant progress in implementing ethnic affairs and policies. These efforts have brought a new face-lift to ethnic-minority-inhabited and mountainous areas, according to Ha Van Di, Head of the Ethnic Affairs Board of Hoa Binh province.
Hoa Binh province's association of education promotion on November 7 held a conference to review its month-long programme and present the "Hoc khong bao gio cung (endless learning)" scholarships for 2024. Key attendees included Nguyen Phi Long, alternate Member of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of the provincial Party Committee; Le Manh Hung, Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association for Promoting Education (VAPE); and Nguyen Van Chuong, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.
At HANOI JVC Training Center (Hanoi), the Farmers’s Support Center, the Provincial Farmers' Union and VTC1 International Development joint Stock Company recently held a signing ceremony for a cooperation agreement to link consulting and create the labor resources working abroad for a limited period of time.
In recent years, the education career in Yen Thuy district has changed positively. The school facilities have newly been built and the quality of education has improved.
The Board for Women's Advancement of Hoa Binh province on November 11 officially launched the Action Month for Gender Equality, focusing on preventing and addressing gender-based violence. As part of the event, a special talk was held on the theme of sharing household work for a happy family. The event drew 300 delegates, including Nguyen Van Toan, Standing Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee and head of the provincial Board for Women's Advancement.
The people in Hoa Binh province are aware of the need to build and preserve the cultural traditions and unique customs of their communities, especially those related to ethnic identities and family values which serve as foundation for a vibrant, tradition-rich Hoa Binh, enriching community life. In recent years, the province’s Party Committee, authorities, and residents have paid heed to building and developing family values and fostering human standards in the new era.
