High expectations for national environment action event series

A national-scale event series marking World Environment Day, World Ocean Day, the Month of Action for the Environment, and Viet Nam Sea and Islands Week 2026 is being organized in Cua Lo ward, Nghe An province from June 4 to 6.

The program is jointly organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the Central Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, and Nghe An province. It is designed to make environmental protection a tangible action agenda woven into the daily lives of citizens, while also informing policy adjustments on the maritime economy, natural resources, and climate in the new development period.

From environment movement to social behavior change

The most distinctive feature of this year's activities is a deliberate departure from sloganeering and symbolic gestures. In their place, the organizing bodies are designing an integrated chain linking awareness, policy, and concrete community action.

At the June 1 press conference, Nguyen Ngoc Thach, Editor-in-Chief of the Viet Nam Agriculture and Nature News, explained that the activities have been structured as a connected sequence. Policy forums are held first to gather input from management practice and the business community. Community activities, an arts program, and a formal launch ceremony follow to broaden social reach. According to Thach, the overarching goal is to catalyze the shift from awareness to action, and from commitment to implementation.

Within this structure, the movement "All People Unite to Protect the Environment, for a Green, Clean, and Beautiful Viet Nam" serves as the action commitment. Cao Xuan Thao, Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, said the movement will be deployed in a coordinated manner from commune level through residential communities, schools, enterprises, and government agencies, with concrete criteria rather than ceremonial announcements.

Unlike many previous environmental programs that focused on short-term campaigns, this initiative targets the formation of lasting habits within communities. The actions highlighted are deliberately small-scale but directly tied to everyday life, sorting waste at source, reducing household rubbish, keeping neighborhoods clean, and limiting single-use plastics.

Deputy Minister Dang Ngoc Diep noted that environmental issues are no longer distant concerns but are directly affecting people's quality of life. He cited the example of fine particulate matter and air pollution in Hanoi, arguing that solutions cannot be confined to any single locality since emissions spread across administrative boundaries and require inter-regional coordination.

This approach also reflects a shift in environmental governance thinking. Rather than concentrating solely on end-of-pipe treatment, authorities are working to engage citizens from the outset, making environmental protection a routine part of daily life rather than an occasional response to crisis.

To achieve this, the Ministry plans to coordinate with the Elderly Association, the Youth Union, schools, and social organizations to embed environmental activities more deeply into community life. Elderly citizens are expected to serve as reminders and advocates for environmental consciousness within families, while youth and students will lead community-based initiatives.

As the host locality, Nghe An province is also accelerating preparations to mobilize broad public participation. Leadership of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment reported that coordinated communications are being rolled out across the Cua Lo area to ensure residents are informed and actively engaged in environmental protection activities, beach clean-ups, and plastic waste reduction efforts.

Alongside community activities, the arts program "Viet Nam's Sea, A Journey through Green Space" is also expected to generate strong public resonance. Rather than serving purely as entertainment, the program is designed to tell the story of the relationship between people and the sea, and between economic development and the conservation of natural resources and the environment.

Paving the way for environmental and maritime economy policy adjustment

Within the program framework, the National Forum on Environment and Climate under the theme "From Policy to Action" will focus discussions on major policy directions being researched as part of the revision of the Law on Environmental Protection and related policies covering emissions reduction, the green economy, the circular economy, and the net-zero emissions target.

Nguyen Thi Thien Phuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Environment, said the forum will convene roundtable discussions among regulators, enterprises, and local authorities to address practical difficulties encountered when implementing emissions reduction models on the ground. This reflects a trend toward more evidence-based and bottom-up policymaking, moving away from a purely top-down administrative approach.

Alongside this, a National Workshop on completing institutional frameworks and policies to promote sustainable maritime economic development will also be held. This is considered one of the central agenda items, given that 21 of Viet Nam's 34 provinces and cities have coastlines, while the potential for maritime economic growth remains largely untapped.

According to Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Viet Nam Agency of Seas and Islands, the ongoing revision of the Law on Marine and Island Resources and Environment is confronting three major categories of obstacles.

The first is legal overlap, as multiple laws, including the Law on Petroleum, the Law on Maritime, and various resource and environment regulations, simultaneously govern marine space, resulting in fragmented and inconsistent management.

The second concerns the mechanisms for allocating, leasing, and exploiting marine resources, which have not generated sufficient incentives for maritime economic development. After more than a decade of implementation, many current provisions have revealed significant limitations, particularly in resource allocation and investment attraction.

The third relates to marine environmental pollution control. Toan noted that development pressures are mounting while existing environmental control institutions are not yet robust enough to uphold the principle that economic growth must not come at the expense of environmental integrity.

In response to these bottlenecks, the draft amended law is being developed toward more integrated and unified governance of marine space. Mechanisms for allocating, leasing, and auctioning marine resources will also be revised toward greater openness and transparency, providing a clearer legal framework for enterprises.

Deputy Minister Dang Ngoc Diep emphasized that what matters even more is reorganizing the management apparatus so that citizens and enterprises do not have to navigate an excessive number of administrative contact points when pursuing maritime economy-related procedures.

This orientation reaffirms that the early June 2026 event series is not simply an annual communications exercise, it is being deployed as a large-scale policy consultation channel. Issues spanning pollution control, emissions reduction, the circular economy, and marine resource management are all being addressed within the dual imperative of advancing economic development while protecting the environment and improving quality of life.