Communist Review - In addition to the pillars of production, culture and security and order, the rural environment protection in Viet Nam, especially in the period of 2016 - 2020 is identified as one of the main backbones to improve the quality of rural people’s life, bringing the National Target Program on new rural building of Viet Nam in the period of 2010 - 2020 into deep and sustainable play. Despite a variety of difficulties with several unexpected results⁽¹⁾, by February 2020, Viet Nam had had 66.5% of communes meeting environmental criteria (many of them have reached the rate of 100%, such as Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Vinh Phuc, Dong Nai, Can Tho...) and there have been significant changes (in 2010, only 6.7% of communes met the standard, in 2015 the figure rose to 42.2%); Viet Nam’s rural areas are increasingly spacious, neat, and beautiful.

Several outstanding results 

Resolution No.26-NQ/TW, dated August 5, 2008, of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, 10^th Term, On Agriculture, Farmers and Rural Areas, sets the goals: “Constantly improving the material and spiritual life of the rural population with less gaps among regions, fostering faster changes in more difficult areas; farmers being trained with the production level equal to that of advanced countries in the region and being ready to be masters of new rural areas.  Building a modern, comprehensive, and sustainable agriculture; producing large goods with high productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness; firmly ensuring national food security in both short and long-term. Building new rural areas with modern socio-economic infrastructure, reasonable economic structure and production forms; linking agriculture to the rapid development of industry, services and urban planning; building a stable rural society, rich in national cultural identity; improving people’s knowledge, protecting ecological environment, strengthening the political system in the countryside under the leadership of the Party; building the farmer class, consolidating a strong worker-farmer-intellectual alliance, and creating a solid socio-economic and political foundation for industrialization, modernization, construction and protection of the Socialist Viet Nam Fatherland”⁽²⁾.

To concretize Resolution No.26-NQ/TW, the Prime Minister has approved the National Target Program on new rural building of Viet Nam in the period of 2010 - 2020 (hereinafter referred as the Program); at the same time, launching the emulation movement “The whole country combines efforts to build up new rural areas” throughout the country.

After 10 years implementing the Program, despite numerous difficulties and challenges, the whole political system and people of Viet Nam have always determined and joint hands to carry out the Program and achieved a number of comprehensive and prominent results in all areas of rural socio-economic life: the appearance of many rural areas has undergone dramatic changes, from essential infrastructure of transport, irrigation, culture, health, education etc. to models of handicraft production, industry, services, tourism etc, increasing income and ensuring sustainable livelihoods for rural areas. In particular, in the field of agricultural production, various models of centralized agricultural production, restructuring and high technology application have strongly developed, along with “new wind”, which is the “One commune, one product” Program (OCOP Program), aiming at improving the efficiency of the specialty product group of each rural area, helping the rural people get higher income; reducing the number of poor households, improving the material and spiritual life of the rural people, and strengthening grassroots political system. By the end of February 2020, the country had had 4,974 communes (accounting for 56% of the total number of communes nationwide) meeting the new rural standards and 120 district-level units (accounting for 17.6% of the total number of district-level units nationwide) meeting the new rural standards, one year ahead of the target as mentioned in the Party’s Resolution No.26-NQ/TW.

It can be said that the achievements of the Program are enormous, comprehensive and historical ⁽³⁾; thereby, bringing Viet Nam’s agriculture, farmers and rural areas to a new level, affirming the potentials, advantages and strengths of Vietnamese agriculture, farmers and rural areas once their capabilities are brought into full play in the process of international economic integration.

Over the past 10 years, the Program has implemented a variety of comprehensive solutions to protect the rural environment, integrate environmental issues into agricultural production and new rural development criteria in all fields. Environmental protection is not only about collecting, treating waste, improving and restoring the environment (end-of-pipe treatment), but also about changing production models, behavior, lifestyle to minimize environmental impacts and gradually improve the quality of the environment. It can be said that these comprehensive solutions have resulted in positive results, contributing to changing the face of the countryside, creating a positive change in the awareness of authorities at all levels and people about environmental protection.

First of all, the program has put forward many solutions to limit and minimize the impacts on the environment, especially from agricultural production activities. Plant protection drugs are managed and controlled more strictly from production to utilization, with drugs harmful to soil and plants being limited (reduce by 30% of plant protection products compared to 2018, about 1,000 products by 2020); encouraging enterprises and people to increase the production and use of biological plant protection drugs; synchronously applying various solutions to strongly reduce the amount of inorganic fertilizers, increasing the use of organic fertilizers. Also, the collection and treatment of post-use packing has been carried out more regularly. In many localities, farmers’ associations and socio-political organizations have been assigned to guide, supervise and implement effective models, such as Program “Fields without pesticide packaging" (in Yen Khanh district, Ninh Binh province); Program “With farmers to protect the environment” initiated by Loc Troi Group in 22 southern province etc. People are instructed and encouraged to reuse livestock wastes as organic fertilizers, which have concurrently solved the issues of waste treatment cost, fertilizer source to replace inorganic ones and environmental pollution. Many localities have applied preferential policies to encourage the development of environment-friendly production models; to prioritize the development and use of green and clean products, and to develop experience tourism in the countryside.

Measures to control environmental pollution have been strengthened, focusing on promoting the collection and treatment of domestic solid waste in rural areas: 42/63 provinces and cities have issued plans of collective waste treatment for rural areas, of which, many provinces and cities have invested to build up provincial and inter-district level waste treatment systems; the rate of collected domestic solid waste has increased (from about 40% in 2015 to about 50% - 55% as at present); most communes have run efficient waste collection network; local garbage classification activities have been carried out in many localities, such as Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Ha Tinh, Dong Nai, An Giang... Many models of wastewater treatment from rural residential clusters have been deployed, overcoming the discharge of polluted wastewater into the irrigation system. Environmental protection in production, business and service units in rural areas has been strengthened, with 88.05% of industrial zones obtaining centralized wastewater treatment systems (of which, 42% have installed automatic and continuous wastewater monitoring systems); many industrial zones have invested in centralized wastewater treatment systems (reaching 16% of the existing industrial zones); environmental pollution in trade villages has been gradually overcome by relocating polluting facilities to industrial zones and clusters (47/47 seriously polluted trade villages have been implementing plans to handle environmental pollution).

Additionally, environment quality improvement and restoration solutions have been implemented with more trees planted along roads. The movement of flower and tree planting to build up green – clean – beautiful landscape (thousands of kilometers of flower road, shade tree road nationwide); organic-agriculture models, circulated-agriculture production models, “seasonable farming village” models have been applied by several localities (Yen Bai, An Giang,..) to best take advantage of the specific natural conditions of each area and reduce negative impacts to the environment.

To steadily improve the environment quality, a number of localities have concurrently applied different methods to improve water pollution in lakes, pools, rivers (such as Gia Lam, Hanoi); closed polluted dumping grounds which restores environment in polluted areas (old dumping grounds, plant protection chemical storage, etc.); and launched campaigns to improve rural landscape and environment, significantly contributing to the new rural construction.

Remaining issues

It can be said that besides the results as mentioned above there remain numerous shortcomings in the work of environment protection, making the environment one of the least effective and most unstable criteria in the National set of criteria on building new rural areas.

There are a number of reasons; however, the main ones include: issues related to planning and implementation which fail to reasonably link economic sectors for long-term and stable use; untreated wastewater (especially from domestic use) being discharged into rivers, lakes and used to water plants or raise aquatic products; unplanned development, prioritizing production without focusing on environment protection; uncontrolled agricultural production processes, leading to over-exploitation (misuse of plant protection chemicals, over-exploited ecosystems); multi-faceted effects from urbanization, population re-distribution and shift from small to mass production.., etc.

In the context of rapid rural economic development and greater shift between urban and rural areas, various challenges, which should be solved to protect the rural environment as well as to successfully carry out comprehensive, stable and effective new rural development, arise as follows:

Firstly, it is of great necessity to set out social – economic development orientation for each particular locality. Planning and development of industrial zones, trade villages, and collective production areas are fundamental requirements of a developing society. However, they should be located at suitable areas that are at suitable distance to isolate and solve unexpected effects due to environmental pollution; building up ecological buffers (water surfaces, vegetation covers) surrounding such collective production areas. In the development orientation of industry and home-craft industry, models with high pollution risk should be removed. Environment cannot be exchanged for economic development by all means. In trade village and rural career development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has carried out revolutionary changes, clearly defining industries and sectors which should be preserved and developed to increase villagers’ income, improve their life, maintain food safety and reduce environmental pollution risks.

Secondly, it is essential to build up a stable agriculture in a ecological way, also known as eco-agriculture, to protect bio-diversity and safety (limiting monoculture); to strictly comply with eco-natural rules; to implement crop rotation, cross-breeding to improve productivity, preserve and protect breeds in the same population area; to maintain a multi-layer ecosystem; to protect land (especially nourishing microorganism system in land); to maximize the use of organic matters (bio-originated plant protection, organic fertilizers); to strictly follow the rules of safety and metabolisation; to minimize waste discharge into the environment. Therefore, the material circulation should be calculated effectively to turn waste into useful source for agricultural production. Previously, there were several agricultural production models applying ecosystem preservation rules, such as “Garden - lake - farm”, “Paddy field – flower road”, “Agricultural and forestry combination” etc. These models partly proved the preeminent features of a stable eco-agriculture. Recently, there have been a variety of rotating crops among coffee, pepper, maca with fruit trees (such as jackfruit, durian…,etc.), along with raising bees to increase income per area unit; among industrial plants and vegetables or among different vegetables..,etc. These models should be further invested, researched, adjusted and developed.

Thirdly, it is vital to build up eco-rural resident and household areas. Over the past years, due to impatience, several localities have concretized most of the rural roads, fences and even yards. Additionally, cultural buildings, sport centers, village gates etc. have been built with concrete. At the same time, the vegetation covers has been removed, causing the villages to lose their untouched beauty and leading to floods, traffic jams and rising temperature. The images of banyan trees, water wells and communal houses, which once distinguished between rural and urban areas, have gradually become blurred⁽⁴⁾. However, several localities have soon succeeded in new rural development with eco-residential area models, which not only creates the tangible beauty for rural areas, but also brings about spiritual values, then forming economic models based on ecosystem potentials. Two most outstanding examples are Nam Dinh and Ha Tinh. Like other ecosystems, resident group or rural household ones should reduce and gradually eliminate the discharge of waste. All kinds of waste should be classified and recycled by families; wastewater should be treated on site with friendly and simple methods. Rivers and irrigation channels should be regularly dredged and planted with suitable vegetation to clean the water. Lakes, pools should be improved to become the center of community activity, relaxation…

Rural eco-environment protection in association with comprehensive new rural construction

New rural building in Viet Nam is a revolution contributing to best improving social - economic development foundation in rural areas. It is also a golden opportunity for authorities at all levels to adjust and address any remaining issues. To rural environment, it is important to have a comprehensive view to set out stable solutions through integrating environmental issues into all industries, sectors (from planning, developing, educating, communicating,...) to promote overall strengths to protect the environment. Rural environment protection should be closely linked to changing the lifestyle of rural people and their agricultural production methods. Simultaneously, environment protection not only means overcoming pollution and improving the environment, but also involves the eradication of negative effects and illegal waste discharges. To protect rural eco-environment, associated with comprehensive, stable and effective rural building, it is necessary to concurrently carry out the following measures:

Firstly, planning. Everything should start from planning with practical vision and roadmap. Most importantly, planning should be based on regional and local practical conditions and strict insurance of ecosystem conservation principles (there have been valuable lessons in recent years). This was emphasized by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the National Conference on reviewing the National Target Program on New Rural Development 2010 - 2020⁽⁵⁾. For all sectors and localities, together with the 5-year period of a socio-economic development plan, it is essential to carefully review the strategic directions of each sector, each specific area to create vigorous developments in both quantity and quality, as well as to ensure the balance and stability principles of sustainable development. For each residential cluster or household, the issue of planning is not only about landscape and ecology, but also production and other cultural and social activities. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been working with other ministries, sectors and localities to review and complete a new set of new rural criteria at all levels, clarifying the contents that have not been quantified in the environment criteria, as a basis for implementation for the coming phases, of which 2021 - 2025 period is in the short term.

Secondly, policymaking. In fact, Viet Nam still lacks specific and highly feasible policies for the protection of ecological environment in rural areas ⁽⁶⁾. In the coming time, Viet Nam should attach greater attention to this issue and clearly define that policies for “protection of rural ecological environment” cover not only the matter of waste treatment but also waste minimization. These include policies on environment-friendly raw materials, renewable energy, waste-free production and processing technologies; price subsidy policy, brand and reputation building for agricultural products, bringing clean OCOP products to the market; policies on forming waste exchange markets (collection, recycling, reuse, treatment); considering waste (especially organic waste) as commercially valuable commodity.

Thirdly, technology solutions. This can be considered as a key point or a breakthrough of the revolution in agriculture, farmers and rural areas that should be focused in the coming period. In fact, in the past 10 years, Viet Nam has heavily depended on imported technologies without paying attention to preserving and promoting traditional practical values. The scientific and technological revolution has supported localities to change crop structure, practice economical irrigation, and use membrane houses, net houses, hydroponic method, etc. However, after a period of development, various shortcomings have been clearly realized in the application of scientific and technological solutions to Viet Nam’s specific conditions. Therefore, in the years to come, it is of great significance to apply technological measures and solutions in economical and effective energy using; clean production technologies in food processing and preservation; technologies in converting organic waste into secondary products; environment-friendly waste treatment technologies; technologies to treat pollution of ponds, lakes, farms, aquatic areas, trade villages, polluted areas due to waste bury, etc.

Fourthly, community solutions. Rural ecology protection is not separable from community. People will voluntarily apply clean production solutions while maintaining or increasing economic production values, ensuring social security and protecting their own health. People are willing to donate land to public works, contributing money and workdays to landscape construction activities, when they themselves realize the fairness, equality and legitimate interests in such community activities. Therefore, we should change our approach, which is to analyze and highlight the values ​​that are directly given to the people in implementing environmental protection solutions ⁽⁷⁾.

Fifthly, suitable resources and financial tools. The National Target Program on New Rural Development in the past 10 years, especially in the 2016-2020 period, has achieved outstanding results thanks to the resource concentration (from the Central to local, enterprises, credit, citizen contributions and other legitimate financial sources). However, it is true that the resource allocation for environmental criteria in several localities is still limited. To overcome such shortcomings, it is crucial to adjust the regulations on capital allocation for the National Target Program on New Rural Development. Accordingly, it is of necessity to regulate the minimum proportion of state budget resources for the criteria that reflect the pillars of the new rural development, including the environment. In addition, it is important to diversify resources for environmental protection, maximize the participation of enterprises and communities in environmental protection and waste treatment activities. It is time for us not only to call communities or enterprises to join the movement, but also to point out the practical economic benefits that they could gain when implementing environmental protection measures. One of the most important points is to apply the polluter pays principle, especially in industrial production, under the strict supervision of the masses. For households, the formation of compulsory payments (sanitation or other environment fees) and voluntary payments ensure fairness and transparency ⁽⁸⁾.

In summary, to continue comprehensively building new rural areas, which could ensure both economic growth and environmental sustainability, it is necessary to be consistent with the goals and views set out in Resolution No. 26 -NQ/TW, “On agriculture, farmers, and rural areas” and Conclusion No. 54-KL/TW, dated August 07, 2019, by the Politburo, “On the continuation of implementation of the 7^th Central Conference Resolution, 10^th term on agriculture, farmers and rural areas”, identifying goals in the next period that are continuing to strengthen and develop socio-economic infrastructure in rural areas in a sustainable manner, focusing on the balance of ecosystems; promoting the agricultural sector restructuring, agricultural production development to protect ecosystem; stably increasing people’s income and responding to climate change; attaching importance to exploiting the advantages of each region; renovating growth models in association with the development of clean agriculture, organic agriculture, hi-tech agriculture; producing clean and safe traditional OCOP products; improving environment-friendly production processes; taking advantage of topographical conditions, climate, natural landscape, socio-economic infrastructure to promote the development of tourism economy, of which attention to models of ecological population communities, new rural tourism models with the people and community being at the center should be paid./.

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(1) The Program’s goals by 2020 are to have 70% of communes meeting criterion No.17 on environment; 75% of rural households have hygienic latrines; 100% of schools and commune health stations have well-managed and used hygienic latrines. By June 2019, 74% of rural households have 3 hygienic facilities, increasing by 18% compared to 2010, but still lower than the set target; there are still many schools, commune health stations that do not have sanitary latrines as prescribed, especially in remote and isolated areas.

(2) Resolution of the Seventh Conference of the 10^th Central Executive Committee, on agriculture, farmers and rural areas,  http://vbpl.vn/bonongnghiep/Pages/vbpq-print.aspx?ItemID=24544

(3) Quoting from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s speech at the National Conference on 10-Year Review of the National Target Program on New Rural Development 2010 - 2020, dated October 19, 2016, in Nam Dinh Province

(4) When alive, President Ho Chi Minh, when making fences to replace the brick walls, highlighted the planting of hibiscus to create green fences, creating a food source for goats and rabbits. Its flowers can be used as medicine; and when the spring comes, the flowers bloom and make the countryside more beautiful.

(5) Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also asked ministries, agencies and localities to have solutions to overcome the fragmented and small production to meet the new requirements and new resources in the development of agriculture, rural areas, as well as to have sharp thinking in integration; proactively overcoming, preventing and combating natural disasters and climate changes; focusing on clean agricultural production, considering it as an important orientation that should be unified from the central to local levels so that people can use their products; reviewing mechanisms, policies, laws; removing difficulties for investors and enterprises.

(6) Decree No.19/2015/NĐ-CP, dated February 14, 2015, by the Government, Stipulating some of articles of Environment protection laws; Decree No.57/2018/NĐ-CP, dated April 17, 2018, by the Government, On mechanisms and policies to encourage enterprises to invest in agriculture and rural areas, mentioned clean production activities, efficient use of energy, natural resource saving, waste limiting and treating, etc. However, the implementing results are still limited

(7) The model of community participating in environmental protection, building eco-residential areas associated with community-based tourism development is increasingly being replicated in most of the provinces and cities nationwide

(8) Currently, the sanitation fee per capita will discourage the collection of organic waste from rural households; at the same time, creating inequality between households that do not have production activities and the ones with production activities

This article was published in the Communist Review No. 942 (May 2020)