Environment ministry calls for water protection

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Thai Lai affirmed that raising the public awareness of protecting water resources is a top priority of the ministry at present and in the future.

In an interview granted to the Tai Nguyen va Moi Truong (Natural Resources and Environment) newspaper, the deputy minister said the demand for water keeps rising in Vietnam due to rapid urbanisation and population growth.

This is even more challenging for Vietnam in the context of increasingly complex and uncertain climate change and water resources in urban areas decreasing, he said

At present, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) is working on a national strategy on water resources until 2020, along with promulgating regulations on drilling, exploring and using water as well as discharging waste water, and on managing the river basin, in an effort to create a legal State management corridor in this field.

The ministry has also instructed relevant agencies to complete projects on protecting underground water in urban areas and coordinate with localities to set up basin water resources plans for the basin of Ma, Ca, Lo, Gam, Dong Nai, Ba, Cau, and Huong rivers, the northern, central and southern key economic zones, Ca Mau peninsula, and Phu Quoc island.

MNRE will launch a national meeting and activities in response to the 2011 World Water Day (March 23) themed, “Water for urban development”, in the central province of Ninh Thuan on March 21-22.

Since the beginning of March, exhibitions, seminars and screenings of documentaries on water resources have been held as part of the programme.

PT_Source: vfej.vn/en