Rural areas face environmental pollution (Illustrative image. Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The use of pesticidesand chemical fertiliser in farming and the discharge of solid waste from craftvillages and households are the main causes of rural environmental pollution,which has become more severe recently in a country with nearly 67 percent ofthe population living in rural areas.
According to the Vietnam EnvironmentAdministration (VEA), a lot of waste is generated in dense-population regionssuch as the north central and central coastal areas (25 percent), the Red RiverDelta (23 percent), the Mekong Delta (22 percent) and the south eastern region(15 percent).
The rural environment is under pressure frommanufacturing at industrial parks and clusters, daily activities of residentialand adjacent urban areas, and impacts from climate change, such as rising sealevels, and natural disasters.
Environmental pollution risks come fromcultivation, animal husbandry, aquatic and farm produce processing, craftvillages, and industrial production.
Poor planning and management along with theineffective operation of waste treatment facilities have made protecting therural environment even more difficult.
As a result, the rate of people contractingdiseases related to environmental contamination, including cancer, has risen inrecent years.
To address the shortcomings in ruralenvironmental protection, the VEA suggested building synchronous measures suchas refining legal policies, increasing investment, strengthening inspections,and adopting technological waste treatment solutions.
Promoting communications to raise publicawareness of environmental protection is important too, in addition to changingthe habits of people in waste classification to reduce the volume of waste andincrease treatment efficiency.-VNA
VNA
