Gov't approves master plan for national environmental protection

The plan aims to prevent and control environmental pollution and degradation, restore and improve environmental quality as well as the quality of biodiversity to ensure a healthy environment.

Besides, it targets to establish nature reserves and biodiversity conservation areas; and form centralized waste treatment zones and environmental monitoring and warning networks at the national, regional, and provincial levels.

The Government expects to increase the total area of the protected nature reserves nationwide to about 6.7 million hectares by the end of this decade.

Meanwhile, at least two national-level centralized waste treatment zones, seven regional-level ones in socio-economic regions during the planning period, and at least one provincial-level in each province or centrally-run city will be set up.

At the end of 2021, Viet Nam was home to 181 nature reserves, including land and marine conservation areas, with a total area of over 2.64 million hectares. The area of the protected area on land accounts for 93.7 percent of the total protected area./.