This is the leadership viewpoint expressed by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) Tran Hong Ha as he chaired the working session on the morning of May 13 for preparation activities to celebrate World Environment Day and World Oceans Day 2016.

At the working session, MONRE Deputy Ministers Vo Tuan Nhan and Nguyen Linh Ngoc urged Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA) and Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands (VASI) to make detailed preparations including contents and logistical works for the scheduled celebration ceremonies to take place professionally and effectively in terms of communication to raise awareness of environment protection and preservation, and cleaning up of the seas and islands of Vietnam.

Upon hearing opinions of participants, to conclude the working session, Minister Ha asked two assigned agencies responsible for preparation works, the VEA and VASI, to work closely to make the two events link together. In addition, the Minister asked the two agencies to work out how to make the event scheduled for Nam Dinh province on the morning June 8 happen at the same time as the other environment protection movements to be launched in other coastal provinces across the nation.

“I request that the celebration events on World Environment Day and World Oceans Day 2016 are organized in a way that meets the criteria of being solemn, cost-effective and engaging resulting in communication effectiveness to community and tourists. Specifically, I ask technical agencies to provide public media and press with pre- and post-events information so that every citizen have better understanding of the issues and take actions for the environment, the seas and islands of our countries…”, stressed the Minister.

It is scheduled that on May 25, the MONRE will hold a press conference to make public detailed plans for organizing such the events.

World Environment Day is celebrated every year on 5 June to raise global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect nature and the planet Earth. The World Oceans Day is a global day of ocean celebration on 6 June and was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2008.

(Translated and reposted from Vietnam Environment Administration website)