‘Clean the World’ campaign attracts more than 1,000 people

Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment delivered a keynote address at the ceremony, emphasizing that rural environment pollution causes socio-economic damage and directly affects lives of all the country’s residents.

The number of people infected with diseases related to environmental pollution continues to increase annually by leaps and bounds in rural areas, said Mr Nhan, resulting in some villages acquiring nicknames such as ‘cancer village’.

There are many urgent issues related to rural environmental pollution that need to be tackled, such as overuse and abuse of pesticides resulting in pollution at craft villages and contaminating the country’s water resources, said Mr Nhan.

To deal with these issues the Ministry is developing specific plans and a roadmap to implement effective solutions.

Bui Van Khanh, vice chair of Hoa Binh People’s Committee, in turn echoed the views of Mr Nhan, and applauded the noteworthy progress the Province has made in protecting the environment over recent years.

But much more need doing, he stressed.

Many activities have been given effect to protect the environment such as the planting of more green trees, improvements to the trash and garbage collection infrastructure along with fun contests to engage the public on environmental protection issues.

The Province should also be complimented on its exemplary efforts to encourage local people to get more involved in measures to protect the environment such as recycling efforts to minimize waste, not burning rice straw and garbage, among others, noted Mr Khanh.

On the occasion, more than 1,000 local officials and people spent the afternoon collecting some five tons of trash and garbage in response to the campaign.