The number of tourists and the trend of mass tourism in Vietnam in the past period have released a large amount of waste into the environment, of which the most worrying is plastic pollution - also known as "white pollution". 

PLASTIC BOTTLES, AND PLASTIC BAGS "CALLING" THE BEACH

Vietnam has more than 1 million square kilometers of sea surface, more than 2,770 coastal islands, and a series of beautiful beaches spread across the country, which are extremely favorable natural advantages for tourism development. According to statistics from the Institute of Tourism Development Research - Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, before the outbreak of the disease, it was estimated that coastal areas and sea resorts annually attracted about 70% of international visitors to Vietnam. 50% domestic tourists, bringing 70% of tourism revenue in the country.

Worth mentioning, each tourist staying on average has about 1.2kg of waste per day and night; Each non-stay tourist has an average amount of waste of about 0.5kg/day. Plastic waste components at beaches are mainly disposable utility products such as plastic bags, styrofoam boxes, milk cartons, plastic bottles, and plastic straws... According to the Institute of Tourism Development Research, in 2019, with more than 61 million tourists (both international and domestic), the amount of plastic waste in Vietnam is 116,144 tons/per year. Many tourist areas have been dealing with garbage pollution, especially plastic waste such as Ha Long Bay (Quang Ninh), Sam Son (Thanh Hoa), Da Nang, Phu Quoc (Kien Giang). ...

Director of the Institute of Tourism Development Nguyen Anh Tuan warned that without measures to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated from tourism activities in 2030, it will be about 3 times higher than in 2019, the risk of A beautiful tourist destination that becomes a "black spot" in terms of habitat will become real.

Not only the sea, but national parks also face pollution, disruption, and destruction of the integrity of nature reserves. Currently, our country has 31 national parks, 68 nature reserves, 45 landscape protection zones, 20 scientific research and experimental forests along with natural resources such as terrain, climate, rivers, and streams. … The potential for ecotourism development in Vietnam is huge. But some places where ecotourism develops too "hot" is seasonal, causing negative impacts on the environment and landscape.

ACTION NOW TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM ONLY

It can be seen that, with the increasing number of tourists, the increasing demand for use will create an increasing amount of plastic waste, while the very long decomposition time will put great pressure and exceed the capacity. environmental self-healing. Each year, Vietnam suffers damage from environmental pollution equivalent to 5% of GDP, equivalent to 10 billion USD, mainly negative impacts that reduce the growth value of manufacturing industries, costs to improve the environment. and public health…

Worryingly, many tourists are not aware of their travel journey and people living in tourist areas are not aware of the dangerous level of plastic pollution that affects their health. environment.

To effectively manage and reduce environmental pollution caused by plastic waste, in the world, countries and international organizations have had many campaigns and initiatives at different levels to soon realize the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

An increasing number of countries are launching regional declaration initiatives calling for global action on plastic pollution, taking into account legally binding factors. Recognizing the importance of plastic waste, on August 16, 2021, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1407/QD-TTg approving the project that Vietnam actively prepares and participates in the construction Global agreement on ocean plastic pollution.

Recently, the Vietnam Tourism Association in collaboration with the Institute of Strategy, Policy on Natural Resources and Environment and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam organized the kick-off ceremony of the project "Reducing plastic waste". in the field of tourism in Vietnam”.

The project's objective is to promote plastic waste reduction activities in the tourism sector, contributing to environmental protection and tourism development to achieve the sustainable development goals of the tourism industry, contributing to the country's sustainable economic development goals.

The project will be implemented in 2 years from 2023-2024 with 3 main components: Communication to raise awareness about reducing plastic waste in the field of tourism; Pilot application of solutions and initiatives to reduce plastic waste in several tourist sites/spots in Ninh Binh and Quang Nam, pilot application and promulgate "Criteria for recognition of tourism enterprises that do not reduce waste". plastic waste”; Develop an Action Plan on reducing plastic waste in the tourism industry and apply plastic waste reduction management to tourism businesses.

Deputy Director General of the General Department of Tourism Ha Van Sieu affirmed that if the problem of plastic waste pollution is not solved, it will affect the goal of sustainable tourism development, conservation, and biodiversity. the beauty of the landscape and environment, thereby affecting the attractiveness and competitiveness of Vietnam's tourism. Therefore, the National Administration of Tourism has issued many programs on tourism development to meet the development expectations of the industry, especially sustainable tourism development. In the tourism development strategy, Vietnam always considers environmental quality as an attractive factor in Vietnam's tourism. In the coming time, the tourism industry will also issue criteria specifying specific contents on reducing plastic waste to implement the project effectively.

Replicating the model of reducing plastic waste

Quang Nam is the first locality in the country to pilot a project to reduce plastic waste. Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam province Van Ba Son said that to implement the project effectively, in addition to propagating awareness for people, tourists, and businesses in the use of environment-friendly materials, there should be a mechanism to encourage units to deploy green tourism, not using plastic waste. This should be added points when evaluating the service quality of the business.

Also according to the Deputy Director of Ninh Binh Provincial Department of Tourism Pham Duy Phong, the locality will focus on collecting waste, training and guiding people on how to classify waste, and piloting it in Trang eco-tourism area in the immediate future. Trang An, Van Long tourist area…

To reduce plastic waste substantively, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, National Coordinator, Coordination Office - UNDP said, it is necessary to limit the reduction of plastic waste from upstream, at accommodation facilities. , transportation, travel, and destination. "Localities and tourism businesses that organize garbage collection tours like now are also an activity worth replicating, but that's just processing at the end of the stream," Huyen said.

With this project, UNDP hopes to mobilize the participation of relevant provinces and units of ministries, sectors, and projects to spread lessons learned in reducing plastic waste in the country. Travel to many places, many destinations, and the whole country. In addition, experts said that, although the Government has issued many decrees, laws on environmental protection, a national strategy on solid waste management, etc., there are still many violations in the discharge of waste. waste. Among the main reasons that can be mentioned are that the sanctions are not enough of a deterrent, and the functional forces in many localities have not been drastic in handling violations.

Via: baophapluat. vn