Viet Nam and World Economic Forum Launch Partnership to Tackle Plastic Pollution

Ha Noi, Viet Nam, December 24, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / Viet Nam’s leading environmental policy-makers, experts, business leaders, local and international organizations today endorsed an action platform, which aims to help Viet Nam dramatically reduce the flow of plastic waste into land and ocean, develop a roadmap to eliminate single-use plastic, non-biodegradable plastic bags, especially in cities, coastal tourist destinations and marine protected areas.

The Viet Nam National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP) is a collaboration between the Government of Viet Nam, represented by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Global Plastic Action Partnership, a multistakeholder platform at the World Economic Forum that translates commitments to reduce plastic pollution and develop a circular economy.

Under international experts’ “business-as-usual” projections, plastic waste leakage into the nation’s water bodies is expected to grow by 106% between 2021 and 2030, unless bold, systemic action is taken to address the root causes of this plastic pollution crisis. These include material redesign, sustainable production and consumption to strengthening waste management capacity.

Under Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc’s Decision No. 1746/QĐ-TTg on 4 December, 2019, the Government of Viet Nam has established a series of time-bound targets for addressing the plastic pollution crisis. These include cutting plastic waste in marine bodies by one-half by 2025, achieving a 75% reduction in marine plastics by 2030, and eliminating single-use plastics and non-biodegradable bags from coastal tourist destinations and marine protected areas by 2030.

On November 17, the National Assembly of Vietnam passed the Law on Environmental Protection (amended) 2020 with breakthrough contents on minimizing, reusing, recycling and treating plastic waste; prevention of marine plastic waste pollution, which prescribes responsibilities for organizations and individuals to limit the use, reduce, segregate and dispose wastes which are single-use plastic products and non-biodegrade plastic bags.

The Viet Nam National Plastic Action Partnership aims to help accelerate progress of the vibrant community of plastic action initiatives already active in Viet Nam towards these targets. NPAP will be playing a convening and connecting role, bringing together public, private and civil society stakeholders to align behind a common approach for tackling plastic waste and pollution, as well as transitioning to a sustainable circular economy model for plastics.

“We are looking forward to the contribution from the NPAP to support strategies, plans and schemes for plastic waste management in Viet Nam, facilitate meaningful initiatives in addressing plastic pollution and promote circular economic development in Viet Nam and in the ASEAN. I hope that the Program that we launched today will create a foundation for partnerships between regulators, business community, bilateral and multilateral international partners to effectively tackle the plastic pollution problem, as well as promote sustainable plastic production and consumption through developing of a circular economy for plastics. Thereby, Vietnam will contribute to the global efforts to tackle the plastic pollution problem” said Tran Hong Ha, Minister of Nature Resources and Environment, Viet Nam.

Among the NPAP’s key deliverables is the development and introduction of a national action road map, endorsed by a cross-section of the country’s leading experts, which lays out tangible system change interventions that the nation needs to pursue to halt the mounting plastic pollution and marine plastic debris crisis. The road map is expected to be released in the next few months.

“Through this collaboration, we are delighted to build on and strengthen the ties between the World Economic Forum and Viet Nam – one that is based on a mutual desire to adopt more sustainable and circular models that both benefit Viet Nam’s precious marine ecosystem and protect the livelihoods of Vietnamese people,” said Kristin Hughes, Director of the Global Plastic Action Partnership and Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum. “Today, Viet Nam has officially become one of the early adopters of our unique multistakeholder collaboration model for accelerating plastic action, alongside Indonesia and Ghana. I expect the lessons and successes from this partnership will inform and catalyse similarly ambitious initiatives among other nations in the Asia-Pacific region.”

First conceptualized by the Government of Viet Nam and the Global Plastic Action Partnership at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, this locally-driven partnership has been brought to life with the instrumental support of private sector and civil society organizations in Viet Nam.
“The UK has been a strong supporter of the Global Plastic Action Partnership since 2018, with USD 3.5 million equivalent of UK Aid invested. It is a great pleasure to witness the launch of the National Plastic Action Partnership in Vietnam today. We support its work with the Government of Viet Nam to promote actions to tackle plastic waste in the country.” – highlighted by Marcus Winsley, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Viet Nam. “Plastic pollution is a global issue and we need global collaboration to tackle it. The UK is pleased to play a part and have the opportunity to support the development of a dynamic and cross-sectoral mechanism to do this at regional, national and subnational levels”.

“As a co-founding member of the Viet Nam NPAP with the World Economic Forum, WWF-Viet Nam applauds the leadership from the Government of Viet Nam and the companionship from other partners, to advance national and sub-national actions to deliver our national plastic mitigation targets and create a green circular economy,” said Van Ngoc Thinh, Country Director of WWF Viet Nam. “In our effort to support the NPAP programme and the Vietnamese government, WWF-Vietnam is also sponsoring and co-implementing the Mitigating Marine Plastic Debris in Vietnam project. In coordination with the Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands in this project, we expect the project will contribute to tackling the environmental impact of plastic waste through the development of technical guidelines to support the implementation of solid waste management policies, communication activities, capacity building, awareness raising and behavioural change relating to plastic waste consumption.”

“Canada is proud to be a founding member of the Global Plastic Action Partnership and is investing CAD$6M to support the implementation of NPAPs including in Indonesia, Ghana and Vietnam,” said Deborah Paul, Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam. “We pay particular attention to addressing inequalities and vulnerabilities across the entire plastics management lifecycle, especially concerning women and girls and marginalised groups who are disproportionally affected by plastic pollution”.

“We are honoured to be invited by the Viet Nam NPAP to champion this initiative, and have decided to participate as the objectives of the programme are in alignment with our sustainability goals,” said Nguyen Viet Quang, Chief Executive Officer of Vingroup, a founding member of the NPAP.

The Program Launching Ceremony was co-organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the World Economic Forum and the World Wide Fund for Nature in Viet Nam.