Decision No. 274/QD-TTg dated February 18, 2020 on approval for Environmental Protection Planning tasks during 2021 - 2030 and the vision for 2050

DECISION

APPROVAL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION PLANNING TASKS DURING 2021 – 2030 AND THE VISION FOR 2050

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Government Organization dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on Environment Protection dated June 23, 2014;

Pursuant to the Law on Planning dated November 24, 2017;

Pursuant to the Law dated November 20, 2018 on Amendments to 37 Planning-related Laws;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 37/2019/ND-CP dated May 07, 2019 elaborating some Articles of the Law on Planning

At the request of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment,

DECIDES:

Article 1.Approval for National Environmental Protection Planning tasks during 2021 – 2030 and the vision for 2050 with the following contents:

1. Planning name, period, scope

a) Planning name: National Environmental Protection Planning

b) Planning period: 2021– 2030 with a vision for 2050.

c) Planning scope: The entire Vietnam’s territory, including territorial land, sea and islands, divided into planning regions, administrative divisions and river basins according to their natural characteristics, economic and social conditions.

d) Study subjects of the planning: natural conditions; climate change; socio-economic conditions; environmental quality; natural scenery and biodiversity; hazardous wastes, solid wastes; environmental monitoring and warning.

2. Requirements regarding viewpoints, principles and objectives of the planning

a) Viewpoint requirements

- Specify policies and guidelines of the Communist Party and the law on enhanced management of resources, environmental protection and sustainable development of the country; conformity with regulations of law on planning, environmental protection and relevant laws;

- Effectively serve state management of environmental protection;

- Prevent and control pollution; management of hazardous wastes and solid wastes; environment recovery and remediation; biodiversity and biopreservation;

- Uniformly and selectively inherit the contents, viewpoints, objectives and outcomes of the implementation of National Environmental Protection Strategy by 2020 with a vision for 2030 in the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 1216/QD-TTg dated September 05, 2012.

b) Requirements regarding principles of environmental protection planning

- The environmental protection planning must be conformable with the national master plan, the national marine spatial planning, national land use planning; policies, guidelines and laws on planning, socio-economic development and environmental protection;

- Ensure uniformity of subjects and contents of between the regional, provincial and national environmental protection plannings;

- Be appropriate for the natural and socio-economic conditions; the socio-economic development strategy, defense and security; national strategy for environmental protection and sustainable development of the country;

- Satisfy with international cooperation requirements and comply with relevant international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory.

c) Requirements regarding objectives of national environmental protection planning

- General objectives and visions: Identify basic and key objectives in order to serve reasonable use of resources, control of sources of pollution, waste management, environmental quality management, conservation of nature and biodiversity, adaptation to climate change, establishment of fundamental conditions for a green economy with reduced wastes, low carbon and sustainable development of the country.

- Specific objectives: Quantify specific objectives regarding establishment of strictly protected areas and emission control areas; establishment of areas for protection and conservation of nature and biodiversity; establishment of areas for concentrated management of solid wastes and hazardous wastes; establishment of a nationwide environmental quality monitoring and warning network during the 2021 – 2030 period and a vision for 2050.

3. Requirements regarding planning methods and contents

a) Planning contents

Planning contents shall comply with regulations of the Law on Planning and the Government's Decree No. 37/2019/ND-CP dated May 07, 2019 elaborating some Articles of the Law on Planning, including the following primary contents:

- Assessment of the current status and developments of environmental quality, natural scenery and biodiversity; current situation and forecasts of waste production; impacts of climate change; current situation of environmental protection and management:

+ Natural conditions, socio-economic conditions at the beginning of the planning period;

+ The situation in the beginning of the planning period; environment developments over the previous planning period, including: soil quality in areas affected by chemical warfare, areas with industrial zones, factories, warehouses of chemicals, plant protection chemicals, landfills, closed or relocated trade villages, hazardous mineral extraction sites, mineral extraction sites using hazardous chemicals that have been closed, farming areas using a large amount of chemicals in the planning area; water quality in sea areas, coastal sea areas, rivers, river segments, lakes, ponds, channels, canals, especially in areas with multiple sources of wastewater or with major sources of wastewater, environmentally sensitive areas; air quality in urban areas, residential areas, areas with industrial production, trade villages, areas with multiple or major sources of industrial emission;

+ Assessment of the overall situation at the beginning of the planning period, nationwide developments of natural scenery and biodiversity, natural ecosystems, flora and fauna species, and genetic resources; thematic assessment of areas with high biodiversity, important wetlands and natural scenery, biodiversity corridors, wildlife sanctuaries, biodiversity conservation centers;

+ Assessment of production of wastes during the previous planning period and forecasts about the quantity and characteristics of the wastes produced during the planning period, including: industrial wastewater, domestic wastewater and other types of wastewater; industrial emission, exhaust gas from vehicles, other exhaust gases; common industrial solid wastes, construction solid wastes, solid wastes from production of agricultural products and by-products; domestic wastes from urban areas, rural areas and trade villages; hazardous wastes; other distinctive wastes; thematic assessments of hazardous waste treatment facilities, facilities and areas where solid domestic wastes and other solid wastes are treated and buried;

+ Assessment of the impacts of climate change in the previous planning period and forecasts about impacts of climate change on environmental quality and biodiversity in the current planning period;

+ Assessment of environmental protection and management, including: environment management by Ministries, central authorities and local governments; environmental protection and management by enterprises, communities and participation of social organizations and the people; promulgation of environment-related legislative documents, technical regulations, standards, procedures, economic-technical norms; compartmentalization in environmental management; conservation of nature and biodiversity; management of solid wastes and hazardous wastes; environmental warning and monitoring in the previous planning period; major environmental issues and challenges in the current planning period;

+ Assessment of implementation of other plannings relevant to environmental zoning; conservation of nature and biodiversity; management of solid wastes and hazardous wastes; environmental warning and monitoring.

- Environmental protection viewpoints, objectives, tasks and solutions:

+ Establish the viewpoints on environmental protection in the planning period;

+ Determined overall objectives and specific objectives of environmental protection for the 10-year planning period and the vision for the next 30 – 50 years;

+ Determine environmental protection tasks and solutions, including minimization of impacts of socio-economic development on the environment; control of pollution sources, waste management; management and improvement of environment quality; conservation of nature and biodiversity;

+ Establish rules and mechanisms for cooperation between central and local authorities in environmental zoning, conservation of nature and biodiversity, management of solid wastes and hazardous wastes; environmental warning and monitoring.

- Plan the establishment of environmental regions; establish nature and biodiversity conservation and protection areas; establish areas for concentrated treatment of solid wastes and hazardous wastes; establish an environment warning and monitoring network in the planning:

+ Clarify the purposes, requirements, definitions, connotations and criteria for establishment of strictly protected areas, emission control areas; orient establishment of strictly protected areas and emission control areas nationwide;

+ Criteria and orientation for establishment of areas with high level of biodiversity, important natural scenery, important wetlands, biodiversity corridors, wildlife sanctuaries and biodiversity conservation centers;

+ Plan the location, scale, type of wastes, technologies, scope of receipt of solid wastes and hazardous wastes for treatment at national, regional and provincial levels;

+ Plan the monitoring frequency, parameters and points of the national, inter-provincial and provincial network for soil, water, air quality monitoring and warning.

- List of projects of national importance, prioritized projects and order of priority:

+ Establishment of criteria for selection of prioritized environmental protection projects in the planning period;

+Rationales for compilation of the list of environmental protection projects of national importance, proposed order of priority and execution stages thereof.

- Solutions and resources for implementation of the planning in terms of: dissemination of knowledge, raising awareness of the public; mechanisms and policies; science and technology; finance and investment; training; international cooperation; organization and supervision of planning implementation.

- Preparation of the planning reports, including: consolidated report, summary report, diagrams, maps and database about the subjects of national environmental protection planning. The list and scale of national environmental protection planning maps are provided in Appendix I of Decree No. 37/2019/ND-CP.

b) Planning methods include:

- Inheritance method;

- Investigation, survey methods;

- Statistics and data processing method;

- Quick assessment method;

- Analysis, consolidation method;

- Overlay and geographic information system (GIS) methods;

- Expert method;

- System analysis method;

- Matrix method;

- Cost-benefit analysis method;

- SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis method;

- Community survey method;

- Other methods that are appropriate for the procedures for development of the national environmental protection planning.

4. Time limit

The planning shall be completed within 24 months from the day on which the National Environmental Protection Planning tasks during 2021 – 2030 and the vision for 2050 are approved by the Prime Minister.

5. Composition, quantity, formats of planning documents

a) Planning documents include:

- The written request for the Prime Minister’s approval for the National Environmental Protection Planning during 2021- 2030 and the vision for 2050.

- The draft Decision on Approval for the National Environmental Protection Planning during 2021 – 2030 and the vision for 2050.

- Consolidated explanatory report; summary report.

- System of planning maps and database. Maps with a scale of form 1:50.000 to 1:1.000.000, including: current state map and orientation for environmental zoning (strictly protected areas and emission control areas); current state map and orientation for conservation of nature and biodiversity; current state map and orientation for establishment of areas for concentrated treatment of solid wastes and hazardous wastes at national, regional and provincial levels; current state map and orientation for establishment of national, regional and provincial environment warning and monitoring networks; current state map and orientation for environmental protection (environmental zoning, conservation of nature and biodiversity; areas for concentrated treatment of solid wastes and hazardous wastes; environment warning and monitoring networks).

- Report on responses to opinions offered by Ministries, central authorities and local governments on the planning and the documents that contain these opinions.

- Appraisal report prepared by the appraising authority.

- Report on responses to opinions offered by the appraising authority.

b) Quantity: 05 set of printed documents and a CD that has contents of all planning documents.

c) Formats of planning documents:

-  Physical documents, including the consolidated explanatory report, summary report, draft decision or planning approval and thematic explanatory reports, shall be printed in colors on A4 pages.

- Current state maps and planning maps shall be printed in colors on a scale of from 1:50.000 to 1:1.000.000.

6. Sources of funding for planning

a) The funding for development of the National Environmental Protection Planning shall be extracted from the sources of funding public investment prescribed by planning laws and relevant laws.

b) On the basis of the national environmental protection planning tasks approved by the Prime Minister and guidance of the Ministry of Planning and Investment regarding planning norms, guidance of the Ministry of Finance on pricing, other regulations on expenditure norms and limits, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment shall organize the cost estimation, verify and decide the estimated costs of National Environmental Protection Planning in accordance with regulations of law on public investment and relevant laws.

Article 2.Implementation organization

1. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall:

- Approve detailed contents and cost estimates of projects; appoint planning units in accordance with applicable regulations.

- Take charge and cooperate with other Ministries, central authorities and organizations in performing the planning tasks approved by the Prime Minister; ensure quality, punctuality and effectiveness.

2. Other Ministries, central authorities, the People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall cooperate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in formulation of the National Environmental Protection Planning tasks during 2021 – 2030 and the vision for 2050; ensure effectiveness and punctuality.

Article 3.This Decision comes into force from the day on which it is signed.

The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, the Minister of Planning and Investment, the Minister of Construction, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Minister of Industry and Trade, the Minister of Transport, Presidents of the People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities, other Ministries, central authorities and local governments shall be responsible for the implementation of this Decision./.