2023 National Environmental Status Report: “Rural Environment - Current Situation and Solutions”

On 31/12/2024, the Ministry of Natural resources and Environment issued an Official dispatch No. 9532/BTNMT-KSONMT, announcing the 2023 National Environmental Status Report with the theme “Rural environment - Current Situation and Solutions”.

The 2023 national environmental status report will provide useful additional information, data about the current state of the rural environment, support the state management of the environment in time, and contribute to the development of rural areas. Additionally, the report serves as an official reference document, for research and public information distribution.

Please view and download the report: 2023 National environmental status report with the theme “Rural environment - Current Situation and Solutions”.

Key Contents of the Status Report:

Chapter I. Overview of the Social - Economic Situation in Rural Areas
Chapter II. Sources of Rural Environmental Pollution
Chapter III. Current State of the Rural Environment
Chapter IV. Impacts of Rural Environmental Pollution
Chapter V. Management and Protection of Rural Environment
Chapter VI. Existing Issues, Limitations, and Solutions to Increase Environmental Protection Effectiveness in Rural Areas

Current situation of handling chemical pesticide and fertilizer packaging in some locations

Number of containers used for storing pesticide packaging in some locations during the 2021 - 2023 period (Design: A Chau Environment)

According to the 2023 Environmental Protection Report in Agriculture, 48 out of 63 provinces and cities have issued directives on the collection, transportation, and disposal of used pesticides packaging; 42 out of 63 provinces, cities have a total of 57.910 collection containers. The numbers and density of containers vary significantly across locations, however, they generally do not meet the actual demand. Managing the containers faces many challenges, such as farmers mixing household wastes, causing overflow and irregular collection, as a result, discarded packaging is often found scattered across the fields.

72 thousand tons of plastic waste from animal feed packaging

According to the 2023 Environmental Protection Report of the Agricultural Sector, by 2023, the country generated approximately 68.92 million tons of solid wastes and 260.48 million 30-liter units of liquid waste; 72 thousand tons of plastic waste from animal feed packaging with the rising trend in the coming years. By agricultural regions, Northeast, Central Highlands and North Central Coast are the regions generating the largest amounts of solid waste, accounting for 19% and 17%, respectively, the lowest regions are Southeast, and Mekong Delta, each accounting for 10% of the total solid waste generated from livestock activities.

Wastes generated from aquaculture and seafood processing activities

According to estimates by the Vietnam Institute of Fisheries Economic and Planning (VIFEP) for the 2021 - 2022 period, the aquaculture sector generated 1,179,170 tons of sludge annually, with the treatment rate of 27%; 331,7 tons of solid waste (feed packaging, veterinary medicine containers, and other waste) with the treatment rate of 20%; more than 1.68 million m3 of wastewater with the treatment rate of 41% and 175,000 tons of pond liners from intensive shrimp farming. This means there are more than 860,000 tons of sludge, 263 tons of solid waste, 960 thousand m3 of wastewater remain untreated and are directly discharged from the environment.

The types of solid waste generated during aquaculture include pond liners, veterinary medicine bottles, feed packaging, paddle wheels, drainage pipes, aeration tubes, plastic buoys, foam buoys used as floating materials in cage farming at sea… Most of these wastes are partially collected by scrap collectors, while the majority is mainly burned or buried.

The agriculture sector generates a large amount of plastic waste annually from cultivation activities (Illustration)

By-products and waste generated from agricultural food processing activities

Agricultural by-products: Bagasse, rice hulls, cashew shells, coconut shells, straws,...

In the cashew, sugarcane, and coffee-growing regions like Central Highlands, the sugar production alone generates around 1.0 million tons of bagasse and 600,000 tons of molasses annually. Additionally, cashew processing generates about 400,000 tons of raw shells each year… yet remain underutilized and unrecycled. In the pineapple-growing regions such as Mekong Delta or some northern provinces like Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, it is estimated that 1 hectare of pineapple tree cleared for replanting following 02 harvest seasons leaves behind 50 tons of pineapple leaves annually; for every ton of pineapple processed using the frozen pineapple processing method generates 0.25 tons of final product and 0.75 tons of by-products; for every ton of pineapple processed using canning method, generates 0.35 tons of final products, and 0.65 tons of by-products,... If these by-products are not collected and treated, they will cause soil and water pollution, especially emitting foul odors into the surrounding environment.

Source: Compiled, cited and shared by A Chau Environment.