On the occasion of World Environment Day (June 5) and World Ocean Day (June 8), we are called upon to reflect more deeply on one of the defining issues of our time: the relationship between humanity and nature is undergoing profound changes, demanding new approaches to development, responsibility, and action. A safe environment and peaceful, sustainable oceans lie at the heart of development, security, peace, justice, ethics, and the enduring existence of nations.
Today, the world is witnessing unprecedented transformations in the ecological environment. The Earth continues to warm, while extreme weather events, melting ice, rising sea levels, droughts, floods, wildfires, saltwater intrusion, biodiversity loss, and marine and ocean pollution are directly affecting every continent. This growing imbalance shows that the limits of nature are being pushed to a dangerous threshold.
General Secretary and President To Lam visited local residents in Con Co Island District.These challenges raise a fundamental question for humanity: can development truly be sustainable if the ecological foundations that sustain life are being eroded? Over many centuries, humankind has achieved remarkable progress in industry, science, technology, trade, and urbanization. However, development models overly dependent on resource extraction, fossil fuel consumption, linear production systems, and wasteful consumer culture have also caused severe ecological and environmental consequences.
From this perspective, environmental protection must be regarded as a core component of both national security and human security. A country may achieve high economic growth, but if its people are forced to live amid pollution and environmental degradation, such development cannot be considered sustainable. A modern and prosperous society must be one that knows how to generate wealth within ecological limits, uses resources responsibly, and views nature as a prerequisite for survival, a national asset, and a legacy for future generations.
General Secretary and President of Vietnam To Lam visited and worked with military units as well as the Party organization and local authorities of Ca Mau Province on Hon Khoai Island.The oceans further demonstrate the interconnected nature of humanity and the mutual impacts among nations. Climate fluctuations or instability in one ocean region can affect food security, trade, energy, and livelihoods across many countries. Therefore, protecting the oceans is not only an environmental obligation, but also a requirement for peace, cooperation, international law, equitable development, and the shared responsibility of the international community.
For Viet Nam, these issues carry particularly profound significance. Viet Nam is a maritime nation and one of the countries most severely affected by climate change. With more than 3,260 kilometers of coastline, two major deltas, a dense river system, and numerous coastal urban areas where millions of fishermen and communities live, our country is highly vulnerable to sea-level rise, storms and floods, saltwater intrusion, erosion, pollution, depletion of natural resources, ecological disruptions, as well as the overexploitation of nature.
In this context, Viet Nam has demonstrated a strong sense of responsibility to the international community through its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, promoting a just energy transition, reducing plastic waste in the oceans, developing a circular economy, conserving biodiversity, and implementing the Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Marine Economy. These commitments are not obligations imposed from outside, but intrinsic needs of the country itself. Viet Nam aspires to develop rapidly and sustainably, becoming a high-income nation by transforming its development model based on science and technology, digital transformation, and the protection of ecological and environmental security.
The cultural traditions of Viet Nam’s regions, localities, and rural communities have long embodied a spirit of harmony with nature. In the new era, that tradition must be elevated into a modern development value system: respecting nature, conserving resources, practicing responsible consumption, promoting cleaner production, greener technologies, more transparent governance, and greater equity between generations.
President Ho Chi Minh, with his far-sighted vision, early on placed humanity, nature, and the future of the nation within a unified whole. He advised: “For the benefit of ten years, we must plant trees; for the benefit of a hundred years, we must cultivate people.” In that philosophy, “planting trees” is a practical act to build a healthy living environment, while “cultivating people” is the fundamental mission of developing citizens with knowledge, ethics, and a sense of responsibility. He also wrote: “Spring is the Festival of Tree Planting, making the country ever more like spring.” It is a simple yet timeless message: every tree planted represents hope for the future, and every action to protect nature helps make the nation more sustainable, prosperous, and humane.
Regarding the seas and islands, he once reminded the people of Cat Ba and Cat Hai: “…forests are gold, seas are silver. The forests and seas belong to us and are owned by our people; therefore, we must strive to exploit and protect them…”. Those words embody a profound philosophy of development: the right to own natural resources must always go hand in hand with the responsibility to preserve them; exploitation must be linked to protection; and development today must take future generations into account. The sea is not only a source of economic benefit, but also a living space, a space of sovereignty, a cultural space, a space of connectivity, and a strategic space for the Vietnamese nation.
Drawing from Ho Chi Minh’s ideology and the demands of the times, we must establish a consistent guiding principle that green development, environmental protection, ocean conservation, and climate change adaptation must become a central pillar of the country’s development model in the new era. This is not solely the responsibility of the natural resources and environment sector, but a shared mission of the entire political system, the business community, every locality, every family, and every citizen.
To achieve these goals, in the coming period we must focus on six major groups of tasks.
First, it is necessary to improve development thinking and environmental governance institutions to recognize nature as the foundation of sustainable development. All development strategies, plans, programs, and projects must operate within the carrying capacity of ecosystems, climate adaptation capabilities, and the requirement to protect public health. We must shift our mindset from treating pollution after development to preventing pollution from the very design stage of development. Environmental and natural resource governance methods should be reformed toward integrated, interdisciplinary, and interregional approaches. Development indicators must be broadened beyond output and growth rates to include quality of life, efficiency of resource use, emission levels, climate resilience, and social equity. Institutions must ensure that polluters pay for the damage they cause, those who protect nature benefit from their efforts, localities pursuing green development are encouraged, enterprises pioneering green innovation are supported, and environmentally destructive acts are strictly punished.
Second, we must promote a green transition in the growth model, energy structure, production, consumption, and urbanization. Green transition must become a driving force for enhancing national competitiveness. Greater efforts are needed to promote energy efficiency and conservation, develop renewable energy in line with system security requirements, gradually reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and encourage low-emission industries, ecological agriculture, public transportation, green buildings, green materials, and the circular economy. Businesses must be at the center of this transition, as they are the ones innovating technologies, restructuring supply chains, creating green jobs, and meeting new international market standards. The State should adopt policies on green finance, green credit, green public procurement, emissions standards, carbon pricing mechanisms, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises to access technology, capital, and markets.
Third, we must develop a green, modern, and responsible ocean economy closely linked with the protection of sovereignty, people’s livelihoods, and peace at sea. Viet Nam considers the preservation of the marine environment, the protection of marine ecosystems, and the sustainable development of the ocean economy inseparable from maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation, in accordance with international law.
Viet Nam will establish a more advanced model of ocean economic development based on science, technology, marine data, and ecosystem conservation, including the development of green seaports, offshore renewable energy, marine biotechnology industries, island eco-tourism, maritime services, and more. Strict controls must be enforced on IUU fishing, the protection of fishery resources, and the improvement of the livelihoods of fishing communities.
Fourth, it is essential to restore natural ecosystems and build climate adaptation capacity as a strategic national infrastructure. Investing in nature is investing in the future. Priority must be given to disaster prevention and response, water security, food security, public health, and livelihood stability. Efforts should focus on restoring upstream forests, coastal forests, and mangroves, while strictly protecting sensitive ecosystems and controlling the exploitation of sand, groundwater, and coastal resources.
Fifth, it is necessary to build environmental governance based on science, data, digital technology, and social participation. A national database system should be developed covering emissions, water and air quality, waste, biodiversity, marine resources, erosion, saltwater intrusion, climate risks, and enterprises’ compliance with environmental standards. Satellite technology, artificial intelligence, environmental sensors, digital mapping, marine and island databases, disaster forecasting models, and citizen feedback platforms should be widely applied.
Sixth,it is essential to ensure fairness in the green transition and to strengthen international cooperation on climate, the environment, and the oceans. A green transition can only succeed if it is fair, inclusive, and humane. The poor, workers in high-emission industries, coastal communities, women, children, and other vulnerable groups must be supported with livelihoods, vocational training, finance, risk insurance, adaptation infrastructure, and access to social services. Mechanisms are also needed to support businesses in their green transformation and to create sustainable livelihoods for people engaged in environmental protection.
Viet Nam calls on the international community, particularly developed countries, to fully and more substantively fulfill their commitments to climate finance, technology transfer, human resource training, adaptation support, capacity building in governance, and the expansion of markets for green products from developing countries.
Developed industrialized countries have taken the lead in industrialization, accumulated wealth over a long period through higher emissions, and currently possess greater financial and technological capabilities. Therefore, their responsibility in addressing climate change, protecting the oceans, and restoring global ecosystems must be commensurate with their present capacity and historical responsibility. A fair green order must ensure that developing countries are not left behind and must not turn environmental standards into new trade barriers.
Developing countries, for their part, need strong determination to reform growth models, use supporting resources effectively, and enhance transparency and accountability in implementing green commitments. However, the transition pathway must be aligned with their level of development, technological capacity, fiscal conditions, and the need to ensure energy security, food security, and people’s livelihoods.
Viet Nam stands ready to be an active and responsible member of the international community in efforts to respond to climate change, protect biodiversity, reduce plastic pollution, safeguard the oceans, promote a just energy transition, and build a green economy. We hope to work with partners to develop a more substantive framework of cooperation in which green finance reaches those who need it most, clean technology is shared more widely, governance knowledge is disseminated more rapidly, and the benefits of the green transition are distributed more equitably among countries, communities, and generations.
The six groups of tasks outlined above must be implemented with a spirit of concrete action and through the joint participation of the State, businesses, and society as a whole. Each locality must develop an action program suited to its ecological characteristics and development model. Each ministry and sector must integrate green objectives into its specialized policies. Each enterprise must consider environmental compliance a standard for survival and green innovation a condition for competitiveness. Each citizen must turn love for nature, islands, seas, and the homeland into daily practical actions.
World Environment Day and World Oceans Day remind us that the Earth’s capacity to withstand pressure is finite, that the oceans are under stress, and that humanity bears a shared responsibility for action. We stand before the mission of building a green, responsible, and sustainable Viet Nam in the 21st century.
Every Vietnamese person is encouraged to start with a simple action: planting and caring for a tree, reducing single-use plastics, saving energy, sorting waste, protecting water sources, keeping beaches clean, and spreading green habits. Let us act for a future where Viet Nam remains forever green, vibrant, and sustainable.