The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has recently submitted a proposal to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, suggesting the delegation and decentralization of 129 authorities in agriculture and environment, in accordance with the Law on Government Organization and the Law on Local Government Organization.
Specifically, the Ministry proposes transferring two authorities currently held by the National Assembly to the Government, including: approval of the National Land Use Planning and approval of the National Marine Spatial Planning.
For the powers of the Government and the Prime Minister, the Ministry suggests delegating 39 authorities to the Minister of Agriculture and Environment. These span across various sectors: fisheries and fisheries inspection (5), livestock and veterinary (5), meteorology and hydrology (2), forestry and forest protection (5), geology and minerals (4), environment and climate change (2), nature conservation and biodiversity (9), seas and islands (4), and crop cultivation and plant protection (1).
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has recently submitted a proposal delegation and decentralization of 129 authorities in agriculture and environment. Photo: VGP.For local authorities, the Ministry proposes transferring 4 authorities from the Government and the Prime Minister to provincial People's Committees, including: handling severely polluted land areas; allocating and leasing land without auction or bidding; approving dike-related investment projects; and making decisions in force majeure situations in land management.
Notably, the Ministry also proposes transferring 86 authorities from the Minister to provincial People's Committees and their chairpersons, including key areas such as: crop cultivation and plant protection (16), livestock and veterinary (15), geology and minerals (12), water resources (9), forestry and forest protection (5), environment (6), nature conservation and biodiversity (5), among others.
Regarding land management, the Ministry stated that most authorities have already been decentralized to local governments, such as: land allocation and leasing; recognition of land use rights; land-use conversion; land valuation; and compensation, support, and resettlement.
Additionally, in the context of a two-tier local government system, the Ministry proposes delegating most district-level responsibilities to commune-level authorities (estimated at over 200 tasks), while transferring 16 responsibilities upward to the provincial level—mainly to the Department of Agriculture and Environment—due to their inter-communal nature or the need for guidance and oversight.