Wed. Nov 6th, 2024

A national seminar opened in Hai Phong city on May 30 to discuss the
application of coastal and marine spatial planning (MSP) in Vietnam,
which is regarded as an important step in finding solutions to current
issues that are threatening Vietnam’s environmental health and marine
future.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Nguyen Van
Thanh, Secretary of Hai Phong city’s Party Committee, affirmed that
ever-increasing economic development is putting a great deal of pressure
on the environment and aquatic resources, which requires MSP for
sustainable development.

He said Hai Phong cityprioritises the application of integrated coastal management and marine spatial planning.

For MSP to be successful, Vietnam needs to exert more effort in
developing technical guidance and define the legal aspects of this new
method in the national system of policies and laws, said Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi, former Deputy Director General of Vietnam
Administration of Seas and Islands under the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment.

The two-day event is part
of the programme “Mangroves for the Future (MFF)” regulated by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Vietnam
and financially supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation (NORAD), Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency (SIDA) and Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

MSP is a process that brings together multiple users of the ocean from
industry, service sectors and government to society and local
communities in a bid to build strategies for sustainable marine
resources usage.-VNA

By vivian