It was co-held by the Institute of Policy and Strategy in Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japanese engineering consultancy Nippon Koei Vietnam International (NKV), aiming to provide a rationale for developing a national action plan on circular economy in Vietnam.
Hosono Tomoyuki, who leads a group of JICA/NKV researchers, shared the outcomes of JICA’s Survey on Circular Economy (CE) in Vietnam which started in January. He said its main objective is to collect basic information about CE in Vietnam and Japan, analyse the structure of regulatory framework for CE in Vietnam and Japan’s vision for CE, and review basic plans for the construction of a sound material-cycle society.
It also intends to provide recommendations on a draft framework of the national action plan on CE based on practices in Japan and other countries regionally and globally, he added.
The concept of a circular economy has been around in Japan since 1999 in an effort to address environmental and natural resource challenges to the country’s sustainable development in the 21st century, for example, minimizing landfills and preventing future exhaustion of natural resources.
Lai Van Manh from ISPONRE gave attendees an overview of the potential draft of the action plan, saying ministries and provincial administrations must incorporate circular economy into their strategy, planning, programmes and projects since the drafting stage and promote the management, recycling and reuse of waste.
Businesses should be required to take measures to reduce reliance on natural resources, cut disposal of solid waste and accelerate recycling and use of waste throughout the development and distribution of their products, he said, adding that the government must introduce requirements, a roadmap and incentives for the implementation of circularly economy, relevant to Vietnam’s situation.
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has crafted the national action plan on CE which is scheduled to be released before December 31, 2023.
