Author
Dr Pham Hong Hanh
Organisation/Institution
Hanoi Law University
Country
VIETNAM
Panel
Environmental Law
Title
Sustaining Rule of Law Viet Nam: Toward an Effective Legal Mechanism for Green Tourism
Abstract
Green tourism—grounded in environmental protection, nature conservation, and support for local communities, particularly in climate change—has become an inevitable global trend. As a unique and diverse culture and nature region, Viet Nam has, in recent years, emerged as a major global destination offering high-quality tourism experiences. However, the current legal framework governing tourism, with the 2017 Law on Tourism as its key pillar and The Green Lotus Sustainable Tourism Label applicable to lodging establishments, issued in 2012 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, appear to hardly address contemporary requirements for green tourism especially in the context of climate change. Moreover, the limitations of the existing framework, including insufficient coverage, low effectiveness, and incompatibility with other legal normative documents within the framework has hindered the effective implementation of green tourism legal rules in practice. Based on these analyses, this paper suggests several suggestions to enhance Viet Nam’s legal framework on green tourism to ensure that Viet Nam advances on a sustainable development path and meets the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals in the new era. These suggestions focus on three major areas: (1) establishing clear standards and regulations for green tourism, including criteria for environmentally friendly products and transport, waste treatment and recycling, and emission control; (2) reviewing State management to ensure coherence with Viet Nam’s ongoing state-administration reform; (3) developing supportive mechanism for green tourism, such as financial incentives, knowledge-exchange platforms, and capacity-building measures.
Biography
Dr. Pham Hong Hanh has been lecturing at Hanoi Law University for more than 15 yeas. Currently Dr. Pham Hong Hanh is the Head of Public International Law Department at Faculty of International Law, Hanoi Law University. She has been authors of numerous articles, book chapters and conference papers on general public international law, law of the seas, human rights law, international organisations, and international environmental laws.
