Ensuring a Healthy Environment Toward Sustainable Development
An Analysis of Legislation to Implement the Constitution in Vietnam
Abstract
The article examines how Vietnam’s constitutional right to a healthy environment is implemented through the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection. Read through the lens of the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental) and against benchmarks from international law and the SDGs, it reveals an implementation gap: a growth-centred economic pillar still dominates, fragmenting governance and hollowing out participation. It argues that only a rebalancing which strengthens environmental institutions and ‘greens’ economic policy can turn this constitutional promise into an effective, lived right.
Presentato: 10 Settembre 2025 | Pubblicato 20 Maggio 2026 | Lingua: en
Keywords Vietnam • Constitution • Environmental legislation • Sustainable development • Healthy environment
Copyright © 2025 Nguyen Toan Thang. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/RIDAO/3035-5591/2025/01/004