On November 28, 1959, President Ho Chi Minh penned an article, published in Nhan Dan (People) newspaper, stressing the significance of tree planting to each person, each family and the entire nation. It has since become an annual custom each Lunar New Year in Vietnam.
It has become a practical movement widely responded to by people from across the country. It has not only added green to many localities, developed natural resources, and improved people’s living environment but also helped educate people, particularly the youth, on environmental protection and raise their sense of responsibility in the community.
The festival has been enthusiastically observed in Hanoi city in particular, contributing to protecting the environment and fighting against climate change. Every spring, people in all districts of the city join the event in urban areas, industrial parks, streets, schools and parks, in order to make their living environment greener, cleaner and more beautiful.
In order to create a “green lung” for the capital city, the forestry sector has called on people to plant dozens of hectares of protective and special-use forests, which has not only created jobs and generated income for local people but also fostered the development of the forestry sector.
As a result, tens of thousands of trees are planted every year after the festival, benefiting the city, local families and its people.
Tree planting and afforestation play a pivotal role in protecting the living environment of the people. Not only creating shade, trees also regulate air quality and the ecological and living environment, particularly in the context of Vietnam being one of the nations most vulnerable to climate change.
Vietnam faced 2020 with its many difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change with unusual and extreme natural disasters happening ever more frequently.
In order to effectively implement the tree-planting festival and foster environmental protection, sectors and localities need to further popularise the significance of the festival among the public and ensure the planted trees grow well and have a high survival rate, thus achieving the goal of planting at least one billion trees in the 2021 – 2025 period.
More research on the natural and social conditions of each region and locality must be carried out in order to choose suitable seedlings and rationally connect planting sites with future exploitation demand. In addition, it is necessary to improve tree management, prevent and fight forest fires and combat illegal logging in the dry season while strictly handling the deforestation of natural forestry.
