Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union on June 29 launched a campaign "Million trees - For a green Vietnam" with a view to planting one million trees in Vietnam during the 2021-2025 period.

The campaign is in response to the Vietnamese Government’s project on growing one billion trees in the country in the next five years to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather phenomena, which are blamed for causing deadly floods and landslides.

Under the campaign, in 2021, the Communist Youth Union expects to plant 20,000 new trees in watershed forests (about 20 hectares) in central provinces of Quang Nam and Quang Ngai. Young people in the localities will be responsible for planting and taking care of the trees.

A greenery corner of Hanoi. Photo: Minh Khanh

The campaign aims to protect the ecosystem, improve the scenery, respond to climate change, boost socio-economic development, improve the quality of people's life and foster the sustainable growth of the country.

Specifically, the campaign "Million trees - For a green Vietnam" will be publicized on the website trieucaysinh.doanthanhnien.vn. Youth union members and youth will register to participate by accessing the website and clicking the button "SIGN UP FOR GREEN COMMITMENT".

It is expected that the first 10,000 trees will be planted this year.

Vietnam's forest coverage currently stands at roughly 42%, a figure that has actually improved in recent decades, but it is estimated that only 0.25% of the country's 14.6 million hectares of forested land consists of primary forest.

It's reported that Vietnam's major cities, especially Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, have lost countless of trees to urban development in recent years.

Tens of thousands of trees are planted along Hanoi's Thang Long Avenue. Photo: Ngoc Thanh

The municipal officials have announced intentions to improve the situation, and it is expected that tree planting will help rectify the losses.

Hanoi's achievements in tree planting

Over 1.6 million trees have been planted in the last five years (2016-2020), far exceeding the program target of one million.

At the end of 2018, Hanoi officials announced that the program’s target of planting a million trees had already been met and that they planned an additional 600,000 trees by 2020. That goal was also achieved.

Dang Van Ha, head of the College of Landscape Architecture and Urban Greening under the Vietnam National University of Forestry, said the program was a "groundbreaking idea," not just for the capital but also for the whole country.

Many of Hanoi’s streets, including Lang, Hoang Dieu, Vo Chi Cong, Van Cao and Hoang Quoc Viet have become much "greener," thanks to the program, Ha said, adding that the program also helped reorganize pavements and other relevant structures to create flower bushes and rows of trees.