With a camera, a backpack and a motorbike, An is always ready to set off for any alley or side street to capture the images of people picking up litter, protecting the environment, cleaning up streets or participating in rescue campaigns.

Do Trong Hoai An

An said the job is ‘hard’ because he has to travel at any time, day or night, and it is ‘dangerous’ because he may be assaulted and his camera may be damaged when he works.

An has good and bad memories of his trips. One day, he ‘crossed the sea’ to Con Dao Island to capture the images of a huge garbage dump on Bai Nhat beach.

“If the press had not disclosed the existence of such a huge garbage dump, if there had been no photo as evidence, the garbage dump would have not been removed. If so, Con Dao’s people would still have to bear pollution and Con Dao would lose tourists,” An said.

The living environment quality related to the huge dump in Con Dao which had existed for 20 years caught the special attention from the public in 2018-2019.

The sight of millions of flies perching on thousands of square meters of rubbish, children "living on garbage"; the scene of dirty water leaking from the dump to the sea all were recorded by An.

With a camera, a backpack and a motorbike, An is always ready to set off for any alley or side street to capture the images of people picking up litter, protecting the environment, cleaning up streets or participating in rescue campaigns.

“The trip to Con Dao was quite hard, but it emotional. The photos of Bai Nhat’s waste were displayed at the "Let's protect the living environment" competition organized by the Vung Tau City Photography Association.

Thanks to the trip and the exhibition, An, the environment photographer, has become better known.

Ten years ago, when An went to Vung Tau City, he met a group of young people sitting on the beach, drinking and eating crabs while shouting and screaming.

“Hey, young people, please don’t drop litter,” he said.

“Is the beach yours? We like to drop litter,” the men replied.

Then he stopped and talked to the men. “Everyone needs to have awareness about protecting the environment to protect the beautiful beaches,” he said.

An said while other photographers come to ‘romantic’ places to take pictures at weddings or parties, An’s work sites are garbage dumps and polluted beaches. 

Thien Nhien

‘Environment hero’ Nguy Thi Khanh receives US$2 million award

With her initiatives and great efforts to help protect the environment, Nguy Thi Khanh has become the first Vietnamese Climate Breakthrough Project awardee.

Vietnam to develop a master plan on environmental monitoring system

Vietnam is planning to develop a master plan on an environment and natural resource monitoring system to better prevent natural disasters and protect the environment.