VietNamNet Bridge – A creative environmental protection campaign is changing the way that Viet Nam's national parks and conservancies are caring for the country's precious natural heritage.

Raising awareness: U Minh Ha National Park in the southern province of Ca Mau. (Photo: VNS)

Go Green was launched in 2008 by Toyota Motor Viet Nam (TMV) in conjunction with the National Environment Agency and the Ministry of Education and Training.

One of the most effective tools of Go Green has been educational sessions for national park staff members, who have responded overwhelmingly positively to the training programmes.

Nguyen Hoang Giang, employed by the Tram Chim National Park, in the southern province of Dong Thap, said, "All the training activities were designed in a very participatory way, giving trainees and trainers lots of opportunities to exchange or share ideas, and encourage trainees to speak up about their ideas."

Giang was speaking at a workshop yesterday in Ha Noi, which reviewed one of the recent Go Green efforts, a project that sought to improve operations and communications in Vu Quang National Park, located in the central province of Ha Tinh.

This particular project was sponsored by TMV in co-ordination with Education for Nature Viet Nam (ENV), Viet Nam's first non-governmental organisation focused on the conservation of nature and the environment.

Nguyen Tan Truyen echoed Giang's assessment, noting that at U Minh Ha National Park, located in the southern province of Ca Mau, where he works, Environmental Education (EE) has not always received the level of attention it deserves.

Truyen said, "I myself was not highly motivated in carrying out EE programmes and activities in the past, partly due to a lack of knowledge and understanding." After participating in the TMV/ENV training session, Truyen feels he will be a more effective advocate and caretaker of Viet Nam's natural heritage.

During the past three years of programme implementation, there have been seven training courses organised for most of the national parks and reserves in the country.

Through these training courses, park staff are educated by ENV trainers about environmental solutions and protection strategies that are suitable for local conditions in national parks. In addition, the sessions allow trainees to practice their environmental communications skills in order to raise the awareness of local communities.

When evaluating the result of Go Green, said Tran Viet Hung, the deputy director of ENV: "These training courses not only provide professional skills on environment education but also directly provide financial support for EE officers to deploy activities in their own associations."

Indeed, after each training course, trainees are invited to put forward their own proposals to raise the awareness of environment protection and improve the environment of local parks.

Hung said he believed that "the active and effective role of TMV as a financial sponsor and a consultant on the project content has contributed greatly to the success of the programme".

As of today, 19 projects by 18 out of 37 national park officers attending the training courses have been financially supported thanks to their creativity. In addition, there have been more than 500 workshops of Natural Conservation Club, which have attracted more than 20,000 students, as well as 200 local workshops that drew the participation of about 10,000 local people.

Akito Tachibana, general director of TMV, said that the many initiatives of Go Green were "raising the Vietnamese's awareness of the close relationship between human activities and natural environment and simultaneously helping them to get the idea that each citizen has to bear responsibility for the preservation of precious natural resources through reasonably exploiting and using them".

"We assume that the effectiveness of this programme will stimulate other environment protection activities to be implemented in national parks and reserves nationwide," he said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News