VietNamNet Bridge – A programme organised by HCM City's Environmental Protection Agency saw around 1.25 million people joining various community-based environmental protection activities and several hundred thousands more increasing their environmental awareness in the last five years.

"Environmental protection has become a duty of everybody," Nguyen Van Hong, deputy director of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment, told a conference held yesterday, Jan 18, to review the programme.

"We co-operated with the Fatherland Front, women's, farmers, youth, veterans, and trade unions, the Union of Science and Technology Association and 24 districts since we wanted to involve everybody in environmental protection."

The city Youth Union was possibly the key player in the campaign, helping clean up more than 10,000 public places, collecting 27,000 tonnes of rubbish, and planting nearly 120,000 trees.

Around 15,000 members of mass organisations were provided with basic awareness of the environment, resolutions and laws passed in the country, and other related issues.

Information about environmental protection campaigns was spread through songs, plays and competitions, with some like Waste Recycle Day and keeping migrants' houses clean being the most popular.

"Standards have been created for environmental protection and apply to all households," Ha Van Dung, deputy head of the city Environmental Protection Agency, said.

"Environmental protection activities were encouraged and monitored through co-operation with local authorities," he said, adding the biggest hurdle faced by the programme was the shortage of money.

"Since most of our personnel were volunteers, it was hard to organise environmental protection activities as a routine," he added.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News