Tree-planting in Phu Yen lays roots for nationwide goal

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the tree-planting launch ceremony in Phu Yen

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc kicked off the spring launch ceremony of the tree-planting festival in Tuy Hoa city of Phu Yen on February 20. The festival is in line with the prime minister’s plan for Vietnam to plant one billion trees in total by 2025.

“The government and I do believe that Phu Yen will be one of the localities taking the lead in implementing the plan,” the prime minister said.

Phu Yen has set a target that over the next five years, 15 million trees will be planted, including 12 million in different areas and three million as protection forests which can mitigate or prevent the impact of natural hazards. On average, each year will see three million trees planted.

In addition, forest management boards, economic organisations, households, and individuals will also plant about 6,000 forest trees, making contributions to protecting the environment, raising forest coverage, and further beautifying the natural landscapes. This will help make Phu Yen a greener and healthier living environment in its great efforts to achieve sustainable development.

Vietjet has also joined Phu Yen’s tree plantation scheme. “Participating in the programme of planting 15 million trees in Phu Yen, responding to Prime Minister Phuc’s initiative to plant one billion trees is Vietjet’s latest action in a series of activities to spread the message of flying green with Vietjet, protecting the environment, and protecting Earth for millions of our customers,” said Vietjet managing director Dinh Viet Phuong.

Like many other localities nationwide, Phu Yen has over the past years been attaching great importance to forest plantation and environmental protection. Right after the lunar new year begins, the province always holds a ceremony to kick off tree plantation, with the participation of almost all locals. In the 2016-2020 period, the province planted more than 32,000 hectares of forests, with an average of 6,500ha per year. Its forest coverage rate increased from 36.4 per cent in 2015 to just over 45 per cent in 2020.

Under the government’s plan to grow one billion trees, nearly 700 million will be planted in urban and rural areas, and more than 300 million trees will be planted as concentrated forests.

The plan is expected to help Vietnam cope more effectively with climate change and natural disasters. In 2020, flooding and landslides caused many deaths and losses.

“While experts were blaming these natural disasters on climate change, heavy rains, or the construction of small hydropower plants, it was first and foremost necessary for us to protect forests and plant more trees,” Prime Minister Phuc said.

Last week, he attended the launch of an initiative to plant trees by 2025 in the northern province of Tuyen Quang. He stressed the need to combine forest development with eco-tourism, and the preservation of indigenous culture, to make Tuyen Quang a role model of the forestry economy.

“Socioeconomic development, in harmony with nature, will lead people to a truly prosperous, happy, and peaceful life. All households, organisations, and individuals should plant trees for a brighter future,” he said.

The tree-planting festival is a yearly campaign in Vietnam. This year, each locality is committed to grow around one million trees in the year. Hanoi alone plans to grow over 400,000 trees in February.

On December 31, Prime Minister Phuc issued Directive No.45/CT-TTg on organising the tree-planting festival and enhancing forest protection and growth from early 2021.