Typical environmental protection models

The Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee (VFF) in Dai Dien Trung village, Dien Khanh district’s Dien Dien commune in collaboration with the management board of Dai Phuoc pagoda has mobilized Buddhists to proactively join hands in keeping villages clean, mobilizing local Buddhist to take part in forest protection, forest fire prevention and control, planting trees and flowers, etc.

Presenting shopping bags to Buddhists of Hai Giac pagoda

The VFF in Van Ninh district’s Van Long commune in collaboration with Hai Giac pagoda has established a model to reduce the use of plastic bags and plant mangrove forest cultivation to protect the environment in Hai Trieu village.

At the model launching ceremony, the organizing committee presented shopping bags to Buddhists for limiting the use of plastic bags, and after the launching ceremony, over 40,000 young mangrove trees were planted along Hai Trieu beach.

Giac Hai pagoda in Nha Trang city, Buddhists and local residents in Phuoc Toan Dong ward have monthly cleaned the pagoda and neighboring alleys on every last Saturday of the month.

Further expansion

According to Vice Chairman of the VFF in Dien Khanh district, the district has five operative religions with 68 worshipping places and 35,000 followers. Local religious organizations have engaged in a coordination programme signed with the VFF and the resources and environment division in the district in the 2016-2020 period. The coordination program has been implemented in 18 commune-level VFFs, 93 residential areas, 68 worshipping places, with the participation of 61 dignitaries and 244 deacons. Main contents of the coordination program include training skills on self-rescue, dealing with unusual risks and natural disasters; development and expansion of successful models in environment protection.

Local authorities and religious organizations have signed a coordination program on promoting religious engagement for environment protection for the 2021-2025 period. Accordingly, religious organizations would encourage religious followers to update information on environment protection, keep clean, green, beautiful religious places and expand successful piloted environment protection models, etc.

For the last 5 years, hundreds of religious places in Van Ninh district have implemented environmental activities in the residential areas, especially in far-off places in unfavorable conditions for centralized garbage collection and treatment. Specific environmental lessons and activities have been convincingly integrated in daily sermons given by monks and priests. The environmental protection campaign has proved effective in 80% of communities so far.

Vice Chairman of the VFF in Van Ninh district said that recently, social organizations have collaborated with the religious solidarity board to mobilize religious organizations to proactively participate in environmental protection. The effective promotion of models of religious organizations environmental protection and climate change response has not only enhanced the roles, responsibilities and contributions of religious followers but also strengthened the national unity.

In the coming time, the VFF in the district would continue expanding the effective models across the district, especially in religious communities; building more models in accordance with specific conditions of each locality and religion, thereby, creating a change in environmental awareness and habits of people of all religions, contributing to keeping the district clean, green and beautiful.