A project to build an ecological village that was launched last year in An San Village in the northern province of Lao Cai, has been successfully completed.
The project was focused on raising environmental awareness. The local people were given support to upgrade their sewerage systems and toilets and build biothermal kitchens. They were also trained to protect the environment, use fertilisers and insecticides rationally and cultivate terraced fields.
The local households were provided with 2,000 fruit trees, 21,000 timber trees, 10,000 tea trees and 13,900kg of fertiliser.
The project was launched by Toyota Motor Viet Nam (TMV) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), with additional support from the Ministry of Education and Training.
"The ecological village is a model that links environment protection with economic development," says Nguyen The Dong, vice director of Viet Nam National Administration of Environment. "The model has been worked and achieved good results."
"The project has brought the locals joy. They are now able to build a new ecological village to protect the environment and natural resources, while improving their quality of life," says Hoang Xuan Phu, chairman of Coc San Communal People’s Committee.
An San is a small village in Coc San Commune, 10km from Lao Cai Town, on the Lao Cai - Sa Pa tourist route. The village has 40ha of forest, 30ha of agricultural land and a large area of fallow land. Due to a lack of environmental awareness, the quality of the soil has become poor and the forest has shrunk in recent years.
The project, is a part of Go Green, an environmental protection programme, run by the TMV until next year.