The central city of Da Nang has devised a number of concrete measures to bring a fresh, green and unique look to the city and attract a greater number of tourists.
In recent years, the “green-clean-beautiful Sunday” campaign has become a tradition in Da Nang, where locals voluntarily contribute their time to keep their neighbourhood clean.
A wide range of activities have also been organised to collect thousands of tons of garbage, dredge channels and canals, plant thousands of trees and care for parterres and grassland.
In 2008, the municipal People’s Committee approved an action plan to make Da Nang an environmentally-friendly city.
The project aims to develop standards for land, water and atmosphere quality by 2020 in a bid to ensure safe and healthy conditions for local residents, investors and tourists.
Under the project, more than 90 percent of the urgent local environmental issues have been addressed and publicity campaigns have been launched to raise community awareness on the practical and long-term benefits of green development.
Green space-oriented facilities have been built across the city and along local beaches, such as new urban zones, resorts and office buildings, ultimately contributing to raising local living quality and tourist volume..
Between 2013 and 2014, dozens of practical and effective activities were conducted under a project on tree development implemented by the municipal Department of Construction.
Deputy Director of the Department Le Tung Lam said social resources play a key role in activities to improve living conditions and create public green landscapes.
Echoing Lam’s opinion on mobilising social resources in urban green tree development, other local officials affirmed trees hold a significant part in making Da Nang a green, active and modern city.
They also stressed the need to incite the active participation of all level authorities and residents alike in the work; expand public campaigns such as “tree planting festival” and “a green-clean-beautiful Sunday”, among others; and strengthen public supervision of relevant policies and regulations.
A GIS-based software has been developed at a total cost of around 250 million VND (11,700 USD) to facilitate the management of the local tree database.
Da Nang has received a number of international and domestic awards for its efforts, including the ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable City in 2011, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Low-Carbon Emission City in 2012 and one of APEC 20 Green-Clean-Beautiful Cities in 2013, and membership of the Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities Programme in 2014.