The World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - Vietnam is hoping for a positive response from the entire nation in its global Earth Hour campaign, which calls upon people to switch off their lights at 20h30 on March 28, 2009.
By joining the campaign, Vietnam is signaling its willingness to tackle the effects of climate change and rising sea levels, as the country has been warned by experts that it could be the second-hardest hit nation in the world, particularly in the Red River and Mekong Deltas, said the watchdog. 70 percent of the coastal population in Vietnam is facing the threat of unforeseeable weather abnormities, including tsunamis. Climate change and rising sea levels may expand the flood-prone areas, worsen soil erosion problems in coastal areas and increase the salinity of the soil, thus negatively affecting agricultural production and the daily lives of millions of Vietnamese coast-dwellers. The WWF recently announced its Earth Hour campaign, and expects one billion people from a thousand cities to turn off their lights for one hour as a signal of unity and determination in the battle against climate change. The ‘lights-off’ time of 8:30 pm on March 28 would be an unforgettable moment if the entire world fell into darkness, said the organising board. A number of world famous buildings, such as the Burj Dubai, the highest building in the United Arab Emirates, the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, Sydney Opera House, the University of Singapore and Helsinki Cathedral, Finland have all registered to turn off their lights at that time. On the day of its launch, the Earth Hour campaign received positive responses from 74 cities across 62 countries worldwide.
