A local resident plants a tree in a large timber afforestation project in Hòa Vang District of Đà Nẵng City. Upstream forest in mountainous communes in the district will be restored in 2023-24. — Photo courtesy of GreenViet

ĐÀ NẴNG — The centre for biodiversity conservation, GreenViet, has been raising fund for an afforestration project on 50ha in the upstream forest of the mountainous Hoà Bắc commune – an effort in reducing erosion and landslide in the lower river area and strengthening climate change resilience for the city’s suburban zone.

The fund raising campaign, Bring the forest back to life, which was launched in co-operation with the Gustav-Stresemann Institute (GSI, Germany) and EU, has initiated with 60,000 large timber trees, offering a cost of VNĐ49,000 (US$1.68) for planting and supervising a tree in the commune in 2023-24.

In the fund-raising night music event in early August, donors contributed a fund for plantation of 220 trees and 40 tonnes of bio-fertilizer from Đặng Gia Trang company, for starting the plantation in November of 2023, GreenViet said.

It said the campaign aims to collect VNĐ3 billion ($120,000) for the upstream forest restoration with the participation of ethnic Cơ Tu community living in the commune – 40km away from the city’s downtown.

Earlier this year, GreenViet, a non-profit NGO, began the indigenous timber forest restoration on 18.1ha in Hòa Liên Commune as a sustainable agro-forest production with funding from Ecoculture of the US.

GreenViet said it has been implementing the ‘One Million Trees Plantation’ project in Đà Nẵng, Hà Nội and HCM City to provide a ‘green’ shadow for the community and reduce air pollution from 2021-2025.

More than 1,000 big trees had been grown by volunteers and GreenViet in Sơn Trà Nature Reserve in the city.

An upstream section of the Cu Đê River in Hòa Bắc commune of Hòa Vang district in Đà Nẵng. Forest restoration in the area aims to reduce climate change impact in the lower river area. — Photo courtesy of Hòa Bắc Portal

The European Union (EU) is funding a biodiversity protection and environmental sustainability project in central Đà Nẵng City in 42 months from July 2020, to the end of December 2023, with total funding of 650,000 euros.

Đà Nẵng has been raising total funds of $4.4 million for conservation, forest protection and afforestation and establishing new reserves on 43,722ha by 2030.

GreenViet alone has received VNĐ45 billion ($1.8 million) from the community in funding for biodiversity protection and environmental sustainability in Đà Nẵng over past decades.— VNS