All participants attending the VACNE (Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment) Executive Committee meeting held on December 12, 2011, in Hanoi, were determined to continue, along with the community, in pursuing the goal of sustainable development.
After the opening speech of the VACNE President Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Sinh, the Secretary-General Dr. Pham Binh Quyen presented VACNE's annual activity report of 2011 and activity plan for 2012.
According to the report, in 2011, thanks to active efforts of VACNE leadership and member organizations, the VACNE activity plan for 2011 was basically accomplished. VACNE has further strengthened and developed its organizational system, admitted 5 new member organizations and by this it raised the total membership to 153 collective members. Activities of the VACNE Standing Committee, boards, and office were equally good all year round.
VACNE's initiative of recognizing Vietnam Heritage Trees has been responded well from people all over the country. To present, VACNE has received more than 300 documentation of ancient trees from 23 provinces/cities registered for recognizing as Vietnam Heritage Trees. The VACNE's Vietnam Heritage Tree Council has approved 113 trees growing from Cao Bang to Binh Dinh provinces and VACNE, in cooperation with many other central and local institutions, has organized solemn recognizing ceremonies for them. The event was ebulliently responded by the community and supported by many central, local authorities, and international organizations as well.
VACNE also played an active role in co-organizing a number of workshops and meetings, carried out some research projects and managerial tasks, and published some valuable research and reference documents, textbooks, etc.
In 2011, the VACNE's strong point in consultancy and social review was well promoted. Typical examples were a proposal of establishing an independent agency for climate change (which was accepted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), consultancy and review activities for the projects of Sustainable development orientation for the Ba Vi National Park and surroundings, of Environmental impact assessment of hydropower projects 6 and 6A on Dong Nai River, of the Xayabury (Laos) dam, of the Ho Chi Minh City sea dam, and of the National target program to combat climate change.
As for communication and awareness raising activities, by improving the form and the content of the VACNE's website, the number of accesses to the website was gradually raising. In average, there were 8,000-9,000 accesses per a day for Vietnamese pages and 300 accesses per day for English pages. The mass communication was promoted to contribute a great deal to community awareness raising. Other activities like Contest on water resources use and protection for students, Cycling for environmental communication, sponsoring international exhibitions on environmentally friendly technologies and products in Vietnam and in neighboring countries, etc. were also carried out further in 2011 by VACNE.
The VACNE's 2011 activity report and 2012 plan were adopted unanimously by all members of the Executive Committee. Leaderships of provincial member organizations like those in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Cao Bang, Vinh Phuc, Thanh Hoa provinces, etc. contributed actively in discussions on how to improve the mode of associations' activities so that the join strength of the whole VACNE can contribute more effectively to the cause of environmental protection and sustainable development.