On the morning of October 08, 2023, the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD) in collaboration with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) of Nam Dinh province, Giao Thuy District People’s Committee, Giao Thuy District Youth Union, Quat Lam Town People’s Committee and related stakeholders organized an event “Community Coastal Clean-up” at the coast of Quat Lam town, Giao Thuy district, Nam Dinh province.

This activity was conducted in response to the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) program, which was initiated over 30 years ago in the United States by the Ocean Conservancy (OC) and currently being implemented in hundreds of countries in the world. The coastal clean-up activity has been introduced by MCD and implemented regularly in Nam Dinh for many years. This event was also in response to the Anti-Plastic Waste Movement launched by the Prime Minister of Vietnam on June 9, 2019, contributed to the implementation the national and provincial Action Plan on marine plastic waste management and specifically responded to the 2023 program on “Joining hands to make the world cleaner” of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the People’s Committee of Nam Dinh province.

Commenting about the event, Ms. Ho Thi Yen Thu – Standing Deputy Director of MCD said: “Community Coastal Clean-up Event is annually organized by MCD for coastal areas in order to promote the participation of coastal communities in keeping the environment clean, green and blue, thereby enhancing awareness and responsibility about, and promoting practical action of everyone in reducing coastal waste, preserving the coastal ecosystems and environment. MCD believes that the Community Coastal Clean-up activity in Quat Lam is one of the meaningful initiatives for the “Joining hands to make the world cleaner” program in 2023 in Nam Dinh province and contributes effectively to promoting the implementation of the Action Plan on marine plastic waste management until 2030”.

Ms. Ho Thi Yen Thu – Standing Deputy Director of MCD

Participants to this even included representatives of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Nam Dinh province and units such as Environmental Protection Sub-department, Marine, Hydro-meteorological and Climate Change Division; representatives of the Giao Thuy District People’s Committee, the district Division of Natural Resources and Environment, Giao Thuy District Youth Union, Quat Lam Town People’s Committee, Xuan Thuy National Park Management; related agencies and mass organizations in Giao Thuy district, Quat Lam town; media and press agencies, and over 250 volunteers, who mostly are local youth, students and local community representatives. Data and information obtained from the Community Coastal Clean-up activity will contribute to the global ICC database.

Delegates at the event

Mr. Do Quang Trung – Deputy Director of Nam Dinh DONRE said: “The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is very honoured to be the focal point to corporate with MCD to implement many projects and activities for environmental protection in Nam Dinh province. We appreciate MCD’s efforts and donors’ support for our province, especially in activities for communities such as capacity building and communications. We believe that this event already contributed to attracting attention and promoting concrete actions of government agencies, mass organizations and communities on issues related to the environment protection in general and marine plastic waste management in particular. On September 11, 2023, the People’s Committee of Nam Dinh Province issued the Program No. 123/KH-UBND for responding to the campaign of making the world cleaner and we are very happy that this event is a highlight in the initiatives to implement that program, and also contributes meaningfully to the implementation of the Action Plan No. 11/KH-UBND dated February 4, 2020 of the People’s Committee of Nam Dinh Province on marine plastic waste management until 2030″.

Mr. Do Quang Trung – Deputy Director of Nam Dinh DONRE

Mr. Nguyen Tien Tung – Vice Chairman of Giao Thuy District People’s Committee, expressed his thoughts: “The solid waste situation at the coast of Quat Lam town, Giao Thuy district is a challenging issue. Solid waste comes here from various sources such as from the mainland through river to sea, bouncing back from the sea, from tourism and also from the activities of the community living around here. We believe that the Community Coastal Clean-up activity helps all local people, task forces and youth in Giao Thuy district to have a better awareness about the issue and take their responsibility to protect the environment, and also promotes the practice of proper waste collection, separation, reuse and recycling and no dumping into the river or sea”.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Tung – Vice Chairman of Giao Thuy District People’s Committee

This activity was organized within the project “Strategic Plastic Litter Abatement in the Red River” funded by Ocean Conservancy, and implemented by MCD in coordination with DONRE of Nam Dinh province and other local partners.

For more information, please visit: https://vir.com.vn/community-coastal-clean-up-held-for-quat-lam-town-105829.html?zarsrc=30&utm_source=zalo&utm_medium=zalo&utm_campaign=zalo&gidzl=sJp19IkfCaxS9yWb9R4xIT8WmICyi6iOo7N3SJgmFHZE8CGWQEGsJSrqcICqvcCSbt2G83d0eCjTAAaoIm