The Da Nang Department of Natural Resources and the Environment on Friday, officially kicked off the ‘Collective Action for Water Conservation’ and ‘Local Solutions for Plastic Pollution’ projects, worth a total of VND 13 billion funded the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Addressing the  signing ceremony, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Nguyen Chuong  emphasised that water source conservation,   plastic waste management and waste sorting at the source are identified as very important criteria to achieve a goal of making Da Nang an environmentally-friendly city.

Head of USAID Viet Nam's Environment and Energy office Robert Layng affirmed that the two above-mentioned projects are USAID’s first and very important ones in the field of environmental protection, thus directly contributing to the effective implementation of the ‘Building Da Nang into an Environmentally-friendly City’ landmark project to pave the way for itself to become an  ecological city.

The ‘Collective Action for Water Conservation’ aims to raise public awareness and support data collection to reduce water pollution and advocate for better local water conservation practices by building a strong community consisting of NGOs, businesses, research institutions, associations, and individuals to form the Viet Nam Water Conservation Network (VIWACON).

The ‘Local Solutions for Plastic Pollution’ project aims to empower local communities to reduce plastics pollution by creating networks and uniting and providing support to communities and individuals in Ha Noi, Halong, Da Nang, and Hoi An. This project will design an interactive and customizable online platform to develop advocacy skills based on behavior change analysis, locally-determined needs, and community pollution profiles.

Reporting by KHANH HA – Translating by A.T