Over the past three years, an urban tree-planting project has brought over one million trees to Hanoi’s streets.
Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung recently announced that Hanoi has successfully planted one million trees across the city at a review meeting for civic campaigns on December 10, 2018, Dan Tri reports. He also added that authorities intend to continue the initiative.
"Hanoi will plant 300,000 more trees each year so that we'll have 600,000 new trees by 2020," Chairman Chung said.
The project began in 2016, with the aim of planting one million trees across the city by 2020. Yet Chairman Chung’s project met the four-year goal in two years, according to the news source. If the new figures are met, Hanoi will have planted 1.6 million trees by 2020.
The cost of the project to date is VND256 billion (US$11 million), although an additional cost of VND187 billion (US$8 million) was spent on trimming the trees over the past two years.
Part of the idea was to bring trees to areas that would benefit most from the greenery, such as Vo Van Kiet and Vo Nguyen Giap streets. In addition to planting new trees, the project also involved replacing some older trees on several streets in the city, including Xa Dan, Giai Phong and Vo Chi Cong — a change some considered controversial.
Orchid and date palm trees were among the species added to the city's landscape, while various flowers and shrubs were also planted in various locations across the capital.
The benefits of adding trees to urban landscapes can be substantial. A mature tree can absorb up to 150 kilograms of CO2 each year, while trees also play a central role in climate change mitigation and air quality regulation.
In Hanoi, where air quality can be dangerous, these trees could make a huge difference, not only on pollution levels but also for the mental and physical health of urban dwellers.
