Community beautification models

In the process of implementing environmental protection and climate change response, the entire province has maintained and expanded 112 models of self-managing residential areas in terms of environmental protection. Activities such as planting trees, cleaning up the environment, and releasing fish to replenish aquatic resources are regularly organized, attracting tens of thousands of people from border communes, riverside communes, to urban areas to participate in.

Residents of Dak Lua commune travel along a green, clean, and beautiful road. Photo: Van Truyen

The models and movements implemented through each individual’s positive actions are receiving strong support from the Dong Nai residents, thereby creating a sense of community beauty within each residential area and fostering a friendly and close-knit image throughout the community.

Beautifying residential areas

The first positive impact of the self-managing residential area models for environmental protection is beautifying each village, hamlet, and neighborhood, thereby contributing to improving the quality of life for each family.

For example, at the memorial monument commemorating martyrs in Bu Lu village, Bu Gia Map border commune, every day the residents living around the area remind each other to clean up dust, sweep up dry leaves, and remove trash around the monument; reminding their children and grandchildren to show respect, not to damage, but to protect the monument and artifacts.

Thanks to this, even without someone directly supervising it every day or every hour, the gate of the memorial house is always open for everyone to come and offer incense, because each family living nearby acts as a "camera" protecting and preserving this memorial house, keeping both the inside and outside clean.

Besides residential areas, religious institutions are also actively implementing environmental protection and climate change response models. Through this, in the 2024-2025 period, Catholic communities in Dong Nai have contributed over 9.7 billion VND to build concrete roads, bridges, install streetlights, plant and care for trees to create landscapes in residential areas and parishes. Meanwhile, Buddhist communities in Dong Nai have implemented the "Environmental Protection - Building a Sustainable Future" model with 154 activities carried out at religious sites, including planting trees to create green spaces, releasing fish as part of a life-release ritual, maintaining cleanliness inside and outside worship areas, and promoting green living among Buddhist families.

Nguyen Thi Thanh (resident of Bu Lu village) said: "Apart from the attention and support from local government, the people here visit the memorial every day to offer incense. In addition, thanks to the spacious and clean surroundings, the area outside the memorial is where people frequently gather for activities every morning and evening. This contributes to fostering the community beauty in showing gratitude and building a healthy living environment."

In Dak Lua commune, residents regularly dedicate two hours each weekend morning to tending to the flowerbeds and lawns along the rural roads in their residential areas. Initially, only the heads of the hamlets participated in, but gradually, whenever the hamlet committee cleaned up, residents eagerly awaited to help, including many young people and students. During the dry season, each household took responsibility for watering the plants to maintain the greenery. As a result, many residential areas in the locality have beautiful landscapes.

Hoang Ngoc Le Na (a young woman from Hamlet 4, Dak Lua Commune) said that although she and other residents spend very little time each week—just once a week—caring for the trees, lawns, and cleaning the roads, the results make everyone happy. Many roadside trees and flowerbeds have become places for groups of friends to take souvenir photos when they visit the commune for recreation. At the same time, many groups of friends also choose beautiful scenic sections of the roads to take pictures and 'show off' their place of residence on social media."

Protecting the landscape to attract tourists

In many localities with tourist attractions, the proactive implementation of self-managing residential area models for environmental protection by local residents also contributes to attracting tourists to come and experience the areas.

People from Tho Son commune perform folk dances at the Bu Lach grassland in Tho Son commune, one of the beautiful landscapes that attracts tourists to visit. According to Dieu Khue, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Tho Son commune, the Bu Lach grassland – comprising 20 grasslands – in Tho Son commune is one of the beautiful landscapes that attracts tourists and helps local people enjoy a clean environment. To preserve this "green gem," people from 18 villages in the commune have been committed to maintaining the natural grassland and surrounding forest by participating in weekly clean-up campaigns and planting trees to create a beautiful landscape along the access roads to the tourist site. Each individual maintains a friendly and enthusiastic attitude in communication and behavior with other residents within the community and with the tourists. This has attracted people from other places to visit, thereby creating job opportunities for the local people. Nguyen Thanh Yen, a member of a kite-flying club from Ho Chi Minh City, shared: “The natural scenery is beautiful and unique, the air is fresh, there are many tourists, but there is almost no household waste. The road leading to Bu Lach grassland is paved, but importantly, the people living along both sides of the road, even in commercial areas, do not encroach on the road, and there are no piles of garbage along the roads like in many other places. When we need to communicate, the local people are enthusiastic and helpful.” According to Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Bom Bo commune, Bom Bo commune has 16 villages with over 27,000 people belonging to 22 ethnic groups. During the implementation of the "National Solidarity Movement for Building New-style Rural Areas and Civilized Urban Areas," the commune's Fatherland Front organized the "Green - Clean - Beautiful" movement in residential areas, encouraging agencies, religious establishments, households, and communities to plant flowers, trees, and ornamental plants, and to build flower walls, flower fences, and flower-lined roads. People have planted over 4,500 perennial trees to provide shade. Furthermore, as the locality possesses many streams, the Fatherland Front and other organizations mobilize the people to protect the environment, collect and process waste, dredge and clear waterways, and build roads along the streams to prevent flooding and create conditions for production development. At the same time, as the commune has 65% of its working-age population engaged in agriculture, the Fatherland Front and hamlet committees always remind people not to let trees extend their branches onto the roads, obstructing visibility and creating obstacles that endanger traffic participants. This contributes to creating a green, clean, beautiful, and safe environment for the people, especially for tourists traveling to the Soc Bom Bo Historical Site. By Van Truyen – Translated by Quoc Dung, Thu Ha