Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh plants a tree at the launch ceremony on January 29, 2020. (Photo: VNA)

The active afforestation movement, responsive to President Ho Chi Minh’s call 60 years ago, has contributed significantly to economic development and poverty reduction. It has promoted the forest’s protective role, improved the environment, mitigated natural disaster damage, and boosted Vietnam’s resilience against climate change.

President Ho Chi Minh wrote an article, which was published on “Nhan Dan” (People) newspaper on November 28, 1959, stressing the importance of tree-planting to each person, each family, and the entire nation. Tree-planting has since become an annual custom each Lunar New Year in Vietnam.