During the first days of the Lunar New Year, people in many provinces and cities actively participated in the tree-planting festival.

The capital city of Hanoi has set the target of planting over 1 million trees in 2013 while continuing to invest in the programme of building rural areas following new models.

Meanwhile, the northern mountainous province of Lang Son will make every effort to plant as many as 9,000 hectares of forests, bringing the forest coverage in the locality to 51.9 percent.

Hai Duong northern province aims to plant 1 million trees, including fruit trees, timbers and shade trees. In 2012, over 1.02 million trees were plant in the province.

The tree-planting festival is held annually every spring to commemorate the late President Ho Chi Minh who initiated the activity in 1959 and raise people’s awareness of environmental protection.-VNA