Hanoi today announced to join the global Earth Hour Campaign 2009. The city calls for all organizations and families located in the city to turn of their lamps for one hour, from 8:30-9:30 of March 28.

Singer My Linh, the Ambassador of Earth Hour campaign in Vietnam.

So far, 539 cities of 75 countries in the world have registered to participate in the Earth Hour program. Hanoi is the 539^th city and the first city of Vietnam to take part in this campaign.

Before the campaign, the city will carry out various activities to call for the local residents to pay attention to and take part in the event.

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund, held on the last Saturday of March that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It was pioneered by WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, and achieved worldwide participation in 2008.

Famous persons are often chosen as the Ambassador of Earth Hour campaign. This year, singer My Linh and Professor Vo Quy, the founder and leader of the Centre for Environmental Research and Natural Resource Management, are selected as the ambassadors in Vietnam.

WWF Vietnam is seeking another ambassador. Everyone can nominate their ambassadors by sending the name of the nominees, their fields of operation, and why you would choose them as the ambassador to Lan.hothanh@wwfgreatermekong.org or call 04 37193049, ext: 128

VietNamNet/VTC/VNE