Vietnam and many other countries will participate in the Earth Hour 2010, from 8.30.30pm of March 17th 2010 by switching off unnecessary lamps to prevent climate change.

Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake in the Earth Hour 2009.

At 7pm, December 17, the special Earth Hour programme took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, organized by the World Wildlife Fund International and WWF Denmark.

The one million residents of Copenhagen represented 6.7 million people across the world in sending the following message: The world needs to take resolute actions to prevent climate change. It’s the time for world leaders to listen to the aspirations of global citizens.

This message is aimed at the leaders of 192 countries in the world, who are now in Copenhagen to make final decision for climate change-related issues discussed at the UN summit on climate change.

On the same day, the WWF International announced it was organizing Earth Hour 2010 from 8.30 to 9.30, March 27 2010.

Six provinces and cities in Vietnam joined Earth Hour 2009. It is expected that many more locations will participate in the event next year.

“It is not difficult to turn off unnecessary electrical equipment but it really needs the efforts, love and responsibility to this planet, so that the act will become a habit in the daily life of each person,” said Phuong Ngan, a member of the Earth Hour programme in Vietnam.

Ngan has just returned from the South Pole with five other Vietnamese people. She said she witnessed the impacts of climate change in the Antarctic. In recent years, some huge icebergs have broken into small pieces due to global warming.

“Icebergs melting mean that the sea level will rise and it will directly hit the countries with long coasts like Vietnam. It’s the time for Vietnamese people to be aware of the matters of climate change and its impacts on their lives. That is the major goal of the Earth Hour 2010 programme,” she emphasized.

First held in Australia in 2007 with the participation of 2 million people, the event, an initiative of the WWF, has become a global programme in the last two years, with the participation of more than 1 billion people in over 4000 cities and towns in 88 countries in 2009.

Vietnam joined the event in 2009, with six cities – Hanoi, HCM City, Can Tho, Hoi An, Hue city and Khanh Hoa.

PV