Raising Awareness of Environmental Protection and Climate Change Adaptation in the Bui Chu Diocese of Nam Dinh province

The aim of this training was to help clarify the current situations and identify causes of environmental pollution and climate change in the participants' local areas. The training objectives focused on finding solutions relevant to the local conditions, and identifying communications issues to convey to the locals.  Another goal of this training program was to establish the Catholic core groups amongst participants to conduct communication activities for the local Catholic followers to protect the environment and adapt to climate change.

Participants were doing group discussion 

The training session was designed with various modules that featured multiple presentations on a variety of topics of environmental issues. There were also group discussions and field visits in some communities that have been experiencing severe pollution, like Kien Lao handicraft village in the Kien Lao communities of the Xuan Truong district. Participants were taught the foundations of environment and climate change, causes and effects of environmental pollution on production and  health. After undertaking field visits, the participant groups presented and discussed environmental pollution caused by crop production, animal husbandry, fisheries and handicraft villages in their local areas. They also proactively worked towards solutions to reduce the abovementioned pollution.

In addition to the problem of environmental protection, climate change was also successfully explained during the training. The training adopted a teaching approach that uses illustrations for simple explanations, so that after the training, participants could better understand and distinguish causes, effects and solutions to climate change.

Participants and trainers took picture together

In the final session of their training, attendees focused on discussing and developing an implementation plan for a community with a clean and safe environment (expected completion in 2016). The plan was warmly welcomed by Toma Quino Vu Dinh, the Bishop of Bui Chu diocese and recommended for immediate implementation during the “clean – green” week that the Bui Chu Caritas launched from 2nd to 9^th of August 2015

At the end of the training, in the presence of the Bishop, Tran Hung Dao Giuse priest (the director of Caritas Bui Chu) thanked SRD and the VFD project for facilitating the session, and expressed his desire to replicate the training for all Catholic followers in different regions of Bui Chu diocese.

Climate Change (CC) is causing negative effects at a global scale, and all people and religions must join to fight it. 

As a coastal province located in the Red river delta, Nam Dinh is one of the most vulnerable provinces to climate change, and due to its geographical features, is prone to cyclones, sea level rising, and saltwater intrusion. Moreover, it is also a province with a high concentration of catholic communities within Vietnam, where Bui Chu is the main diocese of the province, with more than 400,000 Catholics that account for about 22% of the province’s population. Therefore, it is a major priority to promote awareness of environmental pollution, adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction for the Catholic followers in Nam Dinh province specifically, and people more generally. Nam Dinh is also one of the main areas where conscious- raising of CC related activities is conducted as a part of the VFS project. 

In May 24th 2014, Pope Francis conveyed the “Laudato sí” message of “Protecting our common home” by calling for communities to protect the environment and adapt to CC. The message acts as an important bridge between environmental protection and adaptation to CC related activities of the VFD project and those of Catholic cathedrals.

 -SRD-

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