Suggestions for direction
Con Son, as the "heart" of the Hau River, is currently facing great challenges from climate change, environmental pollution and the pressure of urbanization.
In reality, the rapid increase in the number of tourists has brought significant environmental consequences. One-time plastic waste, plastic bags, and bottles of water bottles are appearing more and more. The tangled canal system - which is the blood vessel, the soul of Con Son - is at risk of pollution if not properly cared for.
Meanwhile, natural landscapes and inherent quiet are also threatened by concrete works if planning is not strictly controlled. Faced with these risks, the Con Son tourism community determined: Tourism cannot be traded for the environment.
"The goal is to preserve the green color of the plants, the purity of the water, and the purity of the air to retain tourists" - said Ms. Le Thi Be Bay (advisor of Con Son Agricultural Tourism Cooperative.
Returning to Con Son after a decade, journalist Tran Hoang Tuyen said that he still has many concerns: What Con Son has done is attract attention in the tourism community. But the mark of the recent pandemic is the obsession of many people. It is time for Con Son Agricultural Tourism Cooperative to continue to think more about regeneration.
Our work in the past has created a solid wall. People can withstand fluctuations in the tourism business. I think it cannot be called too optimistic in the renovation process, but it is clear that we need to move forward" - journalist Hoang Tuyen said.
Take immediate action
The entire Con Son in Can Tho City currently has about 65 households living there, of which more than 30 households directly participate in tourism and 20 households are affiliated in the Agricultural Tourism Cooperative. The special thing is that people agree to keep over 90% of the area of green trees and natural water, maintaining a sustainable ecological landscape.
The journey of "greening" Con Son has been and is continuing to be implemented with specific and practical actions. Accordingly, the "No to plastic waste" movement was strongly launched in each household and tourist. Some garden locations have switched to using banana leaves to wrap food instead of plastic bags. Trash bins are placed everywhere with a cute message reminding visitors to dump their trash in the right place. Youth volunteer teams regularly take action to collect garbage on rivers and canals; plant trees to keep the land.
We had the opportunity to follow Mr. Bui Cong Thuan, a tour guide at Con Son Agricultural Tourism Cooperative to experience and better understand this way of doing things for the people.
At Bay Bon fish raft, the old farmer said: " Opening the door to visitors goes beyond the meaning of profit but also helps promote precious fish species and makes people know about Con Son. I want to convey the message of environmental protection and water protection to everyone, that is the way I keep the Hau River green" - Mr. Bon added.
Previously, in June 2022, Mr. Bay Bon and the people of Con Son land and tour guides collected and classified plastic waste, notably the activity of connecting boats with 2,500 plastic bottles to "beautify" the environment, following the model "Con Son people say no to plastic waste".
Surprisingly, Mr. Thuan was also a member of the direct team to build this plastic boat. Mr. Thuan said: "There are hardships but everyone is happy and feels meaningful. When visitors touch this boat, everyone will understand the importance of environmental protection, thereby putting garbage in the right place".
At the star apple garden of Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai, in recent years, waste has been classified at the source and organic fertilizer from tree shells and leaves has been well cultivated.
"Here, we handle garbage very carefully. For plastic bags and plastic items, we will reuse them to limit waste discharging into the environment; organic waste such as vegetable roots, leaf shells, tree shells... will be divided into growing areas in the garden to make fertilizer and fertilize fresh fruit trees" - Ms. Mai shared her secret.
Continue to spread the fire
According to Ms. Le Thi Be Bay, green tourism is becoming a trend and with the available platform on this fertile land, people are always doing their best to be worthy of what nature has given them.
Before I came here, people loved nature and knew how to protect the environment. For that reason, as soon as I set up the tourism platform, I continued to encourage people to collect and classify waste. I believe Con Son will become a renewable green tourist destination, creating a difference with other eco-tourism destinations in the area" - Ms. Bay shared.
According to Ms. Bay, Con Son tourism is currently in the construction stage, so to prolong the economic model, she and the Con Son people have trained more inheritance forces. Up to now, children of Con Son have been inspired and have absorbed the way of doing green-clean-beautiful tourism.
In addition to the people's personal efforts, comments from experts and cultural researchers also play an important role in shaping the sustainable development strategy for Con Son.
Accordingly, the opinion that Con Son needs to avoid the traffic jams of many other tourist areas is to develop hotly and have excess concrete. The core value of Con Son is the indigenous culture and garden ecology. Architectural planning must be in harmony with the landscape, construction materials must be environmentally friendly such as bamboo, leaves, wood. Along with that, it is necessary to diversify tourism products in the direction of in-depth experiences, educational tourism, health tourism to attract high-end customers who are aware of environmental protection.
Spreading green, sustainable values
After participating in the experience of picking fruit, making cakes and boating around the islet, Ms. Tran Khanh Huong (a tourist from Hanoi) - said that although she has been to many places in Vietnam, Con Son brings a very special feeling. The purity and peace here are a luxury for those living in the industrial city.
"I strongly support people to limit plastic products. If you can keep the environment like this, I believe Con Son will be a world-class destination, because the future tourism trend is to find nature" - Ms. Huong said.
According to Ms. Le Thi Be Bay, to realize the dream of green and sustainable tourism, Con Son still has a lot of work to do and support from relevant parties. That is, more synchronous investment in wastewater and waste treatment infrastructure to promote existing values. And above all, it is necessary to have the determination of the Con Son community in the face of short-term profit temptations.
The future of Con Son will be a blue picture, where people and nature blend together and rely on each other. The Hau River will still tirelessly flow, bringing alluvium to the coastal land to be more fertile and the people who settled here will continue to write their fairy tales.
"We have escaped poverty by doing tourism so that Con Son is a symbol of rising up. And now we have escaped the backlog to continue building a healthy green "heart", hitting sustainable dams with the development of Tay Do and the entire Mekong Delta region" - Head of Con Son Agricultural Tourism Cooperative, Ms. Phan Kim Ngan, pledged.
It can be said that the story of the journey of more than 10 years of traveling to eliminate poverty and get rich in Con Son (2015 - 2025) has ended brilliantly, opening a new chapter promising more miracles. There, it is necessary to continue to have the cooperation and consensus of gardeners, the state, investors and the orientation of experts and researchers to help realize the goal of spreading the value of green living and towards sustainability.
