A joint US$3.96 million Viet Nam-German project to preserve the biodiversity of the country’s forests was launched in Ha Noi yesterday.
The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry and the German government’s organisation for international technical co-operation in sustainable development, GTZ, have commissioned the project.
The project would focus on improving the laws to protect biodiversity and clarify responsibility and co-ordination among Government agencies, said Deputy Agricultural and Rural Development Minister Hua Duc Nhi at the launch.
It was expected to improve institutions and personnel as well as the financial technical, and legal conditions necessary to ensure biodiversity.
Although Viet Nam was ranked 16th in the world for biodiversity, its ecosystems, especially tropical forest, faced degradation from population growth; inefficient management; limited co-operation and non-multi-sector access, he said.
The ministry’s Nature Conservation Department director Tran The Lien said people were reportedly settled in 80 per cent of 2.2 million hectares of Viet Nam’s protected forests.
Their hunting and felling of trees threatened biodiversity, he said.
But a lack of both money and land made it difficult to arrange their resettlement.
The Nature Conservation Department, which answers to the ministry’s Forestry Directorate, and GTZ will be responsible for the project.
Pilot work will begin in the Ba Be National Park, northern Bac Kan Province; Na Hang Nature Reserve, northeastern Tuyen Quang Province; Pu Hu and Bu Luong Nature Reserves, central Thanh Hoa Province; and Bach Ma National Park, central Thua Thien-Hue Province, and their buffer zones.
The project will research and implement innovative financing designed to secure sustainable conservation and improve the livelihoods of the local population.
