GEF helps Vietnam increase biodiversity preservation

The Global Environment Fund (GEF) has funded a project to boost biodiversity preservation in Vietnam through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

A conference was held in Hanoi on September 22 to review the implementation of the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) project between August 2012 and August 2015.

Vietnam joined the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1994. Since then, the Vietnamese Government has dedicated considerable human and financial resources to implementing the country’s commitments and obligations to the convention, said Deputy Head of the Vietnam Environmental Administration Nguyen The Dong.

Stork Island in Hai Duong province, one of the bio-diversity projects funded by GEF. Photo: Huu Duong

He noted that the UNDP has supported Vietnam to carry out a number of programs and projects relating to environmental protection, biodiversity preservation, natural resources management and climate change adaptation.

Director of the Biodiversity Conservation Department Pham Anh Cuong said the three-year project is being conducted in Hanoi and piloted in northern Lang Son and Son La provinces.

He underlined the outcomes of the project, including the issuance of the national strategy on biodiversity through 2020 and 7 normative legal documents integrating biological diversity into land usage, and raising public awareness of the issue.

Under the project, the capacity of officials and policymakers in the field has been enhanced, he said.

As many as 57 workshops at the national and provincial levels have been organized to draft the contents of the NBSAP and mobilize financial resources for implementing the project.

In 2014, Vietnam ranked 16^th out of the 25 countries with the richest biodiversity in the world. It is home to eight UNESCO-recognized Biosphere Reserves: Can Gio Mangrove Swamp, Cat Ba, Cat Tien, Cu Lao Cham-Hoi An, Kien Giang, Mui Ca Mau, the Red River Delta and Western Nghe An.

The country has also ratified a number of international agreements for biodiversity conservation, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), and the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (RAMSAR).