A meeting of the Steering Committee of the “Wildlife Consumption in Vietnam” (WLC) project took place on May 3 in Hanoi to strengthen biodiversity conservation in the country.

The event was held by the Vietnam Environment Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).

The WLC project is financed by the Global Environment Fund through the World Bank (WB).

During the meeting, MONRE Deputy Minister Bui Cach Tuyen said that biodiversity conservation is a long-term process and needs to get all levels of society involved in the process.

Tuyen added that MONRE has always fostered cooperation with relevant ministries and agencies over the past time to reform practices of wildlife consumption in Vietnam, as well as bring about positive changes in public awareness of biodiversity and wildlife conservation in particular.

The three-year project includes three components and will be piloted in Hanoi until 2014.

The first component focuses on improving the legal framework and policies, while the second aims to develop a report system on illegal wildlife trade and consumption.

The final component will raise public support and awareness of wildlife and biodiversity protection.

When finished, the project will provide handbooks to instruct law enforcement, including listing endangered wildlife conservation in the 2020 national strategy on biodiversity.

Among the ten countries with the richest biodiversity, Vietnam is home to 10 percent of all popular species in the world, whereas its territory accounts for less than 1 percent of the earth surface.

Source: VNA