VietNamNet Bridge - Germany is helping to preserve Vietnam’s forest ecosystem biodiversity.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (MARD)Department of Nature Conservation and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) today launched a project on ‘Preservation of Biodiversity in Forest Ecosystems in Vietnam’, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The project will be implemented by the Department of Nature Conservation (DoNC) under MARD’s Forestry Directorate and GTZ.

Its long-term objective is to improve personnel, institutional, technical, financial and legal conditions to preserve biodiversity in forest ecosystems in Vietnam, particularly at national level and in protected areas.

With a main office in Hanoi, the project will also focus its work on pilot areas, including the Ba Be National Park and Na Hang Nature Reserve, Thanh Hoa province’s Pu Hu and Pu Luong Nature Reserves and the buffer zones of these protected areas. The project’s first phase is set to run for three years with a budget of 3 million euro.

The project will offer institutional and policy advisory and capacity development services to government authorities responsible for the conservation of biodiversity in forest ecosystems, and directly to selected protected areas.

One focus will be on improving the legal framework for biodiversity protection, besides institutional and human resource capacity development.

The project will for example help clarify roles and mandates and improve coordination and cooperation among the responsible government agencies.

The aim is to improve the elaboration and enforcement of laws. Furthermore, it will research and implement innovative financing mechanisms for protected areas and support the development of benefit-sharing mechanisms to secure sustainable financial means for conservation and improve the livelihoods of the local population. These mechanisms will be tested in at least one pilot area.

Lessons learnt will be up-scaled and will serve as references for institutional and policy advice. There will be close cooperation with other relevant ministries, especially the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, scientific institutions, civil society and mass organisations.

Source: VIR