MAINSTREAMING BIODIVERSITY IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN VIETNAM: CURRENT STATUS AND CHALLENGES

Ms Nguyen Thanh Thao Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

The 18th meeting of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Network on Environment and Development (ENVIRONET) Paris, March 2nd – 3rd, 2016

Outline • Biodiversity in Vietnam • State management of biodiversity in Vietnam; • The Laws, legal documents as instruments for mainstreaming

biodiversity into socio-economic development; • Other instruments for mainstreaming biodiversity; • Remaining challenges in biodiversity mainstreaming; • Vision to 2030.

Biodiversity in Vietnam

Vietnam is recognized as one of the countries with high biodiversity

Biodiversity in Vietnam Different types of ecosystems with rich diversity of species and genetic resources;

Biodiversity in Vietnam • From 2006 to 2011, over 100

species new to science have been discovered and described for the first time in Vietnam, most of them were discovered in Protected areas.

• Protected areas in Vietnam : 164 forest protected areas; 16 marine Pas, 45 inland water conservation areas

• World recognized PAs: 05 RAMSAR sites; 08 nature reserves; 05 ASEAN heritage parks

State management of biodiversity in Vietnam

NGOs, social organisations, mass

media

Government of Vietnam

DONRE

Biodiversity Conservation

Division

Water resources, Forestry management divisions

DARD Provincial authorities

MONRE

Vietnam Environmental

Agency

Department of Water Resources

Management

MARD

Directorate of Forestry

Directorate of Water Resources

International organisations

The Laws, legal documents as instruments for mainstreaming biodiversity into socio-economic development

• Law on Biodiversity, 2008 • Laws on Forestry, Fisheries, Water Resources, etc. • Various Government Decrees and Circulars guiding the

implementation of the Law on Biodiversity; • Three National Biodiversity Action Plans (1995, 2007, 2013) • Mainstreaming biodiversity is given high priority in national

strategies on socio-economic development, environmental protection, climate change, green growth, etc.

• Land planning is one of the key instruments to mainstream biodiversity.

Other instruments for mainstreaming biodiversity

• Economic instruments: Payment for forest ecosystem service: help to improve livelihood and biodiversity conservation.

• Socio instruments: Trial mechanism for sharing benefit from • protected areas • Management instruments: piloting monitoring biodiversity and

development of national database system on biodiversity • International mechanism: REDD + high biodiversity piloted • Communal instruments: participatory approach has been

implemented

Remaining challenges in biodiversity mainstreaming

• Legal and institutional framework is fully developed, but gaps and overlaps remain

• Management capacity and investment resources for the conservation are limited: human and financial resources, infrastructure…

• Lack of information on the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services; database on biodiversity of PAs has not been set up.

• The indigenous people and the local communities living around PAs has not really benefited from the value of Pas and mainstreaming biodiversity.

• Lack of incentives for officials who work on biodiversity mainstreaming

• Limited law enforcement and awareness

Vision to 2030 • By 2030, 25% of degraded ecosystems of international

significance will be restored, and biodiversity will be conserved and used sustainably, bringing major benefits to the people and contributing significantly to the socio-economic development of the country.

Thank you for your attention!