VietNamNet Bridge – Building a platform for partnership on the conservation of biodiversity is urgently needed to accelerate collaboration among ministries, sectors and stakeholders, environmental experts have said.

Building a platform for partnership on the conservation of biodiversity is urgently needed to accelerate collaboration among ministries, sectors and stakeholders. — Photo tinmoitruong.vn

The initiative presented to a forum coorganised in Ha Noi late last week by the Viet Nam Environment Administration (VEA), the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) and the Viet Nam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment (VACNE), was highlighted as one of the most effective solutions for the protection of biodiversity, which is increasingly under threat in Viet Nam.

The purpose of the initiative was to help promote different stakeholders and partners to jointly provide technical support, policy advice, institutional capacity strengthening and resources for the sustainable use of ecosystem services, experts at the forum said.

Speaking at the forum, Nguyen The Dong, deputy director of the VEA under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said, “Being well aware that Viet Nam is one of the world’s ten most significant biodiversity hotspots, related Vietnamese ministries and sectors had been in an all effort to find solutions to the situation.”

One of the initiatives introduced last year was the signing of a cooperative programme on biodiversity preservation 2015-2020 between the VEA and VNFOREST, the two authorities that share a common function and task in managing biodiversity.

This programme provided for the coordinated implementation of State management in nature conservation and biodiversity through the development of legal documents, policies, plans and inspections, Dong said.

The Department of Nature Conservation of VNFOREST and the Biodiversity Conservation Agency of VEA were focal points for the implementation of the programme, he added.

Both agencies have jointly developed a collaborative work plan for 2016-2017, according to the VEA official.

According to the Viet Nam’s 5th National Report to the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity for the period 2009-2013, biodiversity in Viet Nam was seriously threatened due mainly to increasing population pressures, over exploitation of natural resources, climate change, the fragmentation of state management of biodiversity, and a lack of policy and regulatory conformity.

While biodiversity and ecosystem services played a vital role in the livelihoods of rural populations in the country, including millions of people living in the proximity of forests and in coastal areas, there was a lack of effective inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms in biodiversity management and preservation.

There was also a lack of collaboration in response to overlapping functions among relevant ministries and agencies.

The forum entitled, "Building a platform for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem services," was supported by the German Development Co-operation (GIZ) commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Corporation and Development and the United Nations Development Programme. It was held to celebrate yesterday’s International Day for Biological Diversity 2016 with the theme of, “Mainstreaming biodiversity: sustaining people and their livelihoods.”

VNS