Vietnam
is blessed with significant natural capital. The natural capital of Vietnam’s
forests needs to be conserved for future generations. In order to achieve that
aim we need participation from various stakeholder groups. We need to
pro-actively identify the challenges and look for both policy and
implementation solutions for forest conservation: i.e. scan the horizon for
possible solutions.
The
University of Exeter, UK and Vinh University, Vietnam jointly conducted a
horizon scanning workshop on forest conservation challenges and solutions in
Vietnam on the 21st of May in Vinh University. This workshop is part
of a significant collaboration between both universities since October 2017. The
workshop brought together a range of experts from academia (University of
Cambridge, UK and Michigan State University, USA, University of Exeter, UK),
NGOs (e.g. Pan Nature), government organizations (MONROE, Forest Department)
and IUCN. This workshop is in continuation of a national online consultation
exercise where 266 key individuals where invited to participate. In this
workshop the results of the consultation exercise were discussed and experts
were asked to prioritise some of the actions proposed in the survey.
The
workshop was generously funded by Dragon Capital Vietnam as part of the Scriven
Initiative. The scientific advisory body of this project consisted of Prof
Brendan Godley, Stuart Bearhop, Annette Broderick, Dr Ana Nuno and Dr Nibedita
Mukherjee from Exeter; Prof Trung Cao and Ms Thuong Huyen from Vinh University,
Mr Viet Anh from ULB, Belgium and Ms Lan Anh Thi from Ghent University, Belgium.
Based
on the discussions of this workshop, a summary for policy makers will be
prepared and shared with the different government bodies to help improve the
conservation status of Vietnam’s precious forests.
Some pictures:
Article and photos by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cao Tien Trung