A local ethnic Co Tu farmer clears his timber farm in central Quang Nam province. (Photo: VNA) Quang Nam (VNS/VNA) - Nearly 30,000 people have benefited fromimproved natural resource management and biodiversity conservation thanks tothe Green Annamites Project in Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue provinces.
The project has been sponsored by the United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) from 2016-2020.
It also reduced the amount of carbon dioxide released per year into theatmosphere by 11.6 million tonnes – 10 times the amount caused byVietnam’s airline industry.
Director of the Green Annamites Project, Daniel Lopez, said: “Over the pastfour years, the USAID Green Annamites project has invested 23.9 million USD tohelp the provinces of Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue to protect the region’sglobally significant biodiversity and help local and ethnic minoritycommunities to diversify and improve their livelihoods.”
“USAID has trained 15,254 people on sustainable landscapes and 9,669 people onnatural resource management and biodiversity conservation; supported theimproved natural resource management of 512,000ha of biological significant land;contributed to 13,387 people receiving livelihood co-benefits and 15,321 peoplereceiving increased economic benefits from improved natural resource managementand biodiversity conservation,” he said.
The project had also mobilised 59.8 million USD in external investment forvalue chain development, women’s economic empowerment, medicinal plants andhandicrafts production, and forest restoration work.
Mission Director Ann Marie Yastishock said: “It has been a great honour forUSAID to collaborate with partners from Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam to advancetheir commitment to strengthen the livelihoods of mountainous communities,conservation enterprise development, biodiversity conservation, and forestrestoration and management.”
“The success of the USAID Green Annamites project and the strong collaborationbetween the Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue People’s Committees to implement thiseffort have contributed to the enhanced development co-operation betweenVietnam and the United States,” she added.
USAID will continue to support biodiversity conservation in the two provincesfor the next five years through the recently awarded USAID BiodiversityConservation and USAID Sustainable Forest Management projects.
These new projects will enable the continuation of the beneficial approachesdeveloped under the Green Annamites Project, transferring positive benefits toother provinces and communities in Vietnam.
Chairman of the Quang Nam People’s Committee Le Tri Thanh praised the successof the project, saying it had surpassed its goals in terms of carbon emissions,improved management, fundraising, livelihood benefits, biodiversity protectionand climate change resilience.
“We would like to express our sincere thanks to USAID for the financial andtechnical assistance during the project's implementation over the past fouryears. It has helped improve the capability of our management staff, whilecreating sustainable livelihoods for the community and protecting naturalresources,” Thanh said.
“The project has also helped improve incomes for more than 17,000 people, whilevalue chains for timber forests and medicinal herbs have emerged,” he said.
Vo Danh Du, Chairman of Thua Thien-Hue's Forest Owners’ Sustainable DevelopmentAssociation (FOSDA), said 1,500 forest owners – six times more than the initialpartners – had got involved in sustainable forest development in the province.
He said many timber farm owners could earn 350 million VND (15,000 USD) perhectare, while protecting natural forests.
Le Ba Ngoc, Chairman of the Vietnam Crafts Export Association (VietCraft), saidabout 600 households in 14 rural mountainous communes across Quang Nam provincehad benefited from the Green Annamites Project.
“The project helped 150 households increase their incomes by 65 percent in just13 months from farming sustainable medicinal herbs. 400 other households weretrained in forestry processing and received technical assistance to cultivate100ha of rattan,” Ngoc said.
“Trade and craft production links were built between local ethnic groups withfive businesses and eight shops in Hanoi and HCM City. Contracts worth a totalof 2 billion VND (87,000 USD) for craft production and sale were inked betweenlocal people and those businesses,” he said.
Ngoc said 721 households, of which 370 belonged to ethnic Cơ Tu women, hadstarted sustainable crafts production as part of the project.
The project also helped revive traditional brocade weaving and rattan craftswhile discouraging illegal hunting and logging.
Co Thi Ich, a Co Tu woman from Gary commune in Tay Giang district of Quang Namprovince, said the ethnic group previously lived from forestry exploitation,but the project had helped change their lives for the better.
“Many members of our ginseng co-operative earn 70 million VND (3,000 USD) peryear. We have been trained how to grow ginseng sustainably and create highvalue products,” she said.
Ich said ethnic groups still needed assistance to classify and preserve ginsengseeds for longer crops.
The Green Annamites Project also helped Quang Nam province launch a newelephant conservation area in Nong Son district, while conduct biodiversitymonitoring, and raise conservation awareness among locals./.
VNA
