Environment

Vietnam faces difficulties in marine protected area management

Vietnam is facing a number of challenges in managing and conserving its marine protected areas, a workshop co-organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the General Department of Fisheries heard in Hanoi on October 21.
Vietnam is facing a number of challenges in managing and conserving itsmarine protected areas, a workshop co-organised by the InternationalUnion for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the General Department ofFisheries heard in Hanoi on October 21.

Vietnamese foresters still lack the necessary knowledge and lawenforcement capacities, while tools and equipment for practicalconservation measures have yet to meet the demand in island localities.

The exhaustion of natural resources in thesurrounding areas is forcing local residents to illegally exploitnatural resources in marine protected areas.

Experts suggested relevant offices review the planning of marineprotected areas and re-evaluate the state of biodiversity with a view tomaking appropriate adjustments as the existing plan was made manydecades ago.

Before establishing a marineprotected area, authorities need to consider the locality’ssocio-economic conditions to make sure conservation targets arerealistically achievable, they said.

They also stressed the importance of engaging local residents in conservation.

Vietnam now has nine marine protected areas and plans to establish seven more in the 2015-2020 period.-VNA
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