The Prime Minister has approved a project on central-levelbiodiversity conservation and sustainable usage of eco-forestryservices, using Germany’s non-refundable official developmentassistance (ODA).

The project is carried outbetween 2015 and 2018 at a total cost of 4.95 million EUR (about 6million USD) and with a view to supporting the green growth strategy ofVietnam.

Specific targets include improving thelegal framework on sustainable forestry protection and development andenhancing capacity of State-run management agencies, private businesses,and social organisations in the field.

They alsocover the application and popularisation of international experience andinitiatives in biodiversity and forestry, efforts to reduce emissionsfrom deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), and forest lawenforcement, governance and trade (FLEGT).

In 2014,Vietnam was ranked 16th out of the 25 countries having therichest biodiversity in the world. It is home to eightUNESCO-recognised Biosphere Reserves: Can Gio Mangrove Swamp,Cat Ba, Cat Tien, Cu Lao Cham-Hoi An, Kien Giang, Mui Ca Mau, the RedRiver Delta, and Western Nghe An.

The country hasalso ratified a number of international agreements for biodiversityconservation such as the Convention on International Trade in EndangeredSpecies of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention of Biological Diversity(CBD), and the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance(RAMSAR).-VNA