The meeting was part of the project on managinginvasive species in selected forest ecosystems of Southeast Asiaco-organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) andVietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The project covers the 2012-2015 period in Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Environment Administration(VEA) Nguyen The Dong said the project aims to strengthen the legalframework and national policy and improve the capacity of localofficials in managing IAS.
It also aims to raise the publicawareness in the fields via educational activities and carry out atypical IAS extermination model.
Statistics from theBiodiversity Conservation Agency under VEA show that there are nearly 94types of IAS, including 42 flora species and 48 aquatic ones.
Many aquatic IAS have been imported to Vietnam in large quantitieswithout strict control, thus causing serious damage to the country’secosystem.-VNA