A family of red-shanked douc langurs (Pygathrix nemaeus) are taken at Son Tra Nature Reserve in Da Nang. (Photo courtesy of Bui Van Tuan )The launch of the fund was debuted in promoting the World Environment Day withits theme: ‘Only One Earth’, which highlights the importance of conservingbiodiversity, including species, across the world. It is especially relevant tothe SCF, which aims to support the conservation of myriad wildlife species onlyfound in Vietnam.
SCF is a part of the 38 million-USD USAID Biodiversity Conservation Activity andaims to strengthen biodiversity conservation in Vietnam, especially throughlocal organisations. Specifically, the SCF will support local NGOs and researchorganisations to conduct activities that contribute to conserving priorityspecies of wildlife. The fund will provide awards from 20,000 USD to 50,000 USDfor projects up to 1.5 years.
“Environmental sustainability is key to sustainable economic growth, and Vietnamis an important partner of the US Government on global biodiversityconservation. The SCF is a wonderful initiative that will support action at thegrassroots level to conserve wildlife, forests, and biodiversity for thefuture,” said Ann Marie Yastishock, USAID Vietnam Mission Director.
Vietnam is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, but decades of illegallogging, hunting, wildlife trade, and conversion of forests to agriculturallands and infrastructure development have led to staggering losses of naturalforest and wildlife, with many species on the edge of extinction.
Many of these species are endemic, and some are iconic, such as Saola (theextremely elusive forest-dwelling bovine only found in the forests of Vietnamand Laos), Annamite striped rabbit, and several species of turtle. The SCF willfocus on supporting conservation and research efforts to ensure endemic andendangered species of wildlife are protected.
USAID Biodiversity Conservation Activity is among the largest joint effortsbetween the US and Vietnam Governments on biodiversity conservation. WWF willimplement the project in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development from 2021 to 2026. The project aims to maintain and increaseforest quality, protect and stabilise wildlife populations, and support locallivelihoods in high conservation value provinces.
“USAID Biodiversity Conservation project sites include 21 special use andprotection forests. We expect that the proposals for SCF will be connected withproject activities to increase effectiveness and will strengthen theparticipation of local organisations in conservation,” said Vu Van Hung, DeputyDirector of the Management Board of Forest Projects Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development.
SCF will start accepting applications from June 2022. It is expected that SCFwill strengthen the engagement and coordination among local organisations inspecies conservation efforts, which is vital to mobilise indigenous knowledgeand information on conservation for better evaluation and conservation ofwildlife species, as well as strengthening the capacity of local conservationorganisations in Vietnam.
As many as 91 new species were discovered in Vietnam in 2020, including 85endemic species, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The WWF also warned that primates in the region had declined seriously inrecent decades due to human activities such as illegal logging, land-useconversion and grazing. Hunting and trapping also exert huge pressure on theprimate population, putting them at risk of extinction./.
VNA
