The effective management of biosphere reserves plays an important role in achieving sustainable development goals through the promotion of new initiatives for economic development while ensuring social, cultural, and environmental sustainability, according to Ms. Hoang Thi Thanh Nhan, Deputy Director of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Agency at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
Addressing the Annual Meeting of Vietnam’s Biosphere Reserves Network and the Scientific Conference on “Promoting the value of Vietnam’s Biosphere Reserves for sustainable development”, held in Hanoi on November 3, she said there have been numeral initiatives, models, and successes in the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources that have been implemented and scaled across the network of biosphere reserves in the country. The Biosphere Reserves Network has actively contributed to the pursuit of Vietnam’s sustainable development goals.
Vietnam is now home to eleven biosphere reserves, second only to Indonesia in Southeast Asia. The ecological makeup of these biosphere reserves has been integral to the lives of not only millions of Vietnamese people but also countless endemic plant and animal species. Promotion of their utility for climate regulation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable human-nature coexistence has been of paramount importance in national policymaking.
The annual meeting of the Vietnam’s Biosphere Reserves Network was an opportunity for the eleven biosphere reserves in Vietnam to look back over its first year of operations, take stock of lessons learned, and collectively define pathways in the period to come.
Vietnam’s Biosphere Reserve Network aims to build a unified management framework, develop and apply the World Biosphere Reserve eco-label, and promote eco-tourism, the green economy, and people’s livelihoods to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation in the country’s biosphere reserves.
The meeting was held on the occasion of the International Day for Biosphere Reserves by the Vietnam National Committee on the Man and Biosphere Program and the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Agency, with support from UNDP Vietnam, according to a press release issued by the UNDP on November 3.
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