Thua Thien Hue province, November 12, 2022 – Wildlife Conservation Society - Viet Nam Program (WCS Viet Nam) in collaboration with the University of Law, Hue University (HUL) organized the final round of the contest “Students with wildlife protection regulations” for HUL students. This contest is to summarize a series of activities conducted by WCS and partners in 2022 aimed at increasing the participation of youth in wildlife protection in Viet Nam.
HUL's students and lecturers at the competitions, Thua Thien Hue, November 2022
Representatives of Adminstrators Board of the HUL; the four competing teams; the judges who are lecturers in criminal and administrative legislation of the HUL; Thua Thien Hue Provincial Forest Protection Department and Da Nang Lawyers Association and near 700 HUL lecturers and students attended the event at HUL meeting hall.
Assoc. Dr. Nguyen Duy Phuong – Vice Rector of the HUL delivered the opening speech, Thua Thien Hue, November 2022
In his opening remarks, Assoc. Dr. Nguyen Duy Phuong – Vice Rector of the HUL emphasized: “It is the first time a contest related to wildlife protection issue is organized at HUL. We hope that it will help to engage the participation of law school students in wildlife protection, especially preventing illegal poaching and trading wildlife in Thua Thien Hue province”.
Started in early October 2022, the first round of the contest attracted 81 students who completed a set of questions and submitted an essay to express their student’s role in wildlife protection. 29 of 81 students were selected to participate in the second round where they were divided into 10 groups to demonstrate their debating skills on wildlife protection topics via self-recorded videos. After that, 12 outstanding students were qualified to form four teams for the final round.
To prepare those students for the final round, on October 28-30, 2022, in Hue city and Bach Ma National Park, Thua Thien Hue province, WCS cooperated with HUL to organize an intensive training course to provide them with knowledge of the legal framework for wildlife protection, debating skill and public education on wildlife protection to the local communities. They were also instructed and practiced identifying and reporting signs of some common wildlife-related violations to competent authorities or conservation organizations based on their understanding of identifying some commonly trafficked species through using the software developed by WCS Viet Nam and participating in the field visit to Bach Ma National Park
Field trip in Bach Ma National Park, Thua Thien Hue, October 2022
In the final round, all teams successfully completed three sessions of the competition: public education on wildlife protection laws and regulations; questions and answers; and debating on thematic topics. With two topics selected to reflect the current situation of wildlife trade and consumption including “Consumption of wild meat and wildlife products” and “Breeding wildlife as pets”, each pair of teams had to present their supporting point of view on the selected topics as well as debating against the opponents' opinion. All teams had very intense debates by making their arguments based on legal, social, and scientific dimensions. After nearly 3 hours of competition, the judges selected the best team of the contest. Although the students have studied the topic of wildlife protection in a short time, but they have demonstrated an in-depth understanding of wildlife protection regulations as well as their ability to make legal arguments.
The team won the first and second prize of the competition, Thua Thien Hue, November 2022
Along with the debating contest, a side contest "Infographic design on wildlife protection regulations" was also held. 12 designs were submitted. Based on judge’s selection and votes on fanpage, four infographics that best demonstrated the content of providing public education on wildlife protection laws and regulations were selected and awarded.
This series of activities were conducted within the framework of project “Disrupting the illegal wildlife supply chain in Asia through strengthening partnerships between the government and civil society to increase the effectiveness of Government action” - Partners Against Wildlife Crime funded by the European Union (EU).