Thua Thien Hue province, November 24-25, 2022, Wildlife Conservation Society - Viet Nam Program (WCS Viet Nam) in collaboration with the University of Law, Hue University (HUL) organized the Training course on “Enhancing the participation of social organizations in wildlife protection in Viet Nam”. This training is a part of the series activities implemented by WCS and HUL in 2022 aiming at increasing the participation of the community in wildlife protection in Viet Nam.
36 participants in the training, Thua Thien Hue, November 2022
36 participants who are representatives of Vietnamese Fatherland Front, Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Farmers' Union, the Veterans' Association, and the Women's Union of the communes located in the buffer zones of Bach Ma National Park in Phu Loc and Nam Dong district of Thua Thien Hue Province and forest rangers of Bach Ma National Park joined the training course.
In the opening remarks, Assoc. Dr. Doan Duc Luong, Rector of the HUL said that consumption of wildlife or wildlife products closely linked with violations of the laws on wildlife protection is the root causes of the decline in biodiversity in many national parks and protected areas, including Bach Ma National Park. He hoped that through this training, a network of local social organizations with enhanced knowledge and skills to conduct public education on wildlife protection for local people and communities will be established.
Mr. Pham Thanh Trung, Program Manager of WCS Viet Nam also emphasized that although law enforcement agencies have made great efforts in preventing and combating wildlife violations and crimes in Thua Thien Hue province, the widespread of illegal hunting, transportation and consumption of wildlife still take place in some areas of the buffer zones of the Bach Ma National Park. Therefore, local society organizations play an important role in connecting and engagement of people in wildlife protection activities in the community.
Mr. Dang Van Kiem - Head of Legal Inspection Department - Thua Thien Hue Forest Protection Department discussed at the training, Thua Thien Hue, November 2022
During the training course, participants were updated with the situation of violations of the laws on wildlife protection in Thua Thien Hue province and wildlife-related knowledge including legal framework on wildlife protection, species identification, especially endangered species which are often hunted and traded in the area of Bach Ma National Park. Participants were also guided to identify and report signs of violations of the law on wildlife protection, as well as trained on skills for conducting public education on wildlife protection regulations. At the end of the training course, lecturers and experts from HUL, Thua Thien Hue Provincial Forest Protection Department, Bach Ma National Park, and WCS Viet Nam guided the representative of communes to develop action plans on wildlife protection that will be implemented in their localities post-training.
Training participants used the Violation Reporting Handbook, Thua Thien Hue, November 2022
This activity was implemented 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).