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Economic Empowerment for Thai and Hmong Ethnic Women in Son La, Vietnam

With financial support from the Embassy of New Zealand in Vietnam, through the Manaaki New Zealand Alumni Scholarship Fund (MNZAF), Ms. Ngan Le, one New Zealand Alumnus, together with her non-government organization - the Center for People and Nature (PanNature), organized a series of training sessions to "Promoting the role of indigenous women in farming and eco-friendly agribusiness" from May to October 2022. The targeted beneficiaries are 15 Thai and Hmong women who are members of the Xuan Nha Commune Women's Union currently participating in an existing model or planning to do business with organic agricultural products in Xuan Nha commune.

Indigenous Communities – Bodyguards of the Forest

In Vietnam, many forests are being effectively managed by the most active guardians - the local communities - thanks to their cultural norms: the forest left by their ancestors is also the place where the forest god resides. It’s the traditional regulations and laws imprinted through the traditional practice of worshiping the sacredness of the gods that guide the community to manage and protect these forests for hundreds and thousands of years. However, there are challenges ahead that hinder them from playing their role.

The Challenges of Collective PES: Insights from Three Community-based Models in Vietnam

Vietnam has adopted a national Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PES) policy, which while primarily paying individual households for forest protection, has been flexible enough to allow for collective PES models to also arise. Such collective models have the potential to reduce transaction costs, avoid motivation crowding, and protect common-pool resources like community forests.

Barriers to Combating the Illegal Trade of WildLife

The Covid 19 pandemic has been upended the world for the last two years, causing dramatic losses of human lives and social and economic disruption. Along with immeasurable losses, the pandemic has also entailed socio-economic changes and humanity's perception of the world we are dwelling in. The virus that causes the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to originate from wild animals. Although this is not a firm conclusion up to this point, it is a deeper warning than ever about the human way of life, which exploits nature indiscriminately, causes ecosystems to deteriorate, and leads to irreversible damages.

Environmental Volunteerism on the Rise in Vietnam

NGOs like Pan Nature continue to be engaged in World Environment Day by planting trees in Van Ho Commune in Son La, where the population of Northern white-cheeked gibbon lives and the endangered rare Northern white-cheeked gibbon. This volunteer activity is part of a long-term plan to restore 630 hectares of forest and conserve the rare Gibbon species. “While we do not have any formal partnership with the National Youth Union, we do work with the local Youth Union through capacity building and other initiatives says executive director Trinh Le Nguyen.

The Greening of Vietnam and Environmentalism 2.0

Stroll around any of Vietnam’s major universities, from Hanoi to the Mekong Delta, and ask a student, like Pham Oanh, what concerns her, and like so many other students with their smartphones in hand, her response will be the country’s environmental emergencies, ranging from air and water pollution to deforestation, loss of marine biodiversity, and waste treatment.

Training on Forest and Wildlife Protection Communication

The local communities, those who live near the forest and depend on it for their livelihood, play an extremely important role in protecting the forest and its resources, including wildlife. However, in many cases, it is these locals who are directly involved in deforestation and hunting wildlife…
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