VNA
Thursday - November 20, 1997

WWF operates effectively in Vietnam

Hanoi, Nov 20 (VNA) - The World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature has given
effective assistance to preserving and managing Vietnam's rare animals and
plants, since it started operating here.

>From 1985 to now, some 21 nature preservation projects in the country have
been carried out using technical and financial assistance from the WWF, with
eight of these projects still underway.

The WWF has provided funds in part or in whole for projects on special
purpose forests which were divided into natural forests, nature reserve
forests, and environment-history-culture forests.

In the 1991-92 period, in particular, the WWF joined efforts with Vietnamese
researchers in conducting surveys in the Muong Nhe and Vu Quang Nature
Reserves, drew up rhinoceros protection plans in Cat Loc (the central
highlands of Lam Dong), developed a project to move elephants from the Ba Ria
and Binh Thuan southern provinces to the Cat Tien National Park in Lam Dong,
and helped set up a project to control and evaluate biodiversity in nature
reserves.

The organisation is currently focusing on projects to protect rhinoceros in
Cat Tien (Lam Dong) and to preserve the Vu Quang nature reserve (Thanh Hoa
province) where the Pseudoryz nghetinhensis (a new mammal species) was found
recently.

Through a WWF-assisted project to map out a plan of action on biodiversity
and to train preservation workers, which started in 1994, training courses
have been held for more than 1,000 rangers and preservation officials in
national parks in Cuc Phuong (northern province of Ninh Binh), Bach Ma
(central province of Thua Thien-Hue) and Cat Tien (central highlands province
of Lam Dong).

The WWF has pledged continued assistance to Vietnam in special-purpose forest
preservation at a national conference on the planning, organisation and
management of forest systems in the country.

The WWF is also cooperating with Vietnam to develop a well-managed protection
network, with the aim to best use natural resources and reduce the negative
impacts of economic development on the environment and raise people's
awareness and the proficiency of environment workers.

(VNA) 20-11 1622