Viet Nam: Wetlands workshop pinpoints priority areas, future work in Mekong Basin
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam — More than 40 specialists on wetlands attended a recent workshop held in HCM City to share lessons learned from ongoing work in the Mekong Basin and identify priority areas for future work.
A mangrove forest in the southernmost province of Ca Mau. All protected wetland areas in Viet Nam are still managed as forests rather than wetlands. It was organised by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Presentations by the IUCN, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) on projects in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Soc Trang in Viet Nam focused on site-based interventions.
They illustrated examples of wetlands management based on co-management approaches whereby local communities and Government negotiate an agreement that specifies the rights, roles and responsibilities of both parties.
Co-management is a form of management that lies between full State control and exclusive local community, and appears to be suitable for managing wetlands given their inherent variability over place and time.