Story | 28 Sep, 2018
Biodiversity monitoring in Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Archipelago: getting started
“What species exist in this site?” is a question that is often asked by visitors to Vietnam’s protected areas. It seems to be a simple question to answer given the amount of research that’s been carried out in Vietnam’s national parks and nature reserves. But as MONRE…
Story | 10 Sep, 2018
Second phase of FFF gets going in Vietnam
The first phase of the Forest & Farm Facility (FFF), which ran from 2012 to 2017, was a clear success. In the 10 focal countries, over 900 forest and farmer producer organizations (FFPOs) were strengthened, 279 business plans were completed, 51…
Story | 05 Sep, 2018
From the 19th to the 21st of June 2018, the Asia Protected Areas Partnership (APAP) hosted its fourth technical workshop in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea. The event addressed the effective management of protected areas, and focused in particular on Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) and…
Story | 14 Aug, 2018
Rethink plans to dam Mekong after Laos disaster
Barrage collapse highlights risks and need for alternative energy sources - The collapse of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam after heavy rains last month that killed more than 30 in Laos and left thousands of Lao and Cambodian people…
Story | 30 Jul, 2018
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”: art from plastic in Bai Tu Long National Park
“This is the first time I visited Minh Chau Island and my first impression is that the beaches are so beautiful. However, I see lots of trash especially plastic waste and foam on the beaches. I decided to participate in this programme as I believe…
Story | 06 Jul, 2018
Bangladesh shares World Heritage experience with Thailand in South-South knowledge transfer
From 2 to 6 April 2018, Mangroves for the Future (MFF), in collaboration with IUCN Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Embassy in Bangkok, brought nine delegates from the Thailand Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) to the Sundarbans Natural World Heritage Site (NWHS) in Bangladesh. The…
Story | 05 Jul, 2018
How to increase the value of Vietnam’s forestry sector?
On a visit to Quang Tri in 2016 we asked a forest ranger where the best forest was. He said it was in remote areas too inaccessible for illegal logging or land conversion. If an area has fertile soil and is easy to access, people will turn it into farmland. When we asked a young farmer in Yen…
Story | 28 Jun, 2018
GEF Assembly beach clean-up yields nearly 1 kilo of trash per metre per minute
On Tuesday, 26 June, 300 volunteers trained by IUCN collected almost half a ton of trash – 82% of which was single-use plastics – in 30 minutes from a 500-metre stretch of beach in Da Nang, Viet Nam. The exercise coincided with the sixth Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly currently…
Grey literature | 2018
IUCN Bangladesh started a project with a view to minimize the human-elephant conflicts in and around the Kutupalong Camp. During 21 January - 13 February 2018, IUCN Bangladesh engaged a trained elephant survey team to find out the elephant presence and population size, recent human-elephant…
Story | 12 Jun, 2018
Common pool: Equitable water governance brings prosperity to Sabkhali
The Sundarbans, a vast forest in the coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, are considered one of the natural wonders of the world. Lying adjacent is Sabkhali, a largely agricultural village, highly vulnerable to climate change and tidal surges, salt water intrusion, and waterlogging. The area is…