Story | 05 Oct, 2018
Mangroves For the Future video: A look back
IUCN Asia and Mangroves for the Future (MFF) have produced a video showcasing MFF’s growth and impact in Asia. This video was recently premiered at the 15th meeting of the MFF Regional Steering Committee that took place in Bali, Indonesia, at the end of September…
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 | 06 Jul, 2018
The first Bonn Challenge Regional Ministerial Roundtable for the Caucasus and Central Asia was a massive success with several countries in the region pledging to bring 2.5 million hectares into restoration.
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 | 03 Apr, 2018
E-learning course on integrated land use planning launched in Tanzania
Under the leadership of the Environmental Law Centre, IUCN and UNITAR have jointly developed a new e-learning course on ‘Integrated planning for climate change and biodiversity’. The course was launched on 20 March 2018, in Mbeya, Tanzania, by Dr Anna Sabrina Wollmann of the UN Institute for…
Story | 13 Oct, 2017
After three years in Vietnam, the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF), a partnership between FAO, IIED and IUCN and implemented by the Vietnam Farmer Union (VNFU), has supported the establishment of 14 smallholder collectives in Yen Bai, Bac Kan, Phu Tho, and Thai Nguyen Provinces. These collectives…
Story | 24 Aug, 2017
When voices are heard in Cu Lao Cham Marine Protected Area
With a total area of 3.7 hectares (roughly the size of 5 football pitches), the coastline in front and the famous Hai Tang pagoda in back, the Pagoda Field in Cu Lao Cham, Viet Nam is a place of great natural beauty and of religious and historical value. The area is part of the Cu Lao Cham…
Story | 22 Aug, 2017
How one NGO in Viet Nam is saving the world’s most trafficked mammal
Appearing somewhat like a cross between an anteater and a lizard, and rolling into a ball when threatened, the pangolin looks like nothing else on earth. Most people have never heard of them, let alone seen one – yet these creatures are the single most…
Story | 06 Jun, 2017
Saving the world’s rarest primates by involving indigenous communities
A community-based conservation programme in northeastern Viet Nam is actively involving indigenous communities in Ha Giang and Cao Bang Province to protect the habitats of two Critically Endangered primates, the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus) and…
Story | 21 May, 2017
Banning vs. legalise and regulate in forest management
Two years ago, on a field survey in Bac Kan Province in Viet Nam, we heard about a farmer who needed 30 stamps to get a permit to harvest a single Styrax tonkinensis tree that was growing on his land. Even though the tree was on land that was designated as plantation forest and the farmer had a…