Hanoi, 28 July 2023 - Today, the Biodiversity Conservation Activity, a part of the Sustainable Forest Management and Biodiversity Conservation Project (VFBC) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), finalized the completion of a comprehensive institutional assessment for building management capacity in Protected Areas in Vietnam.
 
The study assessed the capacity of 18 Special-Use Forests (SUF) and Protection Forests (PF), with a specific focus on the function and composition of staff in their management boards. A competency-based framework was used to evaluate the skills and knowledge required for individual positions. The results showed that most staff have a background and expertise in traditional subjects such as forestry, forest resource management, accounting and finance. However, most of them lack skills and knowledge in biodiversity conservation, especially wildlife management and biodiversity monitoring, ecotourism development and management, sustainable financing, and technical skills in planning, and private sector engagement.
 
These findings are bolstered by the results of another recent study also carried out by the VFBC project that evaluated 19 sustainable forest management plans (SFMPs) in the context of international best practices. The study revealed a notable dearth of adequate training for forest management boards.
 
The institutional assessment has identified more than 70 customized training courses to help the staff of SUF and PF improve essential knowledge and skills. A few high-priority courses will be implemented during the remainder of the VFBC project, the recommended training courses will be relevant for building capacity of Vietnam’s Protected Areas as part of the Vietnam Forestry Development Strategy (VFDS) 2021-2030, vision to 2050.
“Our commitment to addressing these gaps is unwavering, as we recognize that without equipping our forest management boards with essential expertise, the challenges posed by increasing pressures and threats to biodiversity cannot be effectively tackled. Through systematic training, we aim to empower our staff with the necessary tools and knowledge to ensure the sustainable development of Vietnam's Protected Areas” said Mr. Vu Van Hung, Project Director. VFBC project, Deputy Head of the Management Board of Forestry Projects, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“Managers of Vietnam’s Protected Areas are facing more challenges than ever before in their daily work to conserve forests and biodiversity. Pressures and threats to forest protection and biodiversity conservation have increased, but the capacity of management boards is lagging. Staff need to be equipped with technologies and equipment, but more importantly, they need to be provided with new skills and knowledge to properly manage forests and conserve biodiversity” said Mr. Nick Cox, Chief of Party, USAID Biodiversity Conservation, implemented by WWF.