Decision No. 26/2002/QĐ-BKHCNMT on approving the Program to Enhance Awareness of Biodiversity for the period 2001-2010

 

DECISION

Regarding the approval of the Program to Enhance Awareness of Biodiversity for the period 2001-2010

sinh học gia đoạn 2001-2010

MINISTER OF THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Pursuant to Decree No. 22/CP dated May 22, 1993 of the Government on the tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment;

Pursuant to Decision No. 845/TTg dated December 22, 1995 of the Prime Minister approving the Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation in Vietnam;

Pursuant to Circular No. 6287/VPCP-KG dated December 24, 2001 of the Office of the Government sent to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment informing the decision of the Prime Minister regarding the issuance of certain regulatory legal documents related to environmental protection work;

At the proposal of the Director of the Environmental Protection Department and the Director of the Legal Affairs Department.

DECISION:

Article 1. Approves "Program to Enhance Awareness of Biodiversity for the Period 2001-2010".

Article 2. Entrust the Environmental Protection Department to take the lead in coordinating with relevant ministries, sectors, and localities to organize the implementation of the Program.

Article 3. THIS DECISION SHALL TAKE EFFECT 15 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF SIGNATURE.

Article 4. The Directors of the Environmental Protection Department, the Head of the Ministry's Office, the Directors of the Legal Affairs Department, the Planning Department, the Financial Management Department, and related units shall be responsible for implementing this Decision.

 

 

PROGRAM

ENHANCE AWARENESS OF BIODIVERSITY FOR THE PERIOD 2001-2010
(Approved at Decision No.: 26/2002/QĐ-BKHCNMT dated May 8, 2002 of the Minister of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment)

Biodiversity is the foundation of life, prosperity, and sustainability for humanity and the Earth in general. However, humans have over-exploited this resource, leading to the degradation of ecosystems, depletion of biodiversity (Biodiversity), and even destruction of valuable resources to meet their increasing needs. Protecting the environment and conserving biodiversity for the benefit of life is the responsibility of everyone and has become urgent issues in society, directly affecting each individual and the entire human community worldwide. Environmental issues and biodiversity conservation have both state and high social characteristics. Solving current and future environmental protection and biodiversity conservation issues depends on the level of awareness of policymakers, as well as the level of public knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of all social strata.

In Vietnam, the Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation approved by the Prime Minister through Decision No. 845/TTg in December 1995 affirmed the need to enhance awareness of the value of biodiversity in social life, provide necessary information about biodiversity to leadership levels, strengthen capacity, train personnel, and build a national database on biodiversity.

Directive No. 36/CT-TW dated June 25, 1998 of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam on strengthening environmental protection work during the industrialization and modernization period also affirmed the need to: "Continuously educate, promote, build habits, lifestyles, and mass movements to participate in environmental protection."

The Program to Enhance Awareness of Biodiversity for the period 2001-2010 aims to concretize the activities to enhance awareness of biodiversity determined in the "Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation in Vietnam" and Directive No. 36/CT-TW mentioned above.

I. AWARENESS OF BIODIVERSITY IN VIETNAM: CURRENT SITUATION AND TRENDS.

1.1. Situation of awareness of biodiversity.

Since 1990, the issue of biodiversity conservation has begun to be paid attention to in Vietnam. Many legal regulations and action programs related to biodiversity conservation have been issued. Education and awareness-raising activities as well as biodiversity conservation activities have achieved certain results and progress.

Biodiversity conservation and research activities are increasingly promoted at central and local agencies, especially those with relevant functions.

Many international organizations have shown interest and provided technical and financial support for biodiversity conservation work in Vietnam as well as for enhancing awareness of biodiversity.

However, there are still many limitations in awareness and biodiversity conservation in Vietnam due to the following main reasons:

- Although many agencies and organizations have implemented education and awareness-raising activities on biodiversity, they are not synchronized, continuous, but mainly depend on external conditions (having projects, having potential, and being concerned by the sector and leadership).

- There is no central agency at the national level for education and conservation of biodiversity, resulting in a lack of organization and guidance, leading to low educational effectiveness and wastage of financial resources.

- Lack of centralized guidance and coordination among state agencies has led to educational materials on enhancing awareness of biodiversity lacking legal validity, and scientific quality not being strictly managed.

- Education and awareness-raising on biodiversity have not or have limited access to remote communities, where increased awareness of biodiversity is particularly needed.

- Educational methods and forms are not diverse and are not suitable for different target groups, especially for ethnic minority communities in remote areas.

1.2. Difficulties and advantages of enhancing awareness of biodiversity in Vietnam by 2010.

1.2.1. Difficulties:

- Poverty: Without solving poverty, the improvement of educational levels in remote communities will be slow, making it difficult for education and awareness-raising activities as well as behavior change regarding biodiversity.

- Population growth pressure: is a significant pressure on biodiversity conservation;

- Shifting cultivation and spontaneous migration: have not been completely prevented; backward shifting cultivation practices still exist, and the area of shifting cultivation continues to increase;

- Rapid economic growth has created unevenness in social stratification in terms of economy, culture, and society;

Facing these challenges and limitations in education and awareness-raising on biodiversity, practical activities, including biodiversity conservation programs and projects, have been limited in results. Biodiversity continues to decline, and violations of laws related to biodiversity continue, sometimes very seriously.

1.2.2. Advantages:

- One of the most important advantages is the attention of the Party and State. It must be said that the attention of the Party and State towards the cause of biodiversity conservation has never been as profound as it is now. In addition to significant policies on natural resource protection and environmental protection, the Party and State have also developed plans and specific measures to implement natural resource and environmental protection.

- Research institutions and science management agencies have become more conscious and proactive in conducting research on conservation through domestic scientific research topics and international cooperation on biodiversity, as well as on groups of organisms with conservation significance.

- Economic growth and advancements in science and technology provide important opportunities to help implement the State's policies. These also serve as a crucial foundation to improve the living standards of ethnic communities across the country and create more favorable conditions for education, enhancing awareness about biodiversity.

- The educational level of the community has significantly increased, with currently 96.24% of communes and wards achieving universal primary education and literacy rates.

- Foreign assistance and support from international organizations for Vietnam have continuously grown. There are increasingly more large projects with effective approaches, notably the Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs).

- Community awareness regarding the value of biodiversity has improved. The community's attitude towards natural resources and the environment has become more responsible. The conservation consciousness is reflected in more efficient measures taken during the exploitation and utilization of biodiversity resources.

- Community participation and social organization involvement at local levels have become more active and effective. Notably, the Farmers' Union, Women's Union, Elderly People's Association, youth and children's associations, and schools have shown particular interest.

- Collaboration among central and local government agencies has become tighter, and educational methods have become more diverse and effective.

In summary, the trend of enhancing biodiversity awareness in recent years in Vietnam has made significant progress, and we have achieved certain results, but these have not met the requirements. Biodiversity awareness has yet to become a societal issue. This highlights the necessity to develop and implement a Biodiversity Awareness Enhancement Program in Vietnam. Despite considerable challenges, with the basic advantages mentioned above and the determination of all agencies, organizations, and individuals, the implementation of the Biodiversity Awareness Enhancement Program for the period 2001-2010 can certainly achieve its goals and requirements.

II. OBJECTIVES, PRINCIPLES, CONTENTS, AND MEASURES OF THE PROGRAM ON ENHANCING AWARENESS OF BIODIVERSITY FOR THE PERIOD 2001-2010.

2.1. Long-term objectives:

To contribute to raising the understanding and knowledge of the entire society about the role of biodiversity in sustainable economic and social development, about protecting biodiversity, making biodiversity protection one of the moral concepts of the era, and a source of social development.

To establish standards for the relationship between humans and nature and the environment to improve the quality of life and achieve sustainable development. These standards reflect a sense of responsibility towards all forms of life, including human exploitation and use of natural resources and development without eroding genetic resources, harming species, ecosystems, and future generations' biodiversity resources.

2.2. Short-term objectives:

Educate and communicate to every member of society to:

- Enhance general knowledge about biodiversity, the importance of biodiversity, and the current state of biodiversity in the country;

- Understand how to use biodiversity sustainably; and

- Recognize the need to participate in biodiversity conservation efforts, adopt appropriate attitudes and actions to address issues related to biodiversity conservation.

2.3. Principles:

Chapter on Enhancing Public Awareness of Biodiversity is established based on the following principles:

- In accordance with Article 13 of the Convention on Biological Diversity regarding actions to enhance awareness and community education.

- Suitable for Vietnam's economic and social resources, level of development, and customs in the context of accelerating industrialization and modernization.

- To serve the construction and implementation of policies and guidelines on environmental protection during the period of accelerating industrialization and modernization (Directive 36-CT/TW).

- Consistent with the National Environmental Protection Strategy for the period 2001-2010.

- Compliant with relevant legal documents and international conventions to which Vietnam has acceded.

- Selectively adopting good experiences from international organizations and foreign countries.

- Attracting broad and active participation from the public and cadres at all levels of government.

- Combining education and enhancing awareness with specific conservation actions.

2.4. Contents and Measures:

The program on enhancing public awareness of biodiversity includes the following contents:

2.4.1. Providing knowledge ranging from simple to complex about the characteristics and current status of biodiversity in Vietnam and in each region.

2.4.2. Creating conditions for all strata of the population to understand the role of biodiversity in daily life.

2.4.3. Facilitating the organization of education to enhance awareness of biodiversity throughout the country.

2.4.4. Closely coordinating education on biodiversity both within and outside schools.

2.4.5. Training a cadre with knowledge of biodiversity for provincial, city, district, commune, and village-level bases to serve as core staff for educational activities to enhance awareness of biodiversity suitable for each region.

2.4.6. Developing and implementing programs to enhance awareness of biodiversity tailored to different target groups: communities in various regions, enterprises exploiting and using biological products, staff working in conservation areas, military forces, cultural, information, education, and training sectors.

2.4.7. Socializing efforts to enhance public awareness of biodiversity, mobilizing individuals and sectors at all levels to participate in managing and conserving biodiversity.

2.4.8. Training a team of experts in research, management, and education on biodiversity.

2.4.9. Enhancing awareness among policymakers and state management officials at all levels.

2.5. Priority Issues:

2.5.1. Education within Schools:

Environmental education, including biodiversity, must be incorporated into training programs at vocational schools, technical colleges, and universities, particularly teacher training institutions at all levels and boarding schools in mountainous provinces.

Due to its interdisciplinary nature, biodiversity content can be integrated into various subjects such as biology, geography, chemistry, literature, civic education, and extracurricular activities. Students will develop new attitudes and behaviors towards biodiversity in their out-of-school activities once they gain awareness.

Educational content should enable students to recognize and adopt appropriate attitudes and behaviors regarding:

- The role of biodiversity in meeting daily needs of people and communities.

- The role of biodiversity in ensuring a clean living environment.

- The close relationship between biodiversity and economic and social development; and

- What actions are necessary to conserve biodiversity.

For easier absorption, teaching programs and content must closely align with the actual situation of each locality, region, and ethnic group. At primary schools, school gardens should be established in conjunction with visits to museums, zoos, natural reserves, botanical gardens, production facilities to educate students from a young age.

Training teachers with sufficient qualifications to implement biodiversity education in general schools. Preparing teaching materials, study guides, and instructional manuals for teachers on biodiversity education.

2.5.2. Education Outside Schools:

Efforts to enhance public awareness of biodiversity must be intensified beyond the school setting, targeting the general public and communities, especially those relying primarily on the exploitation of biological resources. Cooperation between zoos, botanical gardens, national parks, and conservation areas with universities and research institutes should be strengthened to enhance community awareness of biodiversity.

Within a community, it is necessary to distinguish between different target groups, including:

- Members of People's Councils and those involved in leadership roles in local governments.

- Individuals engaged in production activities, economic activities, exploitation, processing, cultivation, trading, and business of biological products, farmers, fishermen, forest workers, collectors of products from forests, seas, coasts, wetlands...

- Military forces.

- Tax officers, market regulators, customs officials, police, forest rangers.

- Consumers of biological products.

- Those dependent on the exploitation of biological resources.

Media for disseminating knowledge on biodiversity conservation include mass media such as radio, television, press, films, songs, posters, leaflets, plays, speeches, and other forms of folk art, as well as competitions in painting and photography. Some projects like buffer zone management projects for natural reserves and national parks have adopted attractive educational and communication methods for biodiversity conservation. These methods should be promoted and expanded.

Education and communication on biodiversity conservation must be conducted continuously, regularly, and over the long term to deeply embed the content in people's consciousness and gradually form a new moral standard and cultural feature of the nation.

III. IMPLEMENTATION

3.1. Specific Requirements:

Conservation of biodiversity is the responsibility of the entire society. One effective strategic measure is to strengthen biodiversity education for all citizens, communities, businesses, decision-makers, and state management officials at all levels; Strengthening biodiversity awareness education at all levels of schooling.

Chapter on enhancing awareness of biodiversity conservation helps all members of the community:

- Understand the situation of biodiversity conservation and its issues at each locality and throughout Vietnam.

- Acquire basic knowledge about biodiversity conservation and appropriate skills to participate in improving and restoring biodiversity in Vietnam.

- Have attitudes and actions suitable for effectively addressing conservation issues and preventing potential future problems.

3.2. Implementation methods:

The content and methods of enhancing awareness of biodiversity conservation must be simple, easy to understand, easy to absorb, and suitable for different subjects, fields, and regions.

- Widely disseminate the program on enhancing awareness of biodiversity conservation to ministries, sectors, localities, and domestic social organizations after being approved by the State;

- Promote the program on enhancing awareness of biodiversity conservation to the general public through mass media;

- Integrate programs on enhancing awareness of biodiversity conservation with other environmental communication programs;

- Popularize knowledge about the importance of biodiversity conservation for economic and social development, health, and community prosperity, and necessary technical measures for biodiversity conservation.

- Selectively absorb and promote the application of indigenous knowledge in preserving traditional cultural identities and customs of ethnic groups and localities, and in biodiversity conservation work;

- Mobilize and attract participation from all strata of the people, various levels of government organizations, and social organizations in biodiversity conservation work;

- Respect and encourage every initiative of individuals and collectives in education and communication on biodiversity conservation and rational use of biological resources;

- Closely coordinate between central and local authorities, among sectors, and cooperate with international organizations when conditions permit during the implementation of the program's contents on enhancing awareness of biodiversity conservation.

3.3. Implementation forms:

Develop information and publicity programs along with communication messages on biodiversity awareness.

Educate to enhance knowledge and awareness for officials.

Incorporate biodiversity protection content into the regular curriculum or integrate it with other subjects in the teaching programs of schools at all levels and vocational schools.

Organize national, regional, and international seminars on education to enhance community awareness regarding biodiversity conservation to share experiences in this field.

Compile teaching materials and reference materials on biodiversity.

Reprint and supplement the Biodiversity Action Plan; compile and publish a simplified version of the biodiversity action plan.

Develop a national training plan to enhance Vietnam's capacity in implementing the National Biodiversity Action Plan and fulfilling relevant international conventions that Vietnam has joined.

Launch movements and enhance the role of mass organizations such as the General Confederation of Labor of Vietnam, Youth Union, Women's Union, Farmers' Union, Veterans' Association, voluntary organizations, and religious organizations in biodiversity conservation and management..

3.4. Priority actions.

Actions of the program on enhancing awareness of biodiversity conservation include priority programs determined based on selecting urgent issues and those capable of resolution during the period of accelerating industrialization and modernization of the country.

3.4.1. Enhancing biodiversity awareness for officials at all levels:

- Train a team of officials for biodiversity awareness and natural conservation education and promotion.

- Exchange experiences between domestic and foreign organizations that have achieved significant results in natural conservation and biodiversity protection.

- Include information on community awareness and behavior towards biodiversity in the annual national environmental status report.

3.4.2. Education to enhance biodiversity awareness for the general public:

- Promote biodiversity awareness through mass media;

- Summarize models of economic development linked with biodiversity conservation, establish and implement community-based conservation programs.

3.4.3. Strengthening education on biodiversity awareness in schools:

- Coordinate with the environmental education project VIE/98/018 to incorporate biodiversity awareness education into all educational levels;

- Organize extracurricular field trips for students and trainees to visit and learn to enhance their biodiversity awareness;

- Organize training sessions on policies, laws, planning, and management of biodiversity conservation for officials of protected areas and state managers related to biodiversity conservation;

- Organize biodiversity forums for dialogue between mass organizations and state management agencies to enhance community awareness and responsibility for biodiversity resource conservation.

3.5. Finance, sources, and diversification of investment in enhancing biodiversity awareness:

To effectively implement the objectives, contents, and prioritized action programs outlined in the program on enhancing biodiversity awareness for Vietnam from 2001 to 2010, it is estimated that the average annual budget required is approximately 20 billion VND.

The budget for the program will be partly sourced from the state budget coordinated annually by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Environment in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance, while the remainder should be raised from beneficiaries of biological resources, such as non-livelihood users, industries, businesses, organizations both within and outside the country, and community residents... Various taxes on biological resources for legitimate commercial exploitation activities;

Attracting international funding such as assistance from sponsors, ODA sources, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and through multilateral and bilateral international cooperation. Strengthen coordination mechanisms through sponsors such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and biodiversity projects.

3.6. Implementation details:

Pursuant to Decision 845/TTg dated December 22, 1995 of the Prime Minister approving the Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation of Vietnam:

- The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment shall coordinate with provincial science, technology, and environment departments, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Fisheries, as well as relevant ministries, sectors, and localities, and mass organizations to implement the Program to Enhance Public Awareness on Biodiversity Conservation in Vietnam according to each period to achieve the set goals with specific targets and plans.

- The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment shall annually determine the required targets based on the actual situation for each phase of the Program's implementation and integrate the Program's action plans with the national socio-economic development plan.

3.7. Monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the program:

Annually, the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment shall review and evaluate the implementation of the Program according to the approved objectives and contents, and may divide the implementation phases and evaluate the Program into three stages: 2001-2005, 2006-2008, and 2009-2010.

Each relevant ministry, sector, and locality must submit annual reports assessing the results of projects within the Program's framework to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment, and simultaneously propose adjustments and supplements to the implementation plan.

ANNEX 1.

LIST OF PRIORITY PROGRAMS ON METHODS FOR PREPARING DOCUMENTATION FOR ACTIONS TO ENHANCE PUBLIC AWARENESS ON BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

 

ANNEX 2. List of priority action projects to enhance public awareness of biodiversity and outline

 Proposals according to the priorities of the Program