[ Background index ]

Introduction

This area of the site gives an overview of protected areas in Vietnam. It charts the development of the protected areas system from the establishment of Vietnam's first protected area at Cuc Phuong in 1962, through to current debates about the development of the system of Special-use Forests and other protected areas within national policy and planning. Vietnam's systems of protected areas are undergoing rapid expansion: efforts are currently underway to expand the system of Special-use Forests to meet a national target of 2 million hectares by 2010; and institutional and legislative frameworks for the designation and management of wetland sites and marine protected areas, are currently being developed. It seems likely, therefore, that the next few years will see the establishment of a considerable number of new protected areas. This expansion process is set against considerable institutional change in the forestry, fisheries and environment sectors.

What are protected areas in Vietnam?

Vietnam's protected areas systems are still evolving in terms of both coverage and institutional arrangements. Currently, the only protected areas to have been decreed by the government of Vietnam are Special-use Forests. These protected areas comprise mainly terrestrial forest sites but also include a small number of wetland sites and marine areas. Currently, only 11 national parks and a modest number of nature reserves have any tangible level of infrastructure and management. Institutional and legal arrangements for wetland sites and marine protected areas have yet to be finalised. Table 2 shows the numbers of decreed and proposed protected areas in Vietnam, based on the data compiled in this sourcebook. Most of Vietnam's 'existing' and 'proposed' protected areas fall into one of two main categories: Special-use Forests and marine protected areas. This chapter also describes the status and institutional arrangements for wetland sites. Currently, these overlap with the system of Special-use Forests and the proposed system of marine protected areas. However, there exist proposals to establish a system of protected wetlands, and these are outlined below. Finally, a small number of Vietnam's protected areas are designated as Ramsar Sites, World Heritage Sites, or Man and the Biosphere Reserves.

Table 2: Decreed and proposed protected areas in Vietnam