In Vietnam’s Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces, thousands of people have been using or relying on their local forests’ resources to earn a livelihood. While active participation of communities living in and around protected areas greatly improves biodiversity conservation results, this hasn’t been the case in these two provinces where local communities have instead contributed to the pressures on the forests and biodiversity. However, these local community members know the forests’ flora and fauna very well and are daily witnesses to the causes and impacts of forest degradation. USAID’s Green Annamites project is establishing and training ten community conservation groups in these two provinces to raise awareness and focus local expertise on finding and implementing solutions for conserving forests and biodiversity, including identifying and removing wildlife snares, and documenting and reporting illegal timber harvest.

So What? It is critical for Vietnam’s local communities to understand and actively participate in the conservation of the country’s globally unique forests. Healthy, diverse forests support local livelihoods and provide important ecological services such as absorbing and storing atmospheric carbon, preventing soil erosion and regulating the water cycle.