Vietnam has established 9/16 marine protected areas.

The protected areas include: Cat Ba, Bach Long Vy, Con Co, Cu Lao Cham, Nha Trang Bay, Nui Chua, Hon Cau, Con Dao, Phu Quoc.

On the morning of October 21, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a conference to evaluate the planning and establishment of marine protected areas in Vietnam, and propose a plan for the 2015-2020 period.

Marine protected areas play an important role in developing the marine economy, improving the livelihoods of fishing communities in coastal areas, marine conservation also has great significance for scientific research, community education, entertainment and ecotourism; contributing to the legal basis and providing administrative tools for the struggle to protect national sovereignty and security within our country's exclusive economic zone, solving cross-border environmental issues in the East Sea that countries in the region are concerned about.

Deputy Minister Vu Van Tam speaks at the Conference

According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, according to the planning of the marine protected area system in Vietnam until 2020, approved by the Prime Minister in 2010, our country will have 16 marine protected areas. Up to now, a network of 9/16 marine protected areas has been established and formed, including: Cat Ba, Bach Long Vy, Con Co, Cu Lao Cham, Nha Trang Bay, Nui Chua, Hon Cau, Con Dao, Phu Quoc.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam said that up to now, the system of mechanisms and policies for marine conservation has basically been formed relatively synchronously, including: Law on Fisheries, Law on Forest Protection and Development, Law on Biodiversity, Strategy for management of special-use forest system, marine conservation areas, inland water conservation areas of Vietnam to 2020 with a vision to 2030, Master plan for biodiversity conservation of the whole country to 2020, orientation to 2030, Planning of the system of marine conservation areas of Vietnam...

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has coordinated with the People's Committees of relevant provinces and cities to organize many communication events to raise public awareness in various forms such as: learning about marine biodiversity, learning about the potential resources in marine protected areas... The Ministry has also coordinated with the Governments of countries such as Denmark, the US... international organizations such as WB-GEF, IUCN, NOAA,...; and received financial and technical support to implement marine conservation work in Vietnam.

Many domestic and foreign experts discussed increasing the effectiveness of marine conservation in Vietnam.

However, some regulations in documents related to marine conservation are still different, causing confusion in the process of implementing the planning of the marine conservation system; there are no specific regulations on the organizational structure and staffing of the conservation management board, causing difficulties for many localities in proposing the formation of this apparatus;

Another difficulty pointed out is the operating budget of the Conservation Area Management Board. According to regulations, there are 3 sources (state budget, contributions from organizations and individuals, and revenue from environmental services related to fee collection activities), but in reality, it mainly depends on the state budget, and the budget source is still small compared to the demand.

Furthermore, marine protected areas are often associated with areas where poor communities depend mainly on natural resources exploited from the protected areas. Meanwhile, there are no policies to support livelihoods for fishermen living in and around marine protected areas, making conservation difficult.

In addition to overcoming current shortcomings, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development believes that in the coming time, it is necessary to investigate, research and update data to propose additional marine areas with conservation potential to plan into conservation areas, adding to the system of marine conservation areas in Vietnam, in order to increase the area of ​​marine areas with conservation and management potential./.

According to VOV.VN