U.S.’s $23.9M Biodiversity, Ethnic Livelihood Support Project in Central Vietnam Ends

A four-year U.S. program for community development and protection of biodiversity in central Vietnam wrapped up on November 25. The USAID Green Annamites project, carried out by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), sought to assist Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue provinces with protecting their biodiversity and helping local and ethnic minority communities diversify and improve their livelihoods. The program has invested $23.9 million since 2016 to support the two provinces, according to a press release by the U.S. embassy in Hanoi. It also trained over 24,900 people in sustainable landscapes, natural resource management and biodiversity conservation; supported natural resources management on 512,000 ha of biologically significant areas; contributed to over 28,700 people receiving livelihood co-benefits and increased economic benefits from improved natural resource management and biodiversity conservation; and mobilized $59.4 million from external investments for developing value chains, economically empowering women, herbal medicine and handicraft production, and forest restoration, the release said. “The success of the USAID Green Annamites project and the strong collaboration between the Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue People’s Committees to implement this effort have contributed to the enhanced development cooperation between Vietnam and the United States,” USAID/Vietnam mission director Ann Marie Yastishock said. USAID will continue to support biodiversity conservation in the two provinces for the next five years through the recently awarded USAID Biodiversity Conservation and USAID Sustainable Forest Management projects to enable continuation of the beneficial approaches developed under USAID Green Annamites, and transferring benefits to other provinces and communities in Vietnam, the release said. (VnExpress)