At the seminar in Hanoi.

More than 60 representatives from state conservation institutions, development partners, NGOs on wildlife conservation, and researchers gathered to review and discuss about on-going wildlife conservation efforts in Vietnam and to identify constraints, challenges, prospects and opportunities for the future.

The experts warned of the extinction of wild tigers in in Vietnam. Although the Vietnamese Government has made efforts to conserve tigers, the conservation became unrealistic and ineffective due to limited resources. In addition, law enforcement is not strong enough to eliminate wildlife trade, including trade of tigers and tiger parts. Habitats for tigers and other endangered wild species are severely degraded, making it difficult in conserving those species as well as finding suitable places to reintroduce tigers back to the wild.

In addition, WCS also formally launched the new EU-funded project “Partners against Wildlife Crime” which is implemented in seven countries in the Southeast-Asian region. The project aims to support and strengthen government actions to combat wildlife trafficking and forest crime by leveraging partnerships with non-governmental entities in the disruption of illicit supply chains. PanNature is the project implementation partner of WCS in Vietnam.