Wildlife Protection: Need a Responsible "Handshake" from the Community

Join hands to protect the world of wild animals and plants. (Photo: Hung Vo/Vietnam+)

Born nearly a decade ago, World Wildlife Day (March 3) has a special meaning, contributing to inspiring the community about conservation issues, thereby "joining hands" to protect the world of wild animals and plants - an important foundation of biodiversity for the life and health of the planet.

For Vietnam - a country with high biodiversity and species diversity, preventing the hunting and trading of wild animals and plants is becoming more urgent, especially in the context of the increasing number of endangered and threatened species.

Preventing "supply" and reducing "demand" for consumption

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam is one of the 16 countries with the highest biodiversity resources in the world. Over the past three decades, although efforts to conserve nature and protect the environment have been increasingly extensive, in reality, biodiversity has continued to decline.

Even many species of animals and plants, especially rare and precious species such as rhinos and tigers, have become extinct in the wild or are facing extinction.

One of the causes leading to the serious decline of wild animals and plants in Vietnam is the unsustainable hunting, trading and consumption of products from rare and precious wild animals such as: Rhino horn, elephant ivory, pangolin scales, tiger bone, bear bile, especially migratory birds.

It is worth mentioning that the illegal hunting, killing, trading and consumption of wildlife and related products not only negatively affects biodiversity, but also poses the risk of transmitting diseases from animals to humans.

Research by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also shows that Vietnam is one of the Asian countries that has used meat and other products from wild animals as food and medicine for many generations. Notably, the demand is especially high during important holidays, especially at the end of the year and Tet.

In 2022 alone, the Education for Nature Center recorded 399 tiger-related violations, with more than 88% of the cases detected online (353/399 cases).

Faced with the above reality, many domestic and foreign conservation experts believe that preventing and ending the problem of hunting and trading wild animals is an urgent requirement for conservation as well as ecological and environmental balance, human health safety and Vietnam's reputation in the international arena.

According to Mr. Crawford Allan - Senior Director of the Wildlife Crime Prevention Program of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), illegal wildlife trafficking is a global "hot" issue, seriously threatening biodiversity not only in Vietnam but also in the world. This is also a very complicated issue, requiring all parties to sit together to find a solution.

Mr. Crawford Allan also noted that over the past 20 years, Vietnam has become a bright spot in the picture of economic development, but due to geographical factors, Vietnam is also considered a transit point for illegal wildlife. Therefore, he expressed his hope that Vietnam will be a leading country in implementing measures to prevent illegal wildlife trafficking in the coming time.

Adding another solution, Annie Wallace, Acting Deputy Director of the United States Agency for International Development in Vietnam, said that to achieve the goal of reducing demand for wild animal meat from forests, Vietnam needs to step up propaganda, in which community participation plays a vital role for the success of conservation work.

Some rare and precious wild animals are currently being cared for at the Hanoi Wildlife Rescue Center, such as tigers, bears, and primates. (Photo: Hung Vo/Vietnam+)

“Therefore, we call on the community to join us in raising awareness of the risks of consuming wild animal meat, in order to reduce the demand for wildlife products today,” said Ms. Annie Wallace.

"Join hands" to conserve wild animals and plants

To contribute to improving the above problem globally, as well as in Vietnam, in 2023, the United Nations selected the theme of World Wildlife Day "Joining hands to conserve wildlife" to honor those who have made significant contributions to sustainability, wildlife conservation and biodiversity.

This is also a special occasion to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to which Vietnam has been a signatory since 1994.

In response to the above-mentioned holiday, in recent days, many provinces and cities have planned to organize useful activities to call on the community to stop hunting, trading and consuming illegal wildlife nationwide.

For example, on February 28, 2023, the People's Committee of Quang Tri province launched Youth Month and responded to World Wildlife Day. The event attracted many local people, authorities at all levels and related organizations to sign a commitment to join hands to protect wildlife.

Today (March 3), in Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry organized a meeting with member businesses in 2023 with the theme "Enhancing social responsibility towards sustainable development," aiming to increase the participation of the business community in preventing illegal wildlife trafficking.

On the same day, in Quang Nam, the People's Committee of Tam Ky City also launched the initiative "Tam Ky - City without consuming wild animal meat".

With the same determination to conserve, in Thua Thien-Hue, the "Run to conserve wild animals and plants" is expected to be organized by conservation units on March 5 at Bach Ma National Park. The event is expected to attract more than 500 athletes to register to participate in calling for an end to the trade and consumption of wild animal meat...

Together with other provinces and cities, in Hanoi, the Institute of Medicinal Materials plans to organize an exhibition of medicinal materials at the Museum of Medicinal Materials and inaugurate a safe and sustainable medicinal plant garden from March 17-19. The exhibition is aimed at raising awareness about the safe use of medicinal materials and not using illegal wild animals and plants.

According to Vietnam+