Around 2,000 people attended a tree-planting day on Sunday in the Mekong Delta’s Kien Giang National Park.
Mekong Delta travel by boat through canals in the outskirt of U Minh Thuong national park
TUOI TRE
The day is part of a four year project started by German aid agency GTZ, which is focusing on the environment and sustainable development in Vietnam.
The US$2.5 million project for environment and natural resources protection began in 2008 with financial assistance from the Australian government and overseen by GTZ.
The project focuses on the target sites of Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve, including national parks U Minh Thuong and Phu Quoc, and coastal wetland conservation site Hon Chong – Kien Luong.
The 150,000-hectare U Minh Thuong – upper half of U Minh Forest – is a unique sanctuary in the Mekong Delta with great wildlife diversity.
It used to be home to more than 300 species of birds, but now shelters some 200 bird species, along with rare species such as red-headed cranes.
The 1.2 million hectare Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve – the largest in Southeast Asia – boast ranges of tropical ecosystems, including salt-water wetlands, swamps, flooded mangrove forests, grassland, primeval mountains and coral reefs.
The area was recognized as a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2006 and the largest out of nine biosphere reserves in Vietnam.