Vietnam law enforcement support (landscape level)

Freeland

Freeland provides capacity building to rangers, protected area managers, and military through the PROTECT program that combines assessments, strategy design, and training to implement strategies. This program has training programs for front line rangers right up to protected area managers, and is tailored to each audience and their threats, and has a mentoring element that Freeland refers to as “OJT” (On-the-Job Training). The OJTs can include digital forensics training and analytical support. It has been accredited by the American Council on Education. Freeland also developed FIST-PROTECT (Field Information Support Tool) with Kestrel Technologies to help rangers and their supervisors track, prevent and record poaching.

Freeland developed WildScan, a mobile phone application to facilitate species identification. It is locally produced in Vietnam in Vietnamese language, covering species in Vietnam, and is free for government officers or the public to download to record and report sightings of wildlife or wildlife crime.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

The UNDP-supported, GEF-financed project titled “Conservation of Critical Wetland Protected Areas and Linked Landscapes” partners with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The project seeks to develop systemic, institutional and operational capacity for effective wetlands biodiversity management nationally and at a provincial level at selected sites. As such, site-based law enforcement activities could be included as necessary.

UNDP is developing a GEF-financed regional project across tiger range states titled “South-South Cooperation for Sustainability of the Global Tiger Recovery Programme” that will be implemented with the Global Tiger Forum. See section below on national level law enforcement support for details.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

WCS Vietnam works on anti-poaching and international wildlife trade along the Cambodia-Vietnam border and the adjacent protected areas (e.g. Bu Gia Map National Park). The organization has supported annual meetings at central and provincial levels and negotiated MoUs to enhance cooperation.

WCS provides targeted capacity building and on-the-job support to investigations, enforcement actions and judicial processes of local law enforcement agencies in key localities along wildlife supply chains in Vietnam including the following provinces: Hanoi, Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Ho Chi Minh, Dak Nong, Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

WWF is involved in an initiative to reduce poaching in the Mekong transboundary protected areas in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. WWF provides assistance to enhance government capacities to conduct enforcement work in those areas, which includes working with local law enforcement, mainly wildlife authorities. WWF supports the government to develop law enforcement strategies for Protected Areas, develop law enforcement guide books for rangers, support signing of MoUs for the border provinces between Vietnam and Laos and between Vietnam and Cambodia to strengthen law enforcement, forest protection and wildlife conservation. WWF also provides technical capacity to assess the level of illegal wildlife trade in this landscape and carries out activities on the ground that focus on the landscape between Laos and Vietnam and support the government counterparts to apply law enforcement monitoring tools (SMART, informant networks, online law enforcement update). The project prioritizes stopping the poaching and reducing demand, mainly for the bushmeat trade (see consumer demand reduction section). The first phase of the Laos-Vietnam border landscape has ended, and the second phase will begin soon to provide capacity to the governments of Laos and Vietnam. The second phase also will focus more on the Vietnam side of the border where much of the wildlife products are going.

WWF notes that there is a high level of interest in cross border work between Vietnam and Cambodia, and the organization is exploring potential activities to support national governments, local authorities, National Park directors and rangers to improve landscape management and reduce poaching and trading of wildlife.