Conservation awareness and ecotourism

Motivating and empowering local people to better manage natural resources.

Awareness of the purpose and benefits of protected areas for local people and visitors is necessary to support practical conservation efforts. Awareness-raising activities targeted three main groups:

• School children involved in tree planting

  School children The next generation of decision makers and resource users.
  
  To establish long-lasting conservation awareness by building on existing capacities, PARC worked with local teachers to design environmental curricula that are integrated within school timetables. Students in grades three to nine in 38 schools of 14 communes now receive regular lessons from teachers about their local environments and protected areas.

• Local adult residents The current resource users.
  
  To reduce negative environmental impacts of specific livelihood activities, village meeting programmes have been organised with protected area staff and local Youth Unions to help conservation information reach inaccessible areas. Information about successful project community development alternatives was disseminated to farmers not directly involved in PARC activities.

• The tourist information board at Ba Be National Park

  Visitors Learning and spreading the message of conservation.
  
  Explaining the values and aims of the protected areas to visitors is as important as trying to control negative visitor impacts. PARC supported the tourism sections of Ba Ba and Yok Don National Parks to develop low-impact tourism infrastructure, prepare information materials for visitors, and build the capacity of tourism staff.
  
  At Ba Be, PARC has helped establish a local Boatmen’s Association to encourage the self-organisation of local residents who earn income by providing boat tours to visitors..

Main achievements

• Incorporation of new environmental education curricula into local schools at each project site. One of these to be adopted for Bac Kan Province.

• Improved capacity of local counterparts to design and implement conservation awareness activities.

• Song Da Dam Company being proactive in educating construction workers about forest law in Na Hang. Similarly for the mine companies in Xuan Lac.

• Tourist facilities and interpretation improved in Ba Be and Yok Don National Parks.

Reports:

Ba Be / Na Hang

Eco-tourism development for Ba Be/Na Hang
English Vietnamese

Yok Don National Park

Ecotourism Promotion / Development for Yok Don
English Vietnamese

Environmental Education Curricula
Vietnamese only: Grade 3; Grade 4; Grade 5; Grade 6 ; Grade 7 ; Grade 8 ; Grade 9