Education for Nature Vietnam
Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV) was established in 2000 as Vietnam's first local non-governmental organization to focus on conservation of nature and the environment.
ENV's young and passionate team is committed to working in innovative ways to educate the people of Vietnam about environmental problems, ranging from protecting wildlife to climate change and empowering them to become part of the solution.
Latest News...
News Brief (E355, 05 March 2010)
Environmental Education Course Focuses on Turtles (February 2010)
ENV carried out a weeklong training course for field staff of the Asian Turtle Program in preparation for their carrying out environmental education activities in schools and villages at two priority turtle conservation sites.
ENV Newsletters: News from frontlines (February 2010)
The latest ENV Newsletter covering ENV activities during the month of January 2010. Feature: Recruitment drive bolsters ranks of volunteers protecting wildlife.
News Brief (E354, 26 February 2010)
Red-shanked douc langur rescued
After receiving information about wildlife being kept at a resident’s house, ENV informed authorities and co-operated closely with them to investigate the case. On February 5, the authorities found a red-shanked douc langur (Pygathrix nemaeus nemaeus) when checking the house. The langur was transferred to Soc Son Wildlife Rescue Center on the same day.
Bear exhibit at Foreign Trade University and Ha Dong Market
On February 3 & 4, Mobile Awareness Team organized a two-day bear exhibit at Foreign Trade University. Another bear exhibit was held at Ha Dong Market on February 6 & 7. The aim of the exhibits was to encourage people to sign commitments not to use bear bile and other bear products to protect Vietnam’s endangered bears. The exhibit gave young people the chance to join and support ENV’s efforts in protecting Vietnam’s wildlife and nature by registering to become members of ENV’s Volunteer and Membership networks. Over the course of the events, 1,663 people signed commitments and 118 students joined ENV’s Volunteer Network.
News Brief (E353, 11 February 2010)
Hanoi Wildlife Trade Watch
On January 30, 2010, ENV successfully organized the first in a series of Hanoi Wildlife Trade Watch surveys.
Three gibbons rescued from a kindergarten
On January 30, three yellow-cheeked gibbons (Hylobates gabriellae) at a kindergarten in Vung Tau Province were turned over to Dao Tien Primate Rescue Center at Cat Tien National Park.
News Brief (E352, 5 February 2010)
News Brief (E351, 29 January 2010)
ENV Newsletters: News from frontlines (January 2010)
The latest ENV Newsletter covering ENV activities during the month of December 2009. Feature: Will Quang Ninh close its illegal bear bile businesses?
Asian Turtle Program’s sixth Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Field Skills Development Training Course (Posted January 27, 2010)
The Asian Turtle Conservation Program (ATP) of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, in cooperation with Cuc Phuong National Park’s Turtle Conservation Center (TCC) will be hosting its sixth annual field skills training course focused on research and conservation of tortoises and freshwater turtles. The course will be held from March 13th – 20th 2010. Scholarships will be offered covering training and accommodation costs for ten university students and young conservation professionals.
Link:
Application form for field training 2010
Invitation for turtle training applications 2010
The Bear in the Bottle (Posted January 25, 2010)
An article that appeared in The Word Hanoi magazine in November 2009 on the wildlife trade in Vietnam and ENV’s efforts to combat consumer wildlife crimes.
News Brief (E350, 22 January 2010)
News Brief (E349, 15 January 2010)
Press Release: Green Forest No.30
Education for Nature – Vietnam (ENV) has released its 30th issue of the popular student nature magazine, Green Forest, which is distributed widely to school children in rural communities bordering more than 40 parks and protected areas throughout Vietnam.
News Brief (E348, 7 January 2010)
A vocational training centre voluntarily hands over wildlife
On December 25th, Dong Nai Vocational Training Centre (campus I) in Bien Hoa City voluntarily transferred three green peafowls (Pavomuticus) and four yellow -checked gibbons (Hylobates gabriellae) to Cat Tien National Park‘s Rescue Centre.
News Brief (E347, 31 December 09)
News Brief (E346, 24 December 09)
ENV Newsletters: News from frontlines (November 2009)
The latest ENV Newsletter covering ENV activities during the month of November. Feature: Green Grants protect Nature and the Environment.
ENV encourages people to protect bears on dantri.com
Since 15th December, a bear protection banner has been placed on a widely-read website http://dantri.com.vn/ in the Education section.
ENV Mobile Unit in Hue City
Since the 15th of December, the ENV Mobile Unit has been carrying out wildlife protection activities at universities in Hue City.
News Brief (E345, 18 December 09)
News Brief (E344, 11 December 09)
News Brief (E343, 4 December 09)
Identification Sheets for Southeast Asian Wildlife in Trade (Posted November 23, 2009)
An excellent resource produced by TRAFFIC to assist with identification of common trade species in Southeast Asia.
Marine turtle identification resource (Posted November 22, 2009)
An easy-to-use resource from Seaturtle.org for identification of the world’s eight marine turtle species.
ENV Newsletters: News from frontlines (Posted November 18, 2009)
The latest ENV Newsletter covering ENV activities during the month of October. Featured event: Quang Ninh Environmental Police raid major bear bile tourism operation.
ENV Wildlife Crime Bulletin (November 2009)
ENV’s Wildlife Crime Bulletin provides information, recommendations and analysis of efforts to combat wildlife crime in Vietnam and is distributed to enforcement agencies throughout the country. The feature story in this edition looks at the illegal exploitation of Ha Long Bay bears and how this impacts upon Ha Long’s image as a world tourist destination. The Bulletin also explores the blurry line between tiger conservation and trade. As in previous editions, the wildlife crime log section summarizes cases of interest, highlights successfully handled cases, and shows just how important public participation is in combating wildlife crime.
Green Grants protect nature and the environment in Vietnam
ENV, in co-ordination with Toyota Motor Vietnam (TMV), awarded ‘Green Grants’ to six protected areas in Vietnam. The grants aim to support staff in carrying out environmental education activities in the buffer zones of their national parks or nature reserves.
New Primate Poster Shows the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Posted Nov 6, 2009)
School children scour over the poster looking for illegal activities to report to the local ranger. A telephone waits on the desk. One team of children count five violations; a macaque in a cage outside a café, a gibbon on a chain at a fancy resort, a hunter trying to shoot a langur in a tree, and a truck load of wild macaques heading for the Chinese border. But the other group is quicker, the group’s leader racing for the phone reporting what his team has discovered.
A local teacher, playing the part of the ranger, plays along, thanking the child for their report. The poster is part of the new primate lesson plan developed by ENV and used for the first time in schools in August.
The lesson plan promotes awareness, but also aims to encourage children and their families to 'get involved' and take action to help protect their endangered primates including reporting hunters and traders, helping educate others, and preserving habitat for gibbons and langurs.
Poor Bear Cub (Posted November 6, 2009)
A poem written by a sixth grade student expresses sympathy for the miserable life of bears in captivity.
Two Tigers Seized in Hanoi (October 16, 2009)
On October 16, Hanoi Environmental Police made another important tiger bust, seizing two frozen tigers (129kg total) from a taxi and arresting four suspects. The tigers were reportedly being transported to from Thanh Hoa province where suspects claimed they were purchased from a well-known tiger supplier. According to ENV investigators, the Thanh Hoa trader resides in the very same village as one of the country’s six “tiger farmers” that were recently registered to keep illegal tigers found in their possession for conservation breeding purposes.
ENV is working with authorities to clarify links between the recent seizure and the Thanh Hoa farm where ENV investigators believe the tigers originated, and if confirmed, will urge authorities to shut down the Thanh Hoa farm, confiscate tigers there, and prosecute the farm owner.
Another Bear Confiscated (October 16, 2009)
In October, a Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), was confiscated from a petrol station in the southern province of Hau Giang after many months of efforts by ENV’s Major Crimes Officer, Nguyen Ngoc Diep and countless correspondence and discussions with authorities aimed at getting the unregistered and illegal bear turned over to authorities. The case marks another positive example of a provincial government acting decisively in their dealing with illegal bears that are found. In the past, some other provinces have chosen to allow owners to keep illegal bears, interpreting the law lightly, and thereby setting a poor precedent to others that might choose to buy and keep an illegal bear. However, recently, a number of provinces have demonstrated their conviction to end illegal bear trade by confiscating illegal bears that they find. Hau Giang joins the ranks of Yen Bai, Dien Bien, Can Tho, and Hanoi in setting a positive example for other provinces to follow.
The Hau Giang bear was transferred to Wildlife at Risk’s Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center in Ho Chi Minh. The case was first reported to ENV by a foreign advisor to Wildlife at Risk.
'Bears tortured to meet Asian thirst for bile' (October 3, 2009)
A news article about the bear bile industry in Vietnam and efforts to manage bear farms.
Vietnamese urge Koreans not to travel for bear bile
A news article appeared in the Korean Joong Ang Daily, highlighting the Vietnamese call for Koreans not to travel to bear bile farms in Vietnam and buy bile extracted from moon bears raised in cages. The problem is that many of these Korean travelers are unaware that such activities are illegal in Vietnam.
A sad life for Ha Long bears (September 19, 2009)
An excellent news article on the bear bile tourism industry in Quang Ninh, most of which targets Korean tourists who are encouraged to buy bear bile and products in violation of the law, and then are believed to smuggle the products back home to Korea.
Bears and the cost to humanity (September 10, 2009)
An article written by National Assembly member Nguyen Dinh Xuan urging authorities to put an end to bear farming.
Message aimed at Korean tourists (August 31, 2009)
Over the past year, ENV has uncovered the secret world of Korean Bear Tourism in Ha Long Bay. Working with Environmental Police and later conducting surveillance outside a number of large bear farms located just a few miles from scenic Ha Long Bay, ENV has documented busloads of Korean tourists visiting bear farms where they witness a bear bile extraction, taste wine, and are encouraged to buy illegal bear products. Unwittingly, the tourists then take the illegal products home to Korea at the end of their visit, which is in direct violation of CITES regulations.
In addition to working to shut down these illegal tourist operations, ENV has sought to raise awareness amongst Korean tourists and let them know that buying and smuggling bear products is a violation of the law.
ENV is working with Korean NGOs to increase awareness about the issue in Korea and have major Korean Airlines warn customers before arrival in Vietnam. ENV has also targeted hotels where Korean tourists stay in Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, providing Korean language warnings and encouraging tourists to avoid bear farms during their visit. In Hanoi, the Melia, Fortuna, and Sheraton hotels are displaying advisories for their clients.
As ENV targets tourists with warnings, we remain hopeful that the Quang Ninh provincial government will take appropriate steps to end the illegal activities at bear farms in their province, and preserve the sanctity of Ha Long Bay as a World Heritage Site from the shadow of illegal bear farms just down the road.
ENV staff document bear bile extraction (August 28, 2009)
On Sunday last week, ENV staff infiltrated a bear farm in the Phuc Tho district of Hanoi and documented on film a bear bile extraction as customers watched. More than 4000 bears are currently registered as being on bear farms in Vietnam. The owners are not permitted to extract and sell bear bile according to the law, but such practices are common at most bear farms. The Forest Protection Department has a plan to phase out bear farming by preventing new bears from ending up on farms, punishing violators and confiscating bears from farmers that are caught breaking the law. In practice, however, few bears are confiscated and farmers receive a slap on the wrist at best, and return to violating the law.
It is a frustrating situation, says Van Anh, head of ENV’s Wildlife Crime Program. “We have had about 200 new cases where bears have been discovered on farms since the freeze on new bears was put in place.” Van Anh notes that the positive side of the story is that some provinces are taking the issue seriously. Provinces such as Yen Bai, Can Tho, and Dien Bien have confiscated illegal bears from owners. “These positive examples clearly demonstrate that some provincial governments are doing their best to achieve the spirit of the law by preventing new bears from ending up on farms.” Van Anh says, “We can only hope that other provinces will see and understand the importance of taking active measures to end bear farming in their provinces too.”
CITES calls on members to restrict development of tiger farms (August 27, 2009)
Will commercial tiger farming become a reality in Vietnam? ENV is working hard to arrest the development of tiger farming in Vietnam, avoiding the difficulties that China now faces regulating some 5,000 captive tigers in the hands of anxious farmers who wish to lift the ban on commercial trade of tiger parts.
A recent CITES decision calls on member states with captive tiger populations to “restrict the captive population to a level supportive only to conserving wild tigers.”
Last week, as part of a broader campaign to end tiger trade in Vietnam, ENV distributed a Vietnamese language version of the decision to key members of the government. This included local leaders representing provinces where all five of Vietnam’s registered tiger farms are located.
ENV is working closely with government leaders and law enforcement agencies to support and strengthen government efforts to eliminate the illegal tiger trade in Vietnam.
Pledge to Protect Bears!
Urge your Vietnamese friends and co-workers to visit our website and pledge to protect Vietnam’s bears! In 2008, we received more than 20,000 pledges not to use or consume bears bile from events hosted by ENV.This year, we have taken our pledge campaign online. Our online goal this year is 5,000 pledges! Click our link and let us know that you wish to protect bears! http://www.thiennhien.org/
