Farms may be allowed to breed protected animals and sell them from the third generation (F3) onwards if a biodiversity bill discussed by a house committee Monday is passed.
Most members of the National Assembly's Standing Committee agreed with this provision of the Biodiversity Bill, which also obligates farms breeding wild animals to get a license, show clear and legal origins of their animals, and ensure good living conditions for the animals. Farms have to take care of breeding animals and their offspring, the bill says.
If they want to stop breeding the animals, they shall have to send them to animal reserves.
Though illegal, the trade of wild animals remains widespread in Vietnam. In an article last year in science magazine Cosmos, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) official said, "Many Vietnamese people believe that consuming wildlife products promotes good physical health, often paying exorbitant
prices for products and meats derived from endangered species."
The NA Standing Committee members supporting the bill expect it to help prevent illegal hunting of wild animals.
Much-needed legislation
The members agreed the bill was essential to set up a legal framework and implement Vietnam's international commitments to protect biodiversity. It would help promote "appropriate exploitation and use of biodiversity and improvement in people's lives while ensuring conservation of biodiversity," a committee report said.
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen told the committee that Vietnam's biodiversity was worsening rapidly and many species were on the brink of extinction.
Many members called for the bill, which spells out the rights and responsibilities of all organizations and individuals in conserving biodiversity, to be enacted in 2010 instead of 2016 as planned. They also wanted the bill to regulate the management of rare and unique crop and animal strains.
One legislator, Dao Trong Thi, suggested that the issue of genetically-modified organisms should be excluded from this bill and regulated by another because such organisms were "unnatural".
The Standing Committee also discussed the High Technology Bill Monday.
Source: TN, agencies
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