The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Quang Nam Provincial People’s Committee (PPC), and the Thua Thien Hue PPC marked the completion of The USAID Green Annamites project in an event in Danang on 25-11.
– My Huyen
The key results of the project included improving the livelihoods of 20,000 forest dependent people, improving biodiversity of over 400,000 hectares of natural forest, mobilizing at least $20 million in public and private resources for sustainable livelihoods and forest conservation; and avoiding and/or removing the equivalent of at least 7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Over the past four years, the USAID Green Annamites project invested $23.9 million to support the provinces of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam to protect the region’s globally significant biodiversity and help local and ethnic minority communities to diversify and improve their livelihoods.
USAID trained 15,254 people on sustainable landscapes and 9,669 people on natural resource management and biodiversity conservation and supported the improved natural resource management of 512,000 hectares of biological significant land area.
The organisation also contributed to 13,387 people receiving livelihood co-benefits and 15,321 people receiving increased economic benefits from improved natural resource management and biodiversity conservation. It also mobilized $59.4 million in external investment for value chain development, women’s economic empowerment, medicinal plants and handicrafts production, and forest restoration activities.
In her opening remarks, Mission Director Yastishock said, “It has been a great honor for USAID to collaborate with partners from Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam to advance their commitment to strengthen the livelihoods of mountainous communities, conservation enterprise development, biodiversity conservation, and forest restoration and management. The success of the USAID Green Annamites project and the strong collaboration between the Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue People’s Committees to implement this effort have contributed to the enhanced development cooperation between Vietnam and the United States.”
USAID will continue to support biodiversity conservation in Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces for the next five years through the recently awarded USAID Biodiversity Conservation and USAID Sustainable Forest Management projects. These new projects will enable continuation of the beneficial approaches developed under USAID Green Annamites, transferring positive benefits to other provinces and communities in Vietnam.
USAID/Vietnam Mission Director Ann Marie Yastishock, Quang Nam PPC Chairman Lê Trí Thanh, Thua Thien-Hue PPC Vice Chairman Nguyễn Văn Phương, Ministry representatives, provincial leaders, District Peoples’ Committees, private sector partners, local organizations, and community members attended the event.
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Source: Vietnam Insider