Project News

The 6th Lang Biang World Biosphere Reserve Management Board (LB-BR MB) meeting was held on 7th December 2018 in Dalat City, Lam Dong Province. At this meeting, following wide variety of topics were reported and discussed with more than 70 participants.

(1) Implementation of LB-BR 5-year management plan

Summary of the implementation status of Annual Action Plan (AAP) in 2018 and AAP in 2019 of affiliated organizations of LB-BR MB, in which AAP 2019 is under preparation, were reported by Mr. Le Van Huong, Vice Chairman of LB-BR MB. AAPs are prepared under the LB-BR 5-year management plan which was approved on 27th April 2018 by Lam Dong PPC. In light of the fact that the necessities of further improvement on AAP formulation procedures and the monitoring methods are turned out, the Project is going to provide supports such as the development of a guideline on AAP formulation for relevant organizations.

(2) Cattle shed improvement and organic compost production in a collaborative manner among Public-Private-Villagers through Collaborative Management Platform

A presentation was given by Mr. Hoang Xuan Hai, Lac Duong District People's Committee, who is actively engaged in the ongoing activities on cattle shed improvement and compost making from organic material (cattle manure, coffee pulp, etc.) based on the agreement at the Collaborative Management Platform (CMP). The activities have been undertaken in cooperation among public-private-villagers since March 2018 with the aim of improving livelihoods of local villagers and mitigating the environmental pollution, and the activities have contributed greatly to economic and environmental aspects such as the reduction of expenditure on chemical fertilizers that are currently overly dependent, and improvement of water pollution caused by cattle manure due to free grazing. Following these achievements, Lac Duong DPC has made decision to allocate part of their budgets of 2019 for further scale-up of the activities. The Project will continuously support DPC and related stakeholders for further implementation of the activities.

(3) Evaluation of trial activities on collaborative management and direction for further development

Evaluation of field activities related to Collaborative Management (CM) which have been implemented as trial, and the direction on further development of CM activities were explained by the Project. The field activities are mainly conducted following three approaches (i.e. 1. Improvement on profitability of coffee cultivation, which is the main livelihoods in the target area, 2. Diversification of livelihoods options, 3. Improvement of forest patrol activities conducted based on forest protection contract). At this meeting, while the emerging impacts of project activities were presented, the points requiring improvement were also identified from the viewpoint of ensuring the sustainability of activities and its scaling up. The Project will reflect those points in the implementation of field activities in 2019 and continuously monitor and follow-up the activities.

(4) Biodiversity Monitoring in Bidoup Nuiba National Park

Professor Tetsukazu YAHARA from Kyushu University, who independently have conducted surveys of plant species diversity and forest ecosystems in BNBNP, explained the plant diversity assessment results conducted in various places of Southeast Asia since 2011. According to these survey results, it was turned out that BNBNP is one of the national parks with the highest diversities of plant species in Southeast Asia, and he announced that an academic exchange agreement will be made among three parties of Dalat University, BNBNP and Kyusyu University in order to promote further research activities. The project will also positively look for the possibility of cooperation in the coming time.

(5) Branding of local products in LB-BR

"Shiitake mushroom" was taken up as a case of expected branding product as a representative product from LB-BR. Most of shiitake mushrooms distributed in Vietnam are imports from China, and the areas for shiitake cultivation domestically are limited. LB-BR is suitable for shiitake cultivation thanks to its climate and the environment brought by abundant forests, and no need to worry about pollution of water sources in the vicinity of target villages since shiitake mushrooms can be cultivated without any fertilizers. Thus, the Project has conducted the trial activities through providing training on the cultivation methods, establishment of the entire supply chain, including quality control based on contracts with a private company and its distribution system. Shiitake mushroom is cultivated using shiitake mushroom spawns collected from forests in LB-BR, which can survive only when there is a rich forest environment so that it is expected to be branded not only as a new income source in the region but as a medium to widely convey the value of abundant forest of LB-BR to consumers.

Also, Mr. Yosuke Masuko, founder and CEO of "Pizza 4 P's (Pizza Four Piece)" which is one of the most popular pizza chains in Vietnam, presented about the involvement of his company in LB-BR (shiitake mushrooms and vegetable in Lam Dong, In-house cheese factory, etc.) and the contributions to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and professed a positive intention to continue to play the role of delivering the value of LB-BR to consumers through his business.

Next LBBR MB meeting will be organized at the end of April – May 2019 with the invitation to other international donors in order to actively disseminate and exchange ideas on the activities in LB-BR.

Presentation by Mr. Masuko, founder and CEO of Pizza 4P's

Presentation by Prof. Yahara of Kyusyu University

Shiitake mushroom cuisine was made by hotel chef for participants during tea break

Shiitake mushroom cuisine made for participants