Curbing wildlife demand

Project goal: “Education for Nature Vietnam” (ENV) is aiming to curb wildlife consumption in Hanoi while the “World Wide Fund for Nature” (WWF) is trying to prevent hunting of wild animals and promoting rattan production as an alternative source of income

Size: The metropolitan area of Hanoi and 70 hectares in central Vietnam

Funding: 26,000 Euros from donors for ENV’s “Wildlife Crime Unit” and 5 million Euros from the International Climate Initiative and Germany’s KfW bank for the WWF project

Biodiversity loss: Vietnam has lost 12 vertebrate species in the last 40 years

Vietnam is seeing a growing demand for wildlife products - whether it’s the bile of bears, a digestive juice stored in the creatures’ gall bladder and prized as an aphrodisiac, or the meat of rare snakes which is considered a delicacy. The result is that species such as crocodiles, large snakes, bears, monkeys and hedgehogs are disappearing faster than their habitats. If things continue that way, experts estimate that at least 12 species of vertebrates and 200 bird species are likely to die out in the next 40 years. Conservation groups have launched a host of projects to train rangers, fight demand and support the local economy to provide former poachers with an alternative source of income.

A film by Grit Hofmann