GTZ To Enhance Effectiveness Of Natural Resource Use In Thai Nguyen

Tam Dao National Park, German Technical Cooperation's (GTZ) Tam Dao National Park and Buffer Zone Management Project, and Thai Nguyen Technical and Economic College (TN TEC) have signed a Cooperation Agreement on integrating Resource Use Planning methodology into the TN TEC’s training curriculum.

This cooperation agreement is considered first and important step for not only expanding RUP methodology into other localities, but also ensuring that RUP training and capacity building will continue when the project ends in September, 2009.

In collaboration with TDNP and local governmental planning agencies, RUP methodology had been developed and tested successfully by TDMP since 2004. The methodology has now been applied in 13 out of 27 communes of the TDNP Buffer Zone (TDNP BZ). Some district people’s committees have ratified RUP methodology as an official planning tool in preparing socio-economic development plans.

The GTZ Tam Dao National Park and Buffer Zone Management Project started in 2003, aims to improve the Park’s capacity for conservation and management as well as contribute to biodiversity conservation and improve the environment and livelihood of people living in the Buffer Zone.

Tam Dao National Park was established in March 1996, and is located about 70 km north of Hanoi. At 34,995 ha, it is one of the largest national parks in Vietnamand one of the last natural areas close to urban Hanoi.

Situated on the northern fringe of the Red River Delta, the Tam Dao mountain range forms a unique ecological island of about 80 km in length. The park contains dense tropical rainforests with species from the tropical forests of South East Asia, the temperate forests of Southern China and the alpine forests of the eastern Himalaya. Rising steeply from densely populated lowlands to a peak of 1,529m above sea-level, these forests support a variety of ecosystems and micro-habitats of high biodiversity.