Experts emphasize the significance of incorporating the promotion of biosphere reserves into national policy planning and sustainable development.

Effective management of biosphere reserves plays an important role in achieving sustainable development goals, through the promotion of new initiatives for economic development, while ensuring social, cultural and environmental sustainability, said Hoang Thi Thanh Nhan, Deputy Director of the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Agency (NBCA) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

With its mangrove forest ecosystem and biosphere reserves, Ho Chi Minh City’s outlying Can Gio district should be developed into an urban area in the forest, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said on July 18.

Management boards of biosphere reserves nationwide have taken initiatives and solutions to conserve and sustainably use natural resources, thus implementing Vietnam’s sustainable development goals and promoting tourism development, according to Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan.

Vietnam currently has 11 world biosphere reserves. These are "natural laboratories" for the country to apply a global approach on new solutions to achieve the ultimate goal of sustainable development.

A meeting was held on November 3 in Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve in the northern port city of Hai Phong in response to the first International Day for Biosphere Reserves.

Two Vietnamese sites – Kon Ha Nung Plateau in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai and Nui Chua Biosphere Reserve in the central province of Ninh Thuan - were recognised as new world biosphere reserves by UNESCO at the 33rd session of its International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB-ICC) in Nigeria from September 13-17.

The UNESCO designated the Nui Chua National Park in the central province of Ninh Thuan and the Kon Ha Nung Plateau in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai as global biosphere reserves.

Two biosphere reserves which are Nui Chua in the central province of Ninh Thuan and Kon Ha Nung in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai have earned UNESCO recognition.

Two biosphere reserves Nui Chua in the central province of Ninh Thuan and Kon Ha Nung in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai have earned UNESCO recognition.

Vietnam’s biosphere reserves Nui Chua in the central province of Ninh Thuan and Kon Ha Nung in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai will be voted to seek UNESCO recognition at the 33rd session of the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme (CIC-MAB) in Nigeria from September 13-17.

A project on incorporating natural resource management and biodiversity preservation goals into socio-economic development planning and biosphere reserves management in Vietnam was launched in Hanoi on October 27.

Vietnam has nine biosphere reserves with a total area of 4 million hectares, accounting for 12.1 percent of the country’s total natural land area. These reserves are home to 1.78 million people.