Hanoi (VNA) - Instead ofbeing wary about investors, tourism management authorities should collaboratewith them in preserving the natural environment, says Dr Nguyen Hoang Tri,Secretary of the National Committee for UNESCO’s Man and the BiosphereProgramme (MAB) in Vietnam.

With about 2.3 million hectares ofspecial use forests (SUF), 31 national parks and 68 natural reserves, anddozens of other forests, Vietnam is seen as a prime eco-tourism destination.

However, rapid and haphazarddevelopment of tourism infrastructure in natural reserves and SUFs in the lastfew years has raised concerns that development was taking place at the expenseof the environment.

Tourism inside and around protectedareas like the Phong Nha – Ke Bang and Bach Ma national parks, as well as theSon Tra and Lung Ngọc Hoang natural reserves, has also raised concerns over theloss of biodiversity.

Ways to address these concerns andpreserve the nation’s natural environment in the context of an eco-tourism boomwere discussed at a conference held in Hanoi on October 4.

Most tourism projects in the countryare implemented without conducting comprehensive environmental impactassessments (EIA), said Dr Le Hoang Lan of the Vietnam Association forConservation of Nature and Environment. The result is that the risks andconsequences that the projects can have on the environment are not accountedfor, she said.

Current regulations only requiretourism investors to address damage caused to forests by paying money orreplanting trees, “but such losses can’t be measured with money, like losingrare animals like rhinos,” Lan said.

“Re-growing forests does not ensurerecovery of biodiversity,” she said, adding that regulations should requireinvestors to restore biodiversity in damaged areas.

Overlaps and loopholes in laws andregulations on natural resource management have complicated the task ofpreserving biodiversity in the country, public policy specialist Nguyen Quang Dongsaid at the conference.

For example, the 2010 decree on SUFmanagement actually allows investors to engage in activities forbidden by theLaw on Forest Protection and Management, he said.

Both the environmental and agriculturalministries have their own guidelines on planning natural reserves for tourism,which are too many, unstructured, and too complicated, he added.

“They need to redefine their functionsand untangle this management mess,” he said.

Dr Nguyen Quoc Dung of the Institute ofInvestigation and Forest Planning, said that management of national parks hasbeen arbitrarily decentralised in some localities.

Instead of being managed by theprovincial People’s Committees as regulated, some national parks are beingadministered by lower-level agricultural and forest protection departments, hesaid.

Dr Nguyen Hoang Tri, secretary of theNational Committee for MAB Vietnam, said that the private sector, particularlytourism investors, should not be excluded from the policy making process.

“Tourism is an important sector foreconomic development, and it should be encouraged to grow,” he said.

“Since private investors have their ownperspectives on tourism, public management agencies and policy makers shouldnot be ‘scared’ of them, but instead engage them in dialogues and collaboratewith them in the task of environmental protection,” he added.  

Other experts proposed a comprehensivereview and evaluation of environmental preservation and development in the lasttwo decades, so that a more effective legal foundation can be laid foreco-tourism development.

“The carrying capacity of facilities ateco-tourism sites, and the monetary value of biodiversity loss caused byeco-tourism, are the two most difficult factors to evaluate,” said NguyenViet Dung, deputy director of the Centerfor People and Nature.-VNA