Vietnam will honour organisations and individuals with great contributions to wildlife conservation in the 2010-2020 period.

The programme, announced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) October 1, will select five individuals and 10 collectives among all organisations and individuals that are working in bio-diversity preservation across the nation.

The organizing board will receive dossiers from now until the end of December 31.

The awarding ceremony is scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2021 on the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity.

MoNRE Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan said that 2020 is an important milestone in implementing biological diversity-related targets in the Strategic Plan on Bio-Diversity for 2011-2020.

To date, Vietnam’s forest coverage reaches 41.89%, or over 13.8 million hectares. The country owns 173 conservation zones with a total area of over 2,500 hectares, including 33 national parks and 66 nature reserves.

According to the sixth national report on biological diversity, Vietnam now has 51,400 species of fauna and flora, including about 7,500 strains of microorganisms, 20,000 flora species, 10,900 terrestrial animal species, and 2,000 invertebrate and freshwater fish species.