Vietnam works to protect plant genetic resources

Vietnam is one of the world’s 10 richest centers of biodiversity, ranking 16th in diversity of plant and genetic resources. More than 49,000 species have been identified in the country.

Hoanh Bo mountain district in the northern province of Quang Ninh is famous for its medicinal herbs, a specialty of the Dao ethnic minority people. Local people have worked hard to make Quang Ninh one of the centers of medicinal herbs in Vietnam.

Dang Van Chuong, Head of the Health Section of Hoanh Bo district, said “Hoanh Bo authorities have created incentives to encourage the preservation and development of medicinal herbs. We subsidize 50-70% of seedling costs, 50% of processing and storage construction, and 100% of infrastructure. We also help people apply production technology and develop their trademarks.”

The central province of Quang Nam is famous for Ngoc Linh ginseng and rare species of medicinal herbs. More than 830 species of flora in Quang Nam’s mountain region can be used to produce medicinal materials.

The province has worked out a plan until 2025 and vision to 2030, built seedling centers, and provided technical and financial support for preserving and developing local medicinal herbs.

Le Tri Thanh, Vice President of the Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee, said “We have focused on preserving genetic resources of medicinal herbs and developing material regions to make Quang Nam the national hub of medicinal herbs in the south-central region.”

A number of laws on natural resource management have been issued, such as the Law on Fisheries, the Law on Forest Protection and Development, the Law on Environmental Protection, the Law on Water Resources, and the Law on Biodiversity. They serve as a legal foundation for local communities to conserve genetic resources.