Maintaining Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve is essential

Impact on international commitments to biodiversity

The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Agency (NBCA) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) said that it is necessary to continue maintaining and protecting Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve due to its importance to Thai Binh province and to the nation and international community, ensuring the principle of harmony between conservation and development without trading off the environment for economic development.

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Thai Binh converts wetland nature reserve to implement urban area projects

NBCA has just sent an official dispatch to report to Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan on the narrowing of Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve (referred to as Tien Hai Reserve).

Accordingly, Decision 731 of the Thai Binh Provincial People's Committee on narrowing approximately 90% of the area of Tien Hai Reserve affects the implementation of biodiversity conservation goals, the Party and State's guidelines on protecting the environment and proactively responding to climate change, and international commitments.

The Decision of the Thai Binh Provincial People’s Committee will affect the conservation of biodiversity and typical natural wetland habitats; lose an important link in the flight path of rare and precious migratory birds in the world, causing the decline of endangered, precious, and rare species prioritized for protection; affect the adaptation and resistance to natural disaster risks and climate change; and directly affect the coastal people’s livelihoods and the locality’s socio-economy.

According to NBCA, the narrowing of approximately 90% of the area of Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve affects the implementation of the goal of the Central Committee’s Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW dated June 3, 2013 on proactively responding to climate change, strengthening resource management, and protecting the environment (increasing the area of nature reserves to over 3 million hectares).

Thai Binh’s Decision 731 affects the Central Committee’s Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW dated October 22, 2018 on the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Vietnam's Marine Economy to 2030 and Vision to 2045. The strategy’s specific goals by 2030 are to well manage and protect marine, coastal, and island ecosystems and increase the area of marine and coastal conservation zones to at least 6% of the natural area of the national waters.

Thai Binh's Decision also affects the implementation of Vietnam's international commitments on biodiversity conservation, such as the RAMSAR Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, in which the goal is to increase the area of biodiversity conservation zones.

Therefore, the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Agency said that Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve needs to continue to be maintained and protected, ensuring the principle of harmony between conservation and development without trading off the environment for economic development.

Do not receive Thai Binh’s report on the narrowing of Tien Hai Reserve

According to NBCA, Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve is included in the national biodiversity conservation master plan until 2020, with a vision to 2030 (according to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 45/QDTTg dated January 8, 2014), and is also included in the planning on the special-use forest system until 2020, with an orientation to 2030 (Decision No. 1976/QDTTg dated October 30, 2014 of the Prime Minister).

In the draft national biodiversity conservation plan for the period 2021–2030, with a vision to 2050 (the planning dossier was submitted to the Prime Minister in Official Dispatch No. 7276/BTNMT-TCMT dated December 1, 2022), Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve continues to be proposed to maintain an area of 12,500 ha.

In Decision No. 1107/QD-BTNMT dated May 15, 2015 of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment announcing the list of conservation zones, Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve was converted into a nature reserve according to the law on biodiversity, with an area of 12,500 ha.

Thus, Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve is a natural heritage as prescribed at Point a, Clause 1, Article 20 of the Law on Environmental Protection. The management and adjustment regime of the area and boundaries of the Nature Reserve must not only comply with the law on forestry but also comply with the law on conservation of nature, biodiversity, and the environment. Accordingly, as for the adjustment of the area and boundaries of the provincial wetland nature reserve, it is mandatory to consult MONRE.

However, NBCA said that as of now, the unit has not received an official dispatch to consult about the content of the above-mentioned Decision No. 731/QD-UBND and has not received an official decision after promulgation by the Provincial People's Committee.

The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Agency proposes that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment direct related units in the ministry to review and report on the handling of issues related to the planning of Thai Binh province, the planning of land use and environmental impact assessment of Thai Binh economic zone, and other development projects in the area of Tien Hai Wetland Nature Reserve.