Core area “Conserving nature and natural resources, protecting life on Earth” Sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation

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A farmer with mangrove seeds and seedlings

Since the 1970s, the country's forest areas have decreased significantly as a result of the Viet Nam war, illegal logging, and slash-and-burn farming. While the country's forest areas have grown again thanks to reforestation programmes, the quality of its forests as habitats has declined, which is posing a growing treat to biodiversity.

With support from Germany, Viet Nam has made biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource management part of its national legislation. Germany is also engaged in measures to foster sustainable forest management and effective management of protected areas, as well as other area-based conservation measures.

Moreover, Germany is assisting the country in implementing the Voluntary Partnership Agreement between Viet Nam and the European Union concerning legal timber, which was signed in 2018. According to the Agreement, all timber that is exported from Viet Nam to the EU must come from demonstrably legal sources. This helps to strengthen deforestation-free supply chains worldwide.

The BMZ also supports several regional programmes with activities in Viet Nam, helping the country to dispose of waste in an environmentally sound way and developing a circular economy for plastic, so as to reduce marine litter inputs.