The project worth over €2 million will be carried out between 2015 and 2016 with an aim to work out approaches to integrate the nature conservation into policy making process.

Accordingly, new models to improve livelihood and preserve bio-diversification in the park region will be developed and realized through the involvement of the agricultural expansion encouragement network to provide assistance to beneficiaries, especially women and ethnic people.

The Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is located in Quang Binh province in central Viet Nam. Due to its unique karst landforms and caves it has been declared a natural site on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

It is also home to a particularly rich biodiversity, including a large number of endangered species that are threatened by the illegal use of the Park's natural resources.

The area around Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is one of Viet Nam’s poorest regions. In the buffer zone of the National Park there are approximately 65,000 people living in 13 communities. Their livelihoods depend to a large extent on the natural resources in their environment, and there are just limited sources of income available to them besides agriculture.

Moreover, they have little chance of improving their agricultural productivity as legal access to land resources is also very limited.

 By Thuy Dung