Viet Nam participants undergo training on biodiversity-based value chain development

vietnamtraining

Sectoral participants of the BBP Project’s Training of Facilitators on Biodiversity-Based Value Chain Development led by Dr. Nguyen Xuan Dung of BCA (standing, third from right) with BBP Project Value Chain trainer, Ms. Rita Pilarca (seated, third from right).

Personnel from Viet Nam’s Biodiversity Conservation Agency (BCA) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), along with staff from Hoang Lien National Park and Ba Be National Park and representatives from the academe and the private sector, convened in Hanoi, Viet Nam for a Training of Facilitators on Biodiversity-based Value Chain (BBVC) Development.

The event, which was held from 6 to 7 July 2018, aimed at improving the competencies of the national partners in biodiversity value chain development. Specifically, the training targeted to build the participants’ capacities from setting out selection criteria for biodiversity-based products, value chain mapping, upgrading strategies, to monitoring of impact.

Ms. Rita Pilarca, the invited value chain trainer, provided the participants a perspective of the functions and actors across the value chain to enable them to sufficiently provide support in specific areas of developing a value chain-based enterprise for biodiversity-based products.

The training was conducted based on the training needs assessment conducted earlier by the project Biodiversity-based Products (BBP) as an Economic Source for the Improvement of Livelihoods and Biodiversity Protection to address individual needs in each of the project´s partner country. It was found that BBVC development is a relatively new approach, aiming at supporting community-based enterprise for economic development, while at the same time strengthening biodiversity conservation efforts. To address this, the BBP project is currently piloting BBVC in two ASEAN Heritage Parks in Viet Nam: Ba Be National Park and Hoang Lien National Park. The biodiversity-based products promoted in Viet Nam are honey, the medicinal vegetable Bo Khai, Giao Co Lam or medicinal tea, and medicinal bath herbs.