This building block strengthens knowledge management and promotes gender-inclusive awareness to support sustainable governance of Viet Nam’s Biosphere Reserves. It began with identifying the low levels of understanding among communities, tourism operators, and sector agencies about threats to biodiversity and the impacts of unplanned development. The project then designed a coordinated training and knowledge-sharing approach to build local skills and create systems for transferring lessons across sites.

A total of 92 training courses were delivered at central and provincial levels on Biosphere Reserve management, biodiversity integration in planning, monitoring tools, and sustainable livelihood models. More than 3,100 participants—around 40% of whom were women—were trained on biodiversity monitoring, METT application, and natural resource management. By September 2024, awareness levels among community members and tourism operators reached 75%.

To sustain learning beyond individual trainings,  knowledge management systems were strengthened. Open-access websites for the national Biosphere Reserve target sites were created or upgraded to host guidelines, resources, and training materials. In addition, 19 potential best-practice models were identified and documented, including those related to set-aside zones and eco-tourism,  for potential replication, helping ensure that successful models can be adapted and scaled across other Biosphere Reserves in Viet Nam.

This building block strengthens integrated, multi-sector planning across Viet Nam’s three Biosphere Reserves by using a participatory and adaptive approach to address fragmentation in land-use and resource management. The process began with understanding how local authorities, communities, tourism operators, and protected area managers interact with forest and landscape resources. Through this groundwork, the project identified gaps in cross-sector coordination and opportunities to align conservation with socio-economic priorities.

Next, multi-stakeholder planning platforms were established to connect provincial departments, Protected Area management boards, local communities, and private actors. These platforms enabled joint decision-making, supported the integration of biodiversity considerations into development planning, and strengthened protected area governance. As a result, Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) scores across six Protected Areas increased by an average of 38 points—well above the project target.

With these partnerships in place, the project facilitated evidence-based land-use planning. A total of 62,940 hectares of high-conservation-value forests and ecosystems were mapped and designated as set-aside, non-extractive use zones; 4,005 hectares of degraded forests were restored; flagship species monitoring systems were introduced; and biodiversity-friendly tourism certification was promoted, reaching 21% adoption by 2024.

Altogether, more than 1.79 million hectares of Biosphere Reserve buffer and transition zones were brought under sustainable management. This integrated planning framework now enables Viet Nam to embed biodiversity into broader development decisions, strengthening a functional biosphere network that supports both ecological integrity and community well-being.

Biosphere Reserves were not formally recognized in Vietnam’s national law, resulting in fragmented governance and unstable financing. To address this, the project supported the integration of Biosphere Reserve management into the Law on Environmental Protection (2020) (No. 072/2020/QH) and contributed to the issuance of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP and Circular No. 02/2022/TT-BTNMT, which together provide clear legal mandates for Biosphere Reserves under Article 153.

These policies were then translated into actionable guidance includingthe development of the National Strategy for Biosphere Reserve Management, the Plan for Expanding and Strengthening the Biosphere Reserve System, and technical guidelines on Key Biodiversity Areas, High Conservation Value Forests, sustainable forest management, and biodiversity mainstreaming in provincial planning. To ensure effective implementation, 92 capacity-building courses were delivered for national and provincial officials, resulting in a 35% increase in institutional capacity.

Biodiversity Impact Assessment requirements were also integrated into the national environmental assessment system, ensuring that new development projects within Biosphere Reserves apply biodiversity safeguards. Together, these efforts created a coherent governance framework, strengthened cross-level coordination, increased Biosphere Reserve financing by 305% between 2017–2024, and enhanced the long-term sustainability of Biosphere Reserve management in Viet Nam.

This building block enhances on-ground protection through dedicated patrolling teams and Quick Response Teams (QRTs) who respond to threats such as poaching, illegal harvesting, forest fires, and human–wildlife conflict. QRTs are trained to act quickly during emergencies, while regular foot and night patrols provide a strong deterrent against illegal activities, improving safety for wildlife and nearby communities.

Local people do not join patrols but play an important role by informing the forest office about suspicious activities, wildlife movements, or potential conflicts. This early reporting system helps the QRT mobilize quickly and strengthens community–agency collaboration.

Improved protection allows other conservation activities—such as mineral lick restoration, habitat improvement, riverbank protection, and sustainable NWFP management—to succeed. By lowering disturbance and resource extraction, ecosystems stabilize and provide a foundation for sustainable livelihoods, eco-tourism development, and long-term climate resilience. This system builds public trust, encourages responsible behavior, and promotes shared responsibility for conservation.

UNORCAC and its Women’s Central Committee organize annual food festivals to reconnect communities with ancestral culinary traditions, promote the use of native crops, and enhance the market appeal of agrobiodiversity-based products. These events feature the preparation and sharing of traditional dishes made with local maize, tubers, herbs, and wild fruits, often linked to the agricultural calendar and Indigenous celebrations like Pawkar Raymi or Koya Raymi.

Farmers, women leaders, and youth co-develop menus, displays, and tasting booths that showcase underutilized crops and recipes. Exhibits often include Chicha de Jora, medicinal teas, and dishes made from mellocos, oca, or mortiño. These festivals are intergenerational, involving local schools, cultural groups, and tourism initiatives, helping to increase awareness, cultural pride, and consumer demand for native products.

By merging culture and commerce, the events position local crops as valuable and healthy, supporting both food sovereignty and livelihoods. They also complement other marketing strategies, such as the community fair La Pachamama Nos Alimenta (Mother Earth feeds us).

Community-managed seed banks and seed exchange fairs are central to conserving agrobiodiversity and ensuring climate resilience in Cotacachi. With support from UNORCAC and its Women’s Central Committee, local farmers maintain and store diverse native varieties of maize, beans, tubers, and medicinal plants. Seeds are selected from each harvest based on quality and stored in traditional clay pots, tanks, and drying racks. The Bioknowledge Centre functions as a seed bank and educational site, hosting 12 varieties of maize and 39 of beans.

The Muyu Raymi Seed Fair, held annually for over 20 years, allows hundreds of producers to exchange seeds and knowledge, including traditional medicine and ancestral cuisine. These events strengthen local seed systems, promote culturally relevant crops, and reduce dependency on external inputs. Exchanges also take place at the La Pachamama Nos Alimenta community fair and through interregional bartering events between highland and subtropical zones.

Lastly, this solution has included capacity-building activities and awareness-raising meetings across all 21 provinces and the capital since 2022. For capacity-building, trainings have been provided online and in-person, while forums and workshops were also organized for broader discussions. Awareness-raising meetings have targeted specific local decision-makers and have been conducted in-person.  

The objective of these activities is to equip local actors with the knowledge and skills needed for environmental management and budgeting aligned with the NRUF, through exercises on planning, execution reporting, and monitoring and evaluation of local environmental budgets. Trainings have also focused on the Environmental Budget and Expenditure Database, helping local governments to disclose their information and improving data-driven planning and decision-making.  

 Moreover, UNDP BIOFIN is working with the government of Mongolia in the development of an expenditure taxonomy, which will provide a standardized categorization of environmental expenditures, adding clarity and consistency to budget reporting.  

A public Environmental Budget and Expenditure database was developed to disclose environmental budgets and expenditures (since 2023). Its intuitive and visual layout allows users to track how much each province has spent on biodiversity each year. This has two main implications.  

 First, by having to thoroughly fill the database, local governments can use it as a tool to better understand how to develop their own environmental budgets and clarifying which categories should be included.  

 Second, the public database promotes accountability and transparency in environmental planning and budgeting, encouraging governments to fulfill their biodiversity finance responsibilities under the NRUF and, ultimately, functioning as an effective monitoring tool.