Proposal to retain mechanism for inter-provincial national parks management

The management of inter-provincial national parks presents not only an institutional challenge but also a question that directly affects how Viet Nam protects some of its last remaining biodiversity core areas amid growing development pressures.

These concerns were highlighted in Official Letter No. 04/CV-VNPPA, dated May 25, submitted by the Viet Nam Association of National Parks and Nature Reserves (VNPPA) to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment. According to the association, ongoing administrative reforms and the strengthening of decentralization are necessary steps to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of national governance.

However, for national parks spanning multiple provinces and cities, transferring full management authority to local governments requires particularly careful consideration, as this is far more than an administrative matter.

VNPPA argues that national parks should be viewed as interconnected ecosystems rather than through the lens of administrative boundaries. In modern conservation management, the natural boundaries of forests, watersheds, wildlife populations, and habitats rarely coincide with provincial or district borders. Populations of langurs, elephants, or tigers do not move along administrative boundaries. The same applies to rivers, vegetation cover, and ecological corridors.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thai, Director of Save Viet Nam's Wildlife, acknowledged that the most concerning consequence of assigning inter-provincial national parks to individual localities would be the risk of fragmentation in conservation management.

According to him, wildlife conservation requires a unified ecosystem-scale approach, whereas management based on administrative boundaries could make coordination among authorities more difficult, particularly for wide-ranging species and inter-provincial wildlife rescue operations.

In practice, many of Viet Nam’s most effective wildlife rescue models are currently based in nationally managed parks. These facilities form one of the few networks capable of receiving, rescuing and coordinating wildlife conservation efforts on a nationwide scale rather than being limited to a single province.

This is also why many countries manage their national park systems under a unified national strategy. The United States, Australia, South Africa, China, Indonesia, and Thailand are among the examples. In these countries, the entire national park system is overseen by a centralized authority responsible for wildlife and biodiversity conservation.

From a legal perspective, Viet Nam’s current regulatory framework also clearly defines the central government's direct management role over national parks located across multiple provinces and cities. The 2017 Forestry Law, the 2025 Law on Local Government Organization, and various related decrees provide a legal basis for the existing management model.

This suggests that the issue extends beyond the mere transfer of management authority. It also concerns maintaining the consistency and coherence of Viet Nam’s broader legal framework for nature conservation.

More importantly, in recent years, many national parks have demonstrated relatively effective and stable governance. A number of them have become models for integrating biodiversity conservation with scientific research, environmental education, and sustainable ecotourism development.

Several protected areas in Viet Nam have been recognized by UNESCO as part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves or included on the IUCN Green List.

Against the backdrop of climate change and biodiversity loss becoming global challenges, the role of national parks extends far beyond forest protection. These protected areas serve as vital “ecological shields,” helping regulate water resources, sequester carbon, mitigate the impacts of natural disasters, and sustain the livelihoods of communities living in buffer zones.

With nearly 15 million hectares of forest and about 2.25 million hectares of special-use forests, Viet Nam possesses an ecosystem network of strategic importance to national environmental security. Inter-provincial national parks account for only around 12% of the country’s special-use forest area, yet they contain many of the most intact ecosystems and provide habitat for numerous globally significant endangered and rare species.

For this reason, VNPPA has recommended that any major changes to the management of inter-provincial national parks should be preceded by a scientific and objective assessment.

A fragmented ecosystem may take decades to recover, and in some cases, recovery may be impossible. Likewise, a wildlife species that becomes extinct in the wild cannot be restored solely with economic resources. This is why many countries now regard biodiversity conservation as an integral component of national security strategy rather than merely an environmental issue.

Conservation cannot be separated from the role of local authorities. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has affirmed that local governments remain key actors in managing buffer zones, maintaining public security, supporting livelihoods and promoting community-based ecotourism.

However, the core functions of conservation, particularly in special-use forests of national or inter-regional significance, require a unified coordination mechanism that is sufficiently robust and guided by a long-term vision.