Future Conservation Leadership Award awarded to WildAct's team

WILDACT’S TEAM RECEIVED “FUTURE CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP AWARD” 2021!!!

In 2021, the renowned “Future Conservationist Award” category (belongs to the Conservation Leadership Programmes) was awarded to 22 projects in 15 countries across the world. WildAct’s team was honoured to be one of its winners!!! 

WildAct’s awarded project titled “Conserving shorebirds through community engagement in the Red River Delta, Vietnam”. Although wildlife conservation in Vietnam has been developed in the recent year, most attentions were given to mammals. Birds, especially shorebirds population in Vietnam is still declining but not many practical conservation projects focused on them. 

Vietnam lies within the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, which itself makes up the central part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Declines of migratory shorebirds have been largely attributed to habitat loss, while hunting was often overlooked. This proposal is an original and ground-breaking project which aims to benefit threatened migratory species, such as the Critically Endangered spoon-billed sandpiper and Endangered black-faced spoonbill.

Due to hunting pressure in this region, there was no confirmed record of the spoon-billed sandpiper over the last ten years, while others are declining rapidly. This project aims to: i) investigate hunting pressure in the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve in northern Vietnam; and ii) establish a local conservation committee and community conservation teams to participate in shorebird conservation activities. The project’s long-term goal is to create a safe habitat for migratory birds to return to through community engagement, and strengthening law enforcement efforts to prevent poaching of endangered shorebirds.

In 2021, WildAct and other 13 conservation organisations signed a letter to the Provincial People's Committees of Long An, call for actions to end the illegal birds trade in local markets of this provinces. You can read the letter in Vietnamese here: THƯ NGỎ "Về hoạt động buôn bán động vật hoang dã bất hợp pháp tại chợ nông sản Thạnh Hóa" — WILDACT VIETNAM (wildact-vn.org)

To find out more about the project, please contact: info@wildact-vn.org