|
COVID-19 (2022 Deadline)
Understanding the importance of ecosystem services and medicinal plants during and after the COVID-19 crisis in Vietnam
PI: Tuyen Nghiem (tuyennghiem_cres@yahoo.com), Vietnam National University—Central Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies
U.S. Partner: Pamela McElwee, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Project Dates: September 2022 - April 2024
Project Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected Vietnam, causing impacts on the economy and vulnerable populations. Disruption of regional supply chains led to stagnant production and business in Vietnam and the unemployment rate increased. Vulnerable working people lost their main income sources and developed their own coping strategies, including increasing their dependence on natural resources.
This PEER project studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of ecosystem services in Vietnam. Before the pandemic, people used ecosystem services widely, especially medicinal plants for the production of traditional medicines. The researchers sought to understand how the use of ecosystem services and medicinal plants has changed since 2020, developing findings that can be used to design more effective interventions for supporting vulnerable groups of people in similar situations in the future and maintaining important ecosystem services.
The PI and her team worked directly with local communities and government and non-government actors to inform and allow changes in scientific evidence-based policies, which in turn enhance conservation of forests and medicinal plants, improve forest management practices, and strengthen forest governance at the local level. Officials from the relevant Vietnamese government agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment were encouraged to participate in the project activities to help them improve their knowledge and research capacity.
Final Summary of Project Activities
The PEER team conducted in-person interviews in Tram Tau special forest area (Yen Bai Province), Tam Dao National Park (Vinh Phuc Province), and Ba Vi National Park. They conducted preliminary interviews with local people to understand their access to medicinal plants and their connection to the urban area through consumption of traditional medicinal products and to pretest further interview questions. As a result, the team chose to conduct further research in Ba Vi, as well as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The research team conducted interviews with government officials at Department of Natural Resources, Department of Health, and Oriental Medicine Association, as well as with key informants including the vice chair of Ba Vi Commune’s People’s Committee and the head of Hop Nhat village. Two focus group discussions were also held. The team subsequently interviewed 100 households in Hop Nhat and Hop Son villages of Ba Vi Commune (Ba Vi District) and surveyed 200 individuals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. They organized a final workshop in Hanoi and a field visit to the marine ecosystem of Ha Long Bay (Quang Ninh Province). During the workshop, the research team presented initial research results, highlighting changes in access and use of ecosystem service during and after COVID-19 in Vietnam. Other research groups shared findings on ecosystem services used at the community level and policy factors affecting ecosystem service use.
As of the time they submitted their final report in May 2024, Dr. Nghiem and her colleagues were finishing up on papers to be submitted for publication. Key topics will include changing attitudes on the value of urban green spaces and the impact of the increased use of home gardens to raise medicinal plants that were formerly harvested in national parks and other natural environments.
In additional to strengthening the team’s longstanding partnership with Rutgers University, the research project helped build international cooperation with the University of Mataram in Indonesia and Hwa Dong University in Taiwan. It also improved capacity among Vietnamese university faculty and the staff of the Thuong Tien Nature Reserve in Hoa Binh Province through research exchange activities in the field. The data collected under this project will be combined with the U.S. partner Dr. Pamela McElwee’s NSF-funded research on other ecosystem services projects in Southeast Asia. Dr. Nghiem and her team also had the opportunity to take part in a capacity building activity on putting research results into action led by USAID’s Research Technical Assistance Center (RTAC), attending five webinar sessions on topics such as identifying and engaging stakeholders, developing communications objectives, and tracking and measuring success.
Back to PEER COVID-19 Grant Recipients
|
|
|
|
