The Phu An Bamboo Ecomuseum and Botanic Garden in Ben Cat District, Binh Duong, is among 25 winners of the UNDP Initiative’s Equator Prize for 2010.
The prize, instituted in 2002, is awarded biennially to recognize outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty by conserving biodiversity.
The bamboo village founder, Dr Diep Thi My Hanh, who received a PhD in environmental techniques from the Paris 12 Val de Marne University in France, will fly to the US to receive the US$5,000 award on September 22. She spoke to Tuoi Tre about her garden and eco-tourism attraction.
Is this the first bamboo-related project in the world to win the prize?
Yes, it is.
[It is also the largest bamboo reserve in Southeast Asia and has almost 90 percent of all bamboo varieties in Vietnam.]
Can you tell us about the bamboo village?
A group of my friends and I started building the 10-hectare bamboo village in 1999 on a barren area in the “iron triangle” which was heavily bombed during the war before 1975.
We wanted to transform the iron triangle into a green triangle and conserve the biodiversity of the region’s bamboo forests in ways that also reduce poverty, specifically through bamboo-based traditional arts and crafts.
Now the garden has over 300 species of bamboo from Vietnam and Southeast Asia, including 20 endangered species. It is a valuable national gene bank.
The garden has also received much help from others like Ton Nu Thi Ninh, Bui Tran Phuong, Bui Cach Tuyen, and Tran Phong from the Vietnam Environment Administration.
What do you plan to say at the ceremony in New York next month?
My speech will address the preservation of bamboo biodiversity, research programs on bamboo biological properties, sustainable development for local inhabitants through agricultural expansion and training in bamboo cultivation.
Promotion of ecotourism at Phu An bamboo village… will contribute to the prosperity of locals.
The model can be multiplied in other places to improve living conditions for local populations, enhance production and traditional know-how, and encourage environmental conservation.
Phu An bamboo village was created in the framework of a four-part cooperation project with Binh Duong Province, France’s Rhone Alpes Region, France’s Pilat Natural Park and Ho Chi Minh City’s University of Natural Sciences, with Rhone Alpes Region providing US$754,000 and Binh Duong providing $95,000 plus 10ha of land. |
No comments:
Post a Comment