Vietnam ecological tourism development to protect forest
biodiversity The development of ecological tourism is considered
a helpful way to protect natural resources in national parks and
reserves in Vietnam, according to a seminar held in Da Lat,
central highlands Lam Dong province, on April 9. According to
the participants, Vietnam has a great potential to develop eco-
tourism in combination with natural resource preservation. The
country possesses 30 national parks and 56 natural reserves,
home to over 13,760 species of plants and 7,730 species of
animals. However, they said, the precious system of natural
reserves has constantly been hurt by inhabitants living around.
Nearly 80 percent of the population living close to the natural
reserves in Vietnam are living in poverty and their lives are
depending on unplanned forest exploitation, thus damaging the
forest biodiversity. Some delegates stressed the need to improve
the living conditions for people living on edges of forests in
order to ensure the success f