Airbus partners with French Chamber of Commerce, local NGO for community forest project in Vietnam

HCM City, August 12 (VNA) - Airbus, the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam (CCIFV) and local NGO Gaia Nature Conversation (Gaia), have jointly launched the "Community Forest" project in the Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve. This joint initiative aims to plant 1.25 hectares of forest, equivalent to 500 trees, to promote ecological awareness among the French business community in Vietnam, and at the same time contribute to the sustainable goals set by the Vietnamese Government. The Community Forest project focuses on preserving biodiversity and wildlife in Vietnam. Additionally, it seeks to support local communities living in the buffer zones of the Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve by regulating water sources and empowering livelihoods through their active participation in tree plantings. It also targets to play a crucial role in saving the extinction of 110 rare and endangered species of fauna and flora listed in the Vietnam Red Data Book, an essential step towards environmental conservation in the region. "The Community Forest project not only allows us to contribute to ecological preservation but also strengthens our ties with the local community and supports the Vietnamese government's sustainability efforts," Airbus Chief Representative for Vietnam Hoang Tri Mai said. The Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve, formerly the Cat Tien Biosphere Reserve, is dubbed the “green lung” of the southeastern region of Vietnam. The site, which officially became the 580th biosphere reserve of the world on June 29, 2011, is one of the eleven UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserves in Vietnam. It covers 969,993 hectares in Dong Nai, Lam Dong, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Dak Nong provinces, with 80 percent of the area in Dong Nai. According to UNESCO, the Cat Tien tropical forest ecosystem forms part of the Indo-Pacific Biogeographical Region. Typical forest types include evergreen broad-leave forest, bamboo forest and other mixed forests. The Cat Tien National Park provides protection for this continuous mosaic of forests. Within the park, there is great variation in topography, from steep hilly areas in the north to large lowland areas, wetlands, riverine areas and cultivated fields in the south./.