The Mekong River Delta in Vietnam can be considered as a large tropical wetland, in which two typical eco-forest wetlands can be distinguished: the inland Melaleuca forest wetlands and the coastal mangrove forest wetlands. Their main functions are the provision of forest commodities, the regulation of the water balance and biodiversity conservation. However as elsewhere under human pressure their existence is under the threat of forest fires and deforestation. Their protection requires the implementation of a multi-level national or sub-national planning policy. This paper elaborates on a few processes and offers a number of suggestions for a sustainable policy action plan, which | International Congress on Development, Environment and Natural Resources: Multi-level and Multi-scale Sustainability. Cochabamba, Bolivia, 11 – 13 July, 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Action plan for the multi-level conservation of forest wetlands in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam . Tuan1,2, G. Wyseure2 1 Department of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, College of Technology, CanTho University, CanTho, Vietnam latuan@ 2 Division of Soil and Water Management, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium Keywords: Mekong, wetland, forest, water, multi-level conservation Abstract The Mekong River Delta in Vietnam can be considered as a large tropical wetland, in which two typical eco-forest wetlands can be distinguished: the inland Melaleuca forest wetlands and the coastal mangrove forest wetlands. Their main functions are the provision of forest commodities, the regulation of the water balance and biodiversity conservation. However as elsewhere under human pressure their existence is under the threat of forest fires and deforestation. Their protection requires the implementation of a multi-level national or sub-national planning policy. This paper elaborates on a few processes and offers a number of suggestions for a sustainable policy action plan, which fits the objectives at national, regional and local level. 1. Introduction In the period 1992 to 1997, the United Nations Development Programme provided a 3- million USD grant to the Vietnamese Government for the formulation and implementation, of a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). The goal of the BAP is remediation of the threats to biodiversity caused by the 40 years of war. In 1993, the Vietnam National Assembly approved the Law on Environment Protection and the Vietnamese Government signed the Convention on .
