According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), global deforestation has been continuing at an alarming rate with 13 million ha (an area equal in size to Portugal) of forest destroyed annually.

"Viet Nam is no exception," the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Pham Khoi Nguyen, told the meeting.

Only around half a million ha of primitive forest remain out of 13 million ha of forest in Viet Nam.

A Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) report reveals that, although forest coverage has been on the rise in Viet Nam, actual primitive forest areas as well as bio-diversity has been decreasing considerably.

"The world is facing alarming issues including climate change, the unsustainable use of natural resources, bio-diversity degradation and environmental pollution. Deforestation has been a main factor in many of these issues," said Nguyen.

The UNEP said that conserving and expanding forests had to be turned into a business opportunity, an investment of US$30 billion in fighting deforestation potentially capable of providing a return of $2.5 trillion in new products and services.

Viet Nam's legal framework for environmental protection has undergone considerable development with the introduction of the Law on Environmental Protection itself and one based on bio-diversity.

Some green urban areas and industrial zones had already evidenced much effectiveness, said Nguyen.

Addressing the meeting, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) representative Patrick Gilabert said that the UN had been working in close cooperation with the Government in promoting the sustainable use of natural resources in order to build a response capacity to the effects of climate change.

A decree issued last December, with support from the UN, allows communities living around special-use forests to use and protect natural resources in order to better integrate customary practices into conservation policy.

"However, there is still much to be done to further the cause of environmental conservation in Viet Nam," said Gilabert.

The country needed to improve natural resource planning and management for economic development and social benefit in order to ensure the more sustainable exploitation of Viet Nam's ecological wealth, he said.

"We need to strengthen effective law enforcement measures to combat the illicit trafficking of forest products as part of comprehensive national measures for protecting national resources," he added.

World Environment Day, started in 1972, is an annual event aimed at being the largest and most far reaching catalyst in positive environmental action. — VNS