Education for Nature Vietnam

Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV) is a Vietnamese nongovernmental organization dedicated to wildlife protection and the reduction of illegal wildlife trade. Established in 2000, it describes itself as Vietnam’s first locally founded NGO focused specifically on wildlife protection. The organization is headquartered in Hanoi and works primarily within Vietnam, combining public education, investigative support, citizen reporting, enforcement assistance, and policy advocacy. ENV’s work is organized around three connected priorities. First, it seeks to change public attitudes toward wildlife consumption by explaining the conservation and criminal consequences of buying or using products made from endangered species. Its campaigns have addressed demand for tiger parts, rhino horn, bear bile, pangolin scales, and other wildlife products. Public-service announcements have been distributed through television and radio, including Voice of Vietnam, while outreach has also used celebrities, universities, shopping centers, parks, business partners, and public events. A recurring message is that products such as rhino horn and pangolin scales have no demonstrated medicinal value and that their purchase supports organized criminal networks and animal suffering. Second, ENV supports the reporting and investigation of wildlife crime. In 2005 it established a Wildlife Crime Unit and a national toll-free hotline, allowing members of the public to report suspected offenses. Reports can also be submitted through electronic channels and mobile tools. ENV maintains a wildlife-crime database, conducts follow-up investigations, refers cases to authorities, and monitors businesses and online platforms suspected of advertising or selling protected species. Volunteer wildlife-protection clubs in cities across Vietnam extend this work by organizing public activities, observing commercial establishments, and helping identify violations. ENV also uses structured compliance campaigns. Since 2013, it has surveyed restaurants, hotels, bars, traditional-medicine shops, pet shops, and markets in selected urban areas. Alleged violations are reported to local People’s Committees, followed by inspections to assess whether businesses have changed their practices. The organization has reported substantial reductions in wildlife-related violations in areas where this process was completed, although the exact results vary by locality and campaign. Third, ENV works with government ministries, provincial authorities, police, legislators, and other decision-makers to improve wildlife legislation and its implementation. Its policy work has included opposition to the auctioning of confiscated tiger products and other endangered wildlife, advocacy for stronger action against major traffickers, promotion of implementation of Decree 160, and opposition to proposals that would legalize or expand farming of endangered species. ENV argues that weak penalties, legal loopholes, and the resale of confiscated products can stimulate demand and make enforcement more difficult. The organization has been involved in efforts against bear-bile tourism and illegal bear keeping, including a campaign that contributed to the closure of bear-bile tourism in Ha Long Bay in 2014. It has also supported investigations into marine-turtle trafficking and cross-border tiger smuggling, and has partnered with other conservation groups on animal rescues. In 2020, ENV and Four Paws rescued a bear cub from the illegal wildlife trade and transferred it to the Bear Sanctuary Ninh Binh. ENV is not a conventional commercial brand: its principal offerings are conservation programs, public reporting mechanisms, research, advocacy, and technical assistance rather than consumer products. Its operating identity is therefore based on public credibility, conservation expertise, practical cooperation with authorities, and sustained campaigning against the social acceptance and profitability of illegal wildlife trade.

Education for Nature Vietnam was founded in 2000 as a Vietnamese nongovernmental organization specializing in wildlife protection. Its emergence reflected Vietnam’s role both as a source of threatened species and as a consumer and transit route for wildlife products moving through Southeast Asia toward other markets. ENV developed a model that treated illegal wildlife trade as both a conservation problem and a public-policy problem: protecting species required reducing consumer demand, improving enforcement, and closing weaknesses in law and administration. In 2005, ENV established its Wildlife Crime Unit. The unit created a channel for the public to report suspected wildlife offenses through a national toll-free hotline, later supplemented by electronic and mobile reporting options. This mechanism helped turn citizens into sources of information about wildlife trafficking, illegal possession, advertising, and commercial exploitation. ENV also built a national database of reported wildlife crimes and used reports to support referrals, investigations, and engagement with local authorities. Public education became a central part of ENV’s approach. The organization produced television and radio public-service announcements addressing the consumption of tiger parts, rhino horn, bear bile, and pangolin products. Since 2008, it has worked with Voice of Vietnam on recurring wildlife-protection radio programming. ENV has also used celebrity endorsements, university events, shopping-center activities, and public outreach to challenge the idea that wildlife products confer status or provide medical benefits. Its Wildlife Safety Zone concept extended demand reduction into workplaces, government institutions, businesses, markets, and online environments. ENV expanded its enforcement-oriented work through volunteer clubs in cities throughout Vietnam and through surveys of businesses likely to encounter wildlife products. Beginning in 2013, campaign teams inspected selected restaurants, hotels, bars, traditional-medicine shops, pet shops, and markets, reported suspected violations to district People’s Committees, and returned for follow-up checks. The organization also targeted online wildlife trade by documenting advertisements and working with websites and forums to remove listings or adopt wildlife-safety commitments. The organization’s policy work has focused on making wildlife-crime enforcement more effective against major traffickers rather than only low-level participants. ENV has advocated stronger use of criminal law, implementation of Decree 160, better provincial understanding of wildlife regulations, and the confiscation and permanent disposal of protected animals and products rather than their auction. It opposed the auctioning of seized tiger products on the grounds that resale could stimulate demand and undermine conservation. A notable area of work involved Vietnam’s bear-bile industry. ENV worked with authorities and other partners to challenge bear-bile tourism in Ha Long Bay, where visitors had been taken to facilities to witness bile extraction. The campaign and associated enforcement action contributed to the closure of that tourism activity in May 2014. ENV also advocated confiscation of illegally held bears and reported a long-term decline in the number of bears kept on farms. ENV has investigated or supported cases involving marine turtles, cross-border tiger trafficking, online wildlife sales, and other organized networks. In one marine-turtle case, authorities seized a large quantity of turtles and opened a criminal investigation; ENV produced educational material about the case and circulated it to legislators. The organization has also partnered with international conservation groups, including Four Paws and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, on rescue and demand-reduction work. In 2020, ENV and Four Paws rescued a bear cub and brought it to the Bear Sanctuary Ninh Binh. Today, ENV remains an active Vietnam-centered conservation organization. Its distinctive contribution is the integration of public mobilization, communications, reporting infrastructure, field monitoring, investigative assistance, and policy advocacy. Rather than operating as a commercial product brand, it functions as a specialist civic and conservation institution whose impact depends on partnerships with communities, businesses, media organizations, government agencies, police, prosecutors, and international wildlife-protection groups.

• 2020

  Bear cub rescue with Four Paws

  [1]Education for Nature Vietnamen.wikipedia.org

  ENV and Four Paws rescued a bear cub from illegal trade and transferred it to the Bear Sanctuary Ninh Binh.

• 2016

  Rhino-horn demand-reduction campaign

  [1]Education for Nature Vietnamen.wikipedia.org

  ENV used mass-media messaging to challenge perceived medicinal and status benefits associated with rhino horn.

• 2014

  Bear-bile tourism in Ha Long Bay shut down

  [1]Education for Nature Vietnamen.wikipedia.org

  A campaign involving ENV, local authorities, and other agencies contributed to the closure of bear-bile tourism in Ha Long Bay.

• 2013

  Urban business-monitoring campaigns expand

  [1]Education for Nature Vietnamen.wikipedia.org

  ENV began systematic surveys and follow-up monitoring of businesses and markets in major Vietnamese cities to identify wildlife-trade violations.

• 2008

  Regular wildlife radio programming begins

  [1]Education for Nature Vietnamen.wikipedia.org

  ENV began a partnership with Voice of Vietnam to produce recurring radio programming on wildlife-protection issues.

• 2005

  Wildlife Crime Unit created

  [1]Education for Nature Vietnamen.wikipedia.org

  ENV established its Wildlife Crime Unit and a national public hotline for reporting wildlife crimes.

• 2000

  Organization established

  [1]Education for Nature Vietnamen.wikipedia.org

  Education for Nature Vietnam was established as a Vietnamese NGO dedicated to wildlife protection.

A Vietnam-focused wildlife-conservation NGO that combines demand reduction, citizen reporting, enforcement support, investigation, and policy advocacy to combat illegal wildlife trade.

• Wildlife-crime reporting and enforcement support · 2005

  Wildlife Crime Unit

  ENV’s Wildlife Crime Unit receives public reports of suspected wildlife offenses, records cases, supports follow-up investigations, and communicates relevant information to government agencies. Its work covers illegal possession, trafficking, advertising, and commercial use of protected wildlife.

• Institutional demand-reduction program

  Wildlife Safety Zones

  Wildlife Safety Zones are commitments adopted by institutions, businesses, markets, websites, and other partners to reject illegal wildlife products and prevent their promotion or sale. The program translates public education into organizational policies and visible pledges.

• Conservation communications

  Demand-reduction campaigns

  ENV develops public-service announcements, radio content, digital material, and in-person activities aimed at reducing demand for products derived from tigers, rhinos, bears, pangolins, and other threatened species. Campaigns emphasize conservation, legality, animal welfare, and the lack of proven benefits from many wildlife products.

• 2016Say no to rhino horn

  Vietnam

  ENV and partners used media and public events to challenge claims that rhino horn has medicinal value and to discourage its use as a status product.

  Source
• 2014End bear-bile tourism in Ha Long Bay

  Vietnam

  ENV worked with Vietnamese authorities and partner organizations to challenge tourism based on live bear-bile extraction and to strengthen action against bear farms in Ha Long Bay.

  Outcome. Bear-bile tourism in Ha Long Bay was shut down in May 2014.

  Source
• 2013Urban wildlife-trade compliance monitoring

  Hanoi · Hue · Dong Ha · Ho Chi Minh City · Vinh · Da Nang

  ENV surveyed commercial establishments and markets, reported suspected violations to local authorities, and conducted follow-up inspections to measure compliance.

  Outcome. ENV reported wildlife-crime reductions of approximately 39% to 77% in areas where the process had been completed.

  Source

• Opposition to auctioning confiscated endangered wildlife productsStrategy

  Background

  ENV argued that auctioning seized tiger products and other protected wildlife could return them to circulation, sustain demand, and weaken the deterrent effect of enforcement.

  Action taken

  The organization campaigned for confiscated endangered wildlife and products to be retained, destroyed, or otherwise handled in ways that do not support trade.

  Aftermath

  ENV reported success in preventing authorities from auctioning seized tiger products.

  Source

• Opposition to legalizing endangered-species farmingStrategy

  Background

  ENV maintained that legalizing or expanding the farming of endangered species could increase consumer demand and make it harder for authorities to distinguish legal activity from laundering of wild-caught animals.

  Action taken

  ENV advocated against proposals to legalize endangered-species farming and promoted stronger implementation of existing wildlife-protection rules.

  Source

1. 1Education for Nature Vietnamen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Education for Nature Vietnam official websiteenvietnam.org