Vo Quy, Ph.D.

Research

Project Details

Vo applied his Pew Fellowship to developing buffer zone management strategies aimed at alleviating the overexploitation of Vietnam's protected areas and to facilitate the active participation of local communities in park conservation strategies. He has worked specifically in the Ke Go area of Ha Tinh province with the village of Ky Thuong to develop a sustainable buffer zone program that benefits both the park and the socio-economic needs of the local community.

Activities included public outreach to community leaders and villagers to demonstrate the values of protected areas, environmental education, transfer of appropriate agro-forestry technologies for rice planting, home gardens and bee-keeping, and establishment of mini hydroelectic power plants, all of which helped to alleviate human pressures on the parks.

With consistent communication and the involvement of local villagers, the residents of Ky Thuong realized actual benefits from protection of the parks and took an active role in conservation measures. They voluntarily established an additional reserve for the protection of four of Vietnam's most endangered species of pheasant, as well as the overall watershed and its rich flora and fauna, including the Giant Muntjac, a large mammal discovered in the region. Local people also created their own anti-poaching enforcement patrol and selected a group of forest guards to serve from the community.

As a result of Vo's efforts, six additional villages in the Ke Go area requested assistance to adapt the conservation program for their specific areas.

Biography

Vo Quy works to solve the difficult management problems facing Vietnam's nature reserves and national parks as a result of often-conflicting ecological, social and economic priorities. A founder of the Vietnam program on Rational Utilization of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Tram Chim Reserve for endemic Eastern Sarus Crane and the Xuan Thuy Reserve for migratory birds and wetlands.

Quy has authored or co-authored nearly 100 scientific papers and reports as well as eight books, including several volumes of The Birds of Vietnam and the Vietnam Red Data Book, which classifies all of the threatened and endangered species of the country. In addition, he has been an advisor for many other books, films and popular articles related to biodiversity conservation, sustainability and environmental problem-solving in Vietnam and throughout the region.

Quy established the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, the nation's first research and training organization dedicated to environmental issues, at Vietnam National University in 1985 and serves as its director. Prior to this position, he was the dean of the Biology faculty, which he helped establish at Hanoi University, and he continues as a professor at that institution.

CV

EDUCATION

Ph.D., University of Moscow
1966: Biology, Moscow, Russia

Bachelor of Science, University of Vietnam
1953: Chemistry-Biology, Vietnam

KEY LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

Vietnam National University, Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies
1985-Present: Founder and Director

Vietnam Government, Resources and Environment Research Programme to prepare a National Conservation Strategy
1985-Leader

KEY AWARDS & HONORS

Netherlands Golden Arc Award
1997

Marine Fellow
1995: Pew Fellows Program in Conservation and the Environment

John Phillips Memorial Medal
1994: International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Germany Bruno-Schubert Award
1994

Global 500 Honor Roll
1992: United Nations Environment Programme

Gold Metal
1988: World Wildlife Fund

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

• Quy, V. 1998. An overview of the environmental problems in Vietnam. Vietnamese Studies (129): 7
• Quy, V. 1994. Conservation de la biodiversite dans la province de Ha Tinh. (42 pp)
• Quy, V. 1994. Parcs nationaux et zones de protection au Vietnam. (63 pp)
• Quy, V. 1994. Sustainable devlopment. (110 pp)
• Quy, V. and Le Thac Can. 1994. Conservation of forest resources and the greater biodiversity of Vietnam. Asian Journal of Environmental Management 2(2): 54-59
• Quy, V. (co-presenter). 1992. Vietnam the country not the war. Documentary film: BBC Natural History Unit and NATURE..
• Quy, V. 1992. The Wounds of War. Ceres; FAO review 24(2): 13
• Quy, V. and E. Kemf. 1991. Agent Green. BBC Wildlife 9(12): 828
• Quy, V. 1990. On the wings of peace. Natural History (11): 40