Objectives 

IUCN Viet Nam will help INSEE to do the following tasks:

1. To secure the Phu My wetlands Nature Reserve (NR) as an offset for the wetland inside the Hon Chong plant that is being dug out for clay;
2. To secure the Kien Luong Nature Reserve (NR) as an offset for the karst hills that are being quarried to provide limestone for the Hon Chong plant;
3. Communicate the results and lessons learned from the INSEE relationship through website, social media and other channels (web stories, news, maps, etc.)

Background

The Hon Chong cement plant in Kien Luong District, Kien Giang Province was proposed by the Swiss cement company Holcim Viet Nam Ltd (HVL) to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in 1993. With an IFC investment of $97 million, the plant started operating in 1998 as Morning Star Cement Ltd. In 2017, Thailand’s Siam City Cement Company (SCCC) bought and rebranded its assets as INSEE Viet Nam, which remains the leading cement producer in southern Viet Nam.

Since the plant opened, HVL and now INSEE has sought to balance the triple bottom line of economic growth, environmental performance, and social responsibility. This included the preparation of a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), which IUCN completed in 2012. The purpose of the BAP is to identify opportunities to mitigate biodiversity loss caused by quarrying and improve habitat and species management within.

In 2018, IUCN Asia Regional Office signed a 3-year-MOU with Siam City Cement Group – SCCC (headquarter of INSEE in Thailand) for the period of 2018 and 2020. The purpose aims to implement biodiversity conservation activities to protect high conservation value karst areas in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Under this MOU, IUCN Viet Nam and INSEE Viet Nam entered a 2-year-agreement (2019-2020) to support the biodiversity conservation implementation in company’s quarrying and surrounding areas through reviewing Biodiversity Action Plan progress and implement communications activities.

INSEE Viet Nam continues to demonstrate their ambition to achieve biodiversity NPI targets by 2030 by entering a new agreement partnership (2021 – 2023) with IUCN for the sustainable development of Viet Nam.

Location

Kien Giang and Long An Province

Duration

2021 – 2023

Donor

INSEE Viet Nam

Outputs

• A feasibility study on completing the ring dike around Phu My Wetlands nature reserve to prevent further encroachment is carried out. If the study proves the effectiveness of dike ring in reducing the encroachments, further actions will be made to protect Phu My nature reserve.
• The creation of the Kien Luong nature reserve will be advocated for establishing.

Partners

• Kien Giang and Long An Provincial People’s Committee (PPC);
• Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) of Kien Giang and Long An Provinces;
• Department of Sciences and Technology (DOST) of Kien Giang and Long An Provinces;
• Southern Institute of Ecology (SIE);
• Mekong Conservancy Foundation (MCF).

Contact information

Ms. Thuy Anh Nguyen | Email: ThuyAnh.NGUYEN@iucn.org

Senior Communications and Outreach Officer