Launch The Initiative Of Viet – Thai Bilingual Radio Broadcast For The Community Living In The Buffer Zone Of Pu Mat National Park

In December 2021, SVW collaborated with Pu Mat National Park and Management Boards of 36 villages in the buffer zone to run a community broadcasting program on local loudspeaker systems. Beside Vietnamese – the official language of Vietnam, the broadcast is also translated into Thai ethnic language to scale up the target group to reach more than 90,000 people in the buffer zone of Pu Mat National Park to raise awareness about nature and wildlife conservation.

According to Ms. Tran Thi Yen – SVW’s Education Outreach Officer: “66,89% of the communities living in and around Pu Mat National Park are from Thai ethnic groups, and many locals want to listen to the radio broadcasts in their own language. To meet their need, all of the broadcast episodes on protecting nature and wildlife in Pu Mat National Park have been made with two versions in Vietnamese and Thai.”

SVW and Pu Mat National Park have compiled 4 radio broadcast episodes with information about Pu Mat National Park, the need to protect the flora and fauna of Pu Mat National Park, and updated information about the latest regulations related to fire prevention in the forest and wildlife protection. Through the broadcasting program, people will be encouraged to take part in the “Three NOes” campaign – No hunting and exploiting in the forests of Pu Mat National Park – No trading, transporting, storing or using illegal wildlife – No assisting in any form with illegal activities related to wildlife. The content is translated to Thai language by Meritorious Artisan Le Hoang. He is from the local communities with a deep and profound understanding of the language, music and culture of Thai ethnic groups in Nghe An province.

The audition and Thai script rehearsal with Meritorious Artisan Le Hoang, local broadcaster Pham Hoang and some Thai members of the SVW Anti-poaching team

Artisan Le Hoang said: “In order to create these episodes to broadcast on the radio system in villages in the buffer zone so that people can listen to, it requires a lot of people, includes me, Ms. Pham Hoang – a local broadcaster, Vi Thi Cam Tu – a member of the club “Join me to protect Pu Mat forest”, and some Thai members of the Anti-poaching team. We had to review the translation carefully and hold many rehearsals before it was recorded.”

Vi Thi Cam Tu – a member of the club “Join me to protect Pu Mat forest” (above photo) and Ms. Pham Hoang – local broadcaster (below photo) are recording the broadcasts

Vi Thi Cam Tu shared: “I am very proud to have been chosen to become a member of the Club “Join me to protect Pu Mat forest”, and proud to have been chosen to read and record the radio broadcasts to contribute to t protect nature and wildlife of Pu Mat National Park”

At the end of November, 4 complete audio recordings were copied to 50 USB and distributed to 11 Forest Protection and Management Stations and 36 villages in the buffer zone of Pu Mat National Park. The program has been run since December 2021, each episode will be repeated weekly for 1 month and all 4 episodes will be played in turn to May 2022. After that, Pu Mat National Park will manage and continue to use the USB to raise awareness to the community to protect forests and wildlife.

11 Forest Protection and Management Stations organizes and distributes the USB contained radio episodes to 26 villages in the buffer zone (above photo) and the village management board (below photo) to broadcast

Mr. Ho Xuan Tuyen – Head of the Luc Da Forest Management and Protection Station shared: “The radio program has made awareness-raising work for the community easier and can be used for a long time. The effectiveness of the program will also be increased when important information on forest fire prevention and wildlife protection laws is delivered to the community at the right time.”

SVW hopes that the radio broadcasting program will support conservation education and raise public awareness in the buffer zone of Pu Mat National Park, and effectively contribute to the protection of forests and wildlife of Pu Mat National Park.