The Phu My Lepironia Project, a conservation initiative in Vietnam , was introduced at a press conference of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in New York on February 11.

UNDP said that the project was introduced due to its success in combining natural preservation with improving people’s living conditions, thus increasing the sustainability of bio-diversity conservation.

According to Tran Triet, Director of the Phu My Lepironia Project in the southern province of Kien Giang , started in 2004, the project aimed to maintain 2,000 hectares of wetland in Phu My commune.

It has also helped poor inhabitants better design and market products woven from Lepironia reeds, doubling or tripling income levels while ensuring a sustainable harvest, he said.

He explained that the project had led the value of Phu My’s 6,000 acres of wetland to rise dramatically, demonstrating the possibility of improving livelihoods while still preserving biological diversity.

On Feb. 10, the project was also introduced at a ceremony in New York to launch the “Year of Biodiversity” in North America.