An overview of Lung Ngọc Hoàng Nature Reserve in Hậu Giang Province’s Phụng Hiệp District. VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The Hậu Giang Province People’s Committee has proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinate with local authorities to plan and develop an eco-tourism project at the Lung Ngọc Hoàng Nature Reserve.

Known as the ‘green lung’ of the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta, the 2,800-hectare nature reserve in the province’s Phụng Hiệp District is home to more than 330 species of flora and 206 species of fauna, some of them listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The immense wetland is a major tourist destination in the province and an ideal destination for wildlife and nature lovers.

The province has called for investment in the eco-tourism development project at the reserve with a cost of VNĐ345 billion (US$14.3 million) since last year.

The project is aimed at developing the reserve into the country’s leading eco-tourism destination.

In August, the Prime Minister ordered the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment to guide the provincial People’s Committee to develop the project in accordance with legal regulations following his visit to the reserve in mid-July.

The Prime Minister asked for careful planning and development of ecotourism to ensure sustainable conservation of nature, environmental protection and socio-economic growth.

He also ordered the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to coordinate with the provincial People’s Committee to make a detailed evaluation to put the Lung Ngọc Hoàng Nature Reserve into the national tourism system for the 2021-2030 period. — VNS