Visualising Vietnam’s Future Forest Landscapes

Large areas of forest around the world have been heavily degraded by logging, fire and hunting. Restoring degraded forests helps to slow climate change, reduces flooding and provides a home for threatened wildlife. Stronger action to restore forests is urgently needed for the benefit of people, nature and our climate.

Stopping forest degradation and starting to restore forests is not easy. Forest restoration will not be successful unless it is supported by a wide range of people, from local people living in and near the forest, through to people living in our biggest cities.

To start conversations about forest restoration we organized “Forest Dreams: Shaping the Future of Vietnam’s Forests”, an event bringing together scientists, artists and members of the public.

Held in Hanoi, Vietnam in December 2023, the event featured specially commissioned artwork about forests and forest restoration. The artwork was the result of conversations between artists and scientists at the Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences as well as the Universities of Leeds, York and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UK).

The event started off with researchers sharing their knowledge of forests and forest restoration in Vietnam. This was followed by an open discussion between scientists and artists around the challenges and opportunities for forest restoration in Vietnam.

Our event highlighted the value of forests to local and global communities and the role that we can all play in supporting forest recovery.

We thank the British Council UK/Viet Nam Season 2023 for all their support.