McMurray, who will attend the opening of the joint climate change research project titled Delta Research and Global Observation Network Institute (DRAGON) at Can Tho University this morning, said tigers, elephant ivory and rhino horns are among the most “notorious” types of illegally traded wildlife goods.

In the US, demand for “exotic” animals like turtles, snakes, and rainforest birds as pets is high. At the moment, the US can catch only about 10 percent of wildlife smuggled in.

McMurray said the US-Vietnam partnership aims to curb both the demand and supply of trafficked wildlife through steps such as wholesale advertising in the US to raise awareness, and training for Vietnamese forest protection forces and customs officials to improve crackdowns on traffickers.

“We are seeing the beginning of some real environmental consciousness and we will find many issues in the future to join hands on,” US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael W. Michalak told the press at the meeting.

Michalak said the newly-formed Climate Change Working Group and its centerpiece, the DRAGON institute, is launched at a time when there is a lot of “excitement and interest” in Vietnam on issues like industrial pollution, with several private companies having been recently punished for polluting the environment.

The institute, based in the Mekong Delta’s Can Tho City, the first of several to be established worldwide, will gather information on the impacts of sea level rise and worsening cyclonic storms in the Delta, which is predicted to be completely submerged if the sea level increases by about one meter.

Discussing the Kyoto Protocol, which the US has not ratified, McMurray said President-elect Barack Obama would still impress that all countries, including developing ones, must take part in the effort to fight global warming.

Obama would also be “aggressive” to protect the global environment by advocating a carbon trade system, usage of alternative energy and instructing the American auto industry to build cleaner vehicles.

McMurray will visit Cat Tien National Park in southern Dong Nai Province tomorrow and leave the country on Saturday.

Reported by Do Thuy Linh