Protected areas of Vietnam
The objective for creating national parks was to allow access to the reserved areas as a part of ecotourism and cultural needs with full attention to the basic approach of conservation of natural environmental resources.
[11] The earliest enabling law passed was the principal legal and regulatory framework for Special Use Forests in the 1986 Decision of the Minister of Forestry.
[1] Having signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) also known as Washington Convention and the Cartagena Protocol, Vietnam has made changes in its laws and regulations from time to time to keep pace with the changing scenario of wildlife trade practices.
Remnants of 12,000 years old prehistoric man have been discovered in the caves, and also fossilised marine reptiles (the first of its kind in Vietnam)[3][13] Yok Đôn National Park was established in 1988.
Vegetation consists of evergreen tropical and deciduous forest, dominated by Dipterocarpaceae, Fabaceae and Lythraceae (particularly Lagerstroemia spp.
It also protects the ecosystem of limestone forest of the Annamite Range region in north central coast of Vietnam.
The biggest chamber of Sơn Đoòng cave is about 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) in length, 140 by 140 metres (460 by 460 ft) in size was discovered.
[3][19][20] Lò Gò-Xa Mát National Park is located in Tây Ninh Province and covers an area of 36,883 hectares (91,140 acres).
Vegetation in the park has high concentration of tree species in the families of Fabaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Meliaceae, Burseraceae, Myrtaceae and Anacardiaceae.
It is an important Bird Area with many biome-restricted bird species such as blue-naped pitta (nipalensis), purple cochoa (purpurea), chestnut-headed tesia (castaneocoronata), pale-footed bush warbler (Cettia pallidipes) and greater rufous-headed parrotbill (Paradoxornis ruficeps).
Ba Be means three lakes, which form a continuous water body of 8 kilometres (5.0 mi)length with width up to 800 metres (2,600 ft) and is fed by the Ta Han, Nam Cuong and Cho Leng rivers.
The globally vulnerable Owston's civet (Hemigalus owstoni) and François's leaf monkey (Trachypithecus francoisi) are found here.
[3][27] Hoàng Liên National Park was gazetted in 2002 to cover a total area of 29,845 hectares (73,750 acres) of special forests, in Lào Cai province, it includes the high mountain system of Hoang Lien Son range with its Fansipan peak (3,143 metres (10,312 ft)).
[3][28] Located in Lâm Đồng Province, Bidoup Núi Bà National Park covers an area of 64,800 hectares (160,000 acres) and was established in 2004.
Located in the submerged coastal zone of the Red River Delta, it has been declared as a Ramsar Wetland site.
As a migratory bird habitat, it is a staging and wintering area for shorebirds, gulls and waterfowl in the coastal zone of the Red River Delta.
Some of the popular bird species in the park are the Asian dowitcher, Nordmann's greenshank, spoon-billed sandpiper, Saunders's gull and black-faced spoonbill.
[32] Pù Mát National Park lies in Nghệ An Province and has an area of 911 square kilometres (352 sq mi) (strict protected area of 895.17 square kilometres (345.63 sq mi), ecological recovery zone of 1,596 hectares (3,940 acres) at the middle of the larger Western Nghệ An Biosphere Reserve inscribed by UNESCO in September 2007 (1,303,285 square kilometres (503,201 sq mi)).
[33][34] Considered as the flagship park, its location is on the Truong Son Mountains, the northern massif, bordering Laos.
[35] Endemic mammals recorded are five and these are: northern white-cheeked gibbon, red-shanked douc, Truong Son muntjac and Annamite striped rabbit.
[36] Located in Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province, Côn Đảo National Park is an archipelago of 16 islets covering an area of 19,998 hectares (49,420 acres).
Its coastal environment is famous for its scenic vistas and varied coral reefs,[37] which are 300 metres (980 ft) off shore; beach is rocky.
Seagrass beds are also part of the offshore flora that supports a few globally threatened marine mammals such as dugong.
A heritage site within the limits of the park, spread over a 30 hectares (74 acres) area, has many prisons which were part of the French colonial rule and of South Vietnamese regime.
It covers an area of 29,700 hectares (73,000 acres) in Hương Sơn District of Hà Tĩnh Province, and was declared a national park in 2002.
Topography of the park has an average elevation of 800 metres (2,600 ft) experiences tropical monsoon climate with an annual temperature of 23 °C (73 °F).
Global conservation concerns are serious in view of anthropological pressures in the area particularly for black-shanked douc (Pygathrix nigripes) highest number in Vietnam, pygmy loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus), Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), sun bear (U. malayanus), large-antlered muntjac Muntiacus vuquangensis and Siamese fireback (Lophura diardi).
Flora system also include chestnut, oak and magnolia as also medicinal plants, particularly bacopa monnieri in abundance.
There are still 14 Nature Reserves, which are distributed over the total land area of the country, including coastal zones.
[4] There is also the Tây Yên Tử Nature Reserve in Sơn Động District, Bắc Giang Province, in northeastern Vietnam.
