ACHIEVEMENTS



D


usty construction sites, newly outfitted factories, and a range of consumer products in throw­away packaging are the symbols of an emerging commercial `dragon' that many predict Vietnam will become within the decade. "Fortunately, the country is learning from its industrialized neighbours and is introducing environmental legislation early to ensure that development is not at the expense of its natural wealth," says David Hulse, WWF Vietnam Country Representative.


In May 1992, the Vu Quang Nature Reserve in northwest Vietnam made world headlines when scientists from WWF and the Ministry of Forestry came across a new species while surveying the reserve for a protected­area feasibility study. The Vu Quang ox, or saola, was the sixth large mammal species scientists had discovered this century. Shortly afterwards, in 1994, Vu Quang yielded another new mammal, this time related to the common barking deer. The WWF and Ministry of Forestry scientists, who made the discovery while gathering data on the saola, have called it the giant muntjac as it is almost twice the size of the largest known muntjac, the Indian muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac).


These two rare scientific discoveries and that of a new river carp species, Opsarichthys vuquangensis, during the 1992 survey, have justifiably made Vu Quang one of the richest biological reserves in the region, a sort of Galápagos of Southeast Asia. Described by scientists as a "lost world seemingly untouched by the war", Vu Quang was first established in 1986 as a cultural site in honour of the 19th century freedom fighter Phan Dinh Phung's movement against the French.


Since the saola's discovery, the government has enlarged the reserve from 16,000ha to almost 60,000ha, and imposed logging and hunting bans. Both mammals also received added protection when the 9th Conference of CITES Parties meeting in November 1994 accepted Vietnam's proposals to list them in the Convention's Appendix I - meaning all trade in the species is banned. Also in 1994, the Ministry of Forestry approved the reserve's WWF­backed management plan, which included recommendations for setting up different use zones and the development of a protection system. Several guard posts have already been set up, and protection staff trained. WWF is also conducting field surveys and has installed phototraps to gather data for developing a long­term conservation plan for the newly discovered species.


But scientists fear that hunting may drive the new finds to extinction even before they can be studied. There are over 20,000 people living in and around the reserve. Although most live by arable farming, they supplement their income with hunting. Wild pigs and the common muntjac are the main game hunted, with the giant muntjac coming a close third. Although the saola is not commonly hunted, it occasionally walks into the hunters' traps. For the Vu Quang Nature Reserve and its newly discovered species to survive, the needs of these people must be considered. Hence, WWF and the Ministry of Forestry are implementing an integrated conservation and development programme, with funding from the Netherlands' Directorate General for International Cooperation.




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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature