ACHIEVEMENTS
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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