Plan to spend 18.7 billion VND to urgently protect Nghe An elephant herd
(Baonghean.vn) - That is the figure given at the Workshop on building an emergency action plan to conserve Nghe An province's elephant herd for the period 2020 - 2025, held on the afternoon of July 22, in Vinh City.
Comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the workshop. Also attending were representatives of WWF-Vietnam, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development; representatives of National Parks, Nature Reserves and People's Committees of related districts.
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| Comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized the practical significance of the workshop to urgently preserve elephants in Nghe An. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
According to the General Department of Forestry in 2018, our country has about 100 to 130 elephants and this animal is listed in the Red Book by the Government, with the highest protection priority.
Since 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has had a "Vietnam Elephant Conservation Project until 2020", which plans at least 3 priority areas for conservation and sustainable development of wild elephant populations including: Pu Mat National Park (Nghe An), Yok Don National Park (Dak Lak), Cat Tien National Park and Dong Nai Nature Reserve (Dong Nai province).
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| Delegates representing the Vietnam Wildlife Conservation Fund, Pu Mat National Park, Nature Reserves and District People's Committees attended the workshop. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
In Nghe An, the wild elephant population is about 13 - 14 individuals divided into 4 small herds, distributed in 2 areas: Pu Mat National Park and vicinity; and the buffer zone of Pu Huong Nature Reserve.
To preserve the elephant herd, in 2013, Nghe An approved the "Urgent project to preserve elephants in Nghe An province until 2020", on the basis of building nearly 29 km of forest patrol roads, 3 rest stops, 2 fire watchtowers, 4.43 km of stone elephant trenches, which have been effective in preventing elephants from destroying people's crops. Since 2013, there has been no elephant hunting and the elephant herd in Pu Mat has given birth to 2 new individuals.
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| In previous years, herds of elephants often came to destroy crops and trees of people in the buffer zone of Pu Mat National Park, in Anh Son district, Thanh Chuong. Photo courtesy |
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| Comrade Tran Xuan Cuong - Director of Pu Mat National Park (Con Cuong) introduced some newly discovered information and images of wild elephants in Nghe An. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Based on the discussion, the workshop identified 12 urgent actions to conserve elephants until 2025 and allocated a budget of about VND 18.7 billion for relevant authorities and localities to implement.
Based on the comments, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Viet Hong emphasized that as one of the three provinces in the country with a herd of more than 10 elephants, Nghe An province assigned Pu Mat National Park to supplement and complete the Project to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for approval; relevant departments and branches to advise on funding mechanisms to maintain and create buffer zones and habitats for elephants to survive; support rapid response forces and people whose crops were damaged by elephants. At the same time, localities need to increase propaganda to help people prevent and minimize conflicts with elephant herds that lead to the risk of elephants being killed.
