Maintain natural habitat well to sustainably conserve elephants in Nghe An

Attending the Conference, on behalf of the Central agencies, there were comrade Cao Chi Cong - Deputy Director General of the General Department of Forestry (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development); representatives of the Department of Special-use and Protective Forest Management under the General Department of Forestry; Management Boards of the Emergency Elephant Conservation Project of the provinces: Dong Nai, Dak Lak and scientists researching elephants.

On the side of Nghe An province, there were comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; representatives of departments, branches, the Management Board of the Emergency Elephant Conservation Project, representatives of localities, and the Management Board of Protective Forests of Anh Son, Con Cuong, Thanh Chuong and Quy Hop districts.

Comrades: Cao Chi Cong - Deputy Director of General Department of Forestry; Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee co-chaired the conference. Photo: Cong Kien

According to the conference report, the province currently has 14-15 wild elephants, mainly distributed in Pu Mat National Park. In addition, there are 2 individuals distributed in Quy Hop and Quy Chau districts. Conflicts between elephants and humans occur on a large scale, leading to significant damage to crops and human lives.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Dang - Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources reported the results of the investigation into the population structure and movement patterns of elephants in Phuc Son commune (Anh Son). Photo: Cong Kien

The cause of the conflict was determined to be due to the strong impact of forest habitats on forest exploitation activities, wildlife hunting and land use conversion (such as rubber plantations).

Mr. Dang Dinh Lam - Head of Veu 2 village, Phuc Son commune (Anh Son) proposed that there should be a policy to support people whose crops were damaged by elephants. Photo: Cong Kien

Implementing the Project "Overall conservation of Vietnamese elephants in the period of 2013 - 2020", the Provincial People's Committee approved and implemented the Project "Urgent conservation of elephants in Nghe An province until 2020", implemented since 2014 with a total budget of nearly 87 billion VND.

Up to now, the Project Management Board has built works to support elephant conservation and limit conflicts between elephants and humans such as: patrol roads, forest protection; rest stops on patrol routes; 02 forest fire watchtowers combined with elephant activity monitoring; 3 km of elephant-prevention trenches (designed for more than 4.8 km).

A herd of elephants destroys crops of people in Cao Veu village, Phuc Son commune (Anh Son). Photo: Archive

At the same time, promote propaganda to local people where elephants are distributed; actively coordinate with the International Animal Conservation Organization (FFI), Save Vietnam's Wildlife, participate in international seminars to research and implement solutions to conserve elephants and limit conflicts between elephants and humans.

Representatives of the Dak Lak Province Emergency Elephant Conservation Project Management Board share experiences in conserving wild elephants. Photo: Cong Kien

In the coming time, the Project Management Board proposes to continue to provide funding to implement the remaining activities of the project; promote propaganda and coordination to increase the effectiveness of elephant conservation and limit conflicts between elephants and humans.

Speaking at the conference, delegates gave additional opinions on the current distribution and activity patterns of elephants in Nghe An, the conflict situation between elephants and humans, experience in elephant conservation and proposed conservation solutions, funding sources for project implementation, support policies for people when crops are damaged by elephants...

Comrade Cao Chi Cong - Deputy Director General of the Forestry Department acknowledged and highly appreciated the efforts to conserve elephants in Nghe An province. Photo: Cong Kien

In his concluding remarks at the conference, Mr. Dinh Viet Hong acknowledged the results and shared the difficulties and obstacles in elephant conservation work in the past time. On that basis, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Finance to arrange counterpart funds and requested the Steering Committee for the emergency plan until 2020 for elephant conservation in Vietnam to complete procedures for funding from the central budget.

Comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested departments, branches and localities to strengthen forest protection work, maintain natural habitats well to firmly preserve elephant herds. Photo: Cong Kien

At the same time, research to adjust the scale, determine the project capital source; repair degraded works; move the single elephant in Quy Hop to another place; assign relevant departments, branches and localities with elephant herds and Pu Mat National Park, Pu Huong Nature Reserve to strengthen forest protection, maintain good natural habitats where wild elephants live; continue to strengthen propaganda and coordination work to make the project implementation more effective...