Efforts to protect and develop sustainable forests in Pu Mat National Park

Linking protection with forest development

Pu Mat National Park carries out the task of managing and protecting 94,715.4 hectares of special-use forests, conserving biodiversity, combining ecotourism and other types of tourism services, contributing to the socio-economic development of the buffer zone. Therefore, forest management and protection is a key task, throughout the process of building and developing the Park.

Sa mu dau - Vietnam Heritage tree in Pu Mat National Park.

During the past term, the Party Committee and the Board of Directors have focused on leadership and direction with the goal of stably protecting the forest capital assigned to manage. Accordingly, Pu Mat National Park has organized synchronous solutions and measures to manage and protect forests and prevent violations of forest management and protection.

Regularly conduct propaganda among the people about the Law on Forest Protection and Development (Forestry Law); about biodiversity conservation to raise awareness of forest protection, understanding of the law to limit impacts on forests, limit forest exploitation, hunting of wild animals and do a good job of forest fire prevention and fighting.

At the same time, strengthen the organization of forest sweeps, patrols, and monitoring of forest developments. In the past 5 years, 2,497 forest sweeps and patrols have been organized (an increase of 922 compared to the previous term), detecting and administratively and criminally handling many violations of forest exploitation and wildlife hunting. Violations are handled in accordance with the provisions of law.

Anh Son District Police hand over wildlife to Pu Mat National Park. Photo: TL

In parallel, Pu Mat National Park has organized local people to participate in forest management and protection through the form of contracting (from 2015 to present, 135,285 hectares of forest have been contracted to 4,711 households, 100 household groups and related organizations; the total cost paid is nearly 38 billion VND). Through the protection contracting work, the role and responsibility of the people have been enhanced and brought about good results in forest management and protection in recent times.

Implementing Decision No. 24/2012/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on investment policy for special-use forest development, every year, based on the budget plan assigned by the Provincial People's Committee, Pu Mat National Park has always paid attention to supporting communities living in the core zone, especially the Dan Lai people.

Since 2016, the Garden has supported Co Phat and Bung villages to repair works such as clean water lines for the community, materials to repair community cultural houses, tables and chairs, etc. with a total budget of 240 million VND. Through the support, the Garden has also requested the village and hamlet management boards to organize meetings with the people to commit to not exploiting forests or hunting wild animals according to regulations.

Monitoring wild animals after release into the forest using radio receivers (left) and Drones. Photo: TL

In addition to implementing conservation programs, the Park has built community tourism models associated with the cultural identity of the Thai ethnic group. Currently, 4 models designed by the Park in Nua village (Yen Khe commune), Khe Ran (Bong Khe commune), Lang Xieng (Mon Son commune) and Yen Thanh (Luc Da commune) have been transferred to the local people for proactive implementation, attracting tens of thousands of tourists to experience the service, increasing income for the community.

Scientific research and international cooperation are directed by the Party Committee. Thereby, attracting the participation of most domestic and international organizations on biodiversity conservation to implement programs at Pu Mat National Park. Especially the organizations: Vietnam Wildlife Conservation Center (SVW), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Wildlife Conservation International (FFI), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

The above organizations have carried out many programs to investigate, research, and monitor biodiversity in Pu Mat National Park. Therefore, the number of people researching in the forest has increased, contributing to ensuring forest security and limiting the exploitation and hunting of wild animals.

Pu Mat National Park signed a cooperation agreement with the Department of Agriculture and Forestry of Bolikhamxay province (Laos). Photo: TL

Quickly remove difficulties and shortcomings

Pu Mat National Park was established to preserve the ecosystem of the tropical forest type in the Northern Truong Son region; preserve endangered species of animals and plants; enhance the function of protecting the headwaters of the Ca River system to directly serve the life and production of the local community; develop community ecotourism, create conditions for local people to have more income, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction. At the same time, raise awareness of resource and environmental protection; attract international funding sources for the purpose of nature conservation and biodiversity...

Pu Mat National Park is one of the typical national parks of Vietnam, with rich natural resources, many rare animal and plant gene sources and unique indigenous culture. There is biodiversity with 2,494 species of 202 families that have been investigated and identified. There are 70 rare species in the Vietnam Red Book. Regarding animals, this is an important ecosystem to protect 132 species of mammals, 361 species of birds, 55 species of reptiles, frogs, and toads and 1,084 species of insects. Among them, there are many rare species that are prioritized for conservation.

Elephants in Pu Mat National Park. Photo: TL

However, the unit is currently facing many difficulties in forest management and protection. Specifically, due to the large management area and complex terrain, the unit's forest protection force is still lacking. On the other hand, most of the forest management and protection stations are located in remote areas, with difficult traffic and communication conditions; equipment and tools to support the work are still lacking.

The streamlining of staff in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 6 of the Central Committee (term XII), implementing Decree No. 01/2019/ND-CP dated January 1, 2019 of the Government on forest rangers and specialized forest protection forces is an objective necessity in accordance with the requirements of innovation in the current period. This issue is receiving social attention and support from the people, but it creates great work pressure for Pu Mat National Park because the number of forest rangers continues to decrease.

The implementation of the Project "Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Dan Lai Ethnic Minority" is creating a number of new situations, posing pressures on forest protection as well as the need for means of production for people to develop the economy, limiting the current illegal exploitation of special-use forest resources.

Forest rangers patrol forests; Use GPS devices to identify impacted forest areas; Install automatic camera traps in the National Park.

Another difficulty of Pu Mat National Park is that ecotourism activities and tourism services are not commensurate with its potential, and have not attracted investors to exploit this potential strength...

To overcome the above situation, as well as promote the values ​​that national parks bring, there must be appropriate policies and regimes for officials and those who are directly performing the task of protecting and conserving the precious resources of the country.

Along with that, it is necessary to continue to issue mechanisms and policies to improve the lives of people currently living in the buffer zone and outside the buffer zone of the national park; continue to strengthen investment in upgrading tourism infrastructure, exploiting products, organizing tourism promotion activities to contribute to protecting and exploiting forest resources more effectively. Along with management solutions, to sustainably exploit the available potential of the national park, a very important issue is to raise people's awareness and responsibility for protecting and effectively promoting the value of the forest.

Primary forest in Pu Mat National Park. Photo: TL