Fokienia hodginsii tree, a precious wood, is preserved in a primary forest in Quang Nam province. The central province promoted the Song Thanh nature reserve as a national park in protection of endangered flora and fauna (Photo courtesy A Lang Nguoc)

The move aims to conserve the province’s rich biodiversity covering nearly 77,000 hectares, of which more than 58,000 was tropical, evergreen primary forest in Nam Giang and Phuoc Son districts.

The park area, which will be preserved as one of the biggest carbon stores in central Vietnam, is home to 831 species of flora and fauna, including 38 listed in the Red Book of Vietnam, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s critically endangered grey-shanked douc langurs (pygathrix cinerea) and the endangered red-shanked douc langur (Pygathryx nemaeus), as well as precious ancient trees.

The province said the promotion of the reserve into a national park was a strong commitment to the conservation of endangered fauna and flora and boosting biodiversity research.

It agreed to develop the population of the gray-shanked douc langurs – the primate species is only seen in five central provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Gia Lai and Kon Tum.

Quang Nam has preserved two nature reserves – Song Thanh and Ngoc Linh – a UNESCO-recognised world biosphere reserve Cham Islands-Hoi An, and the reserve of sao la, Vu Quang ox, or Asian bicorn (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) (one of the world’s rarest large mammals) in Tay Giang district.

The province also warned that illegal logging, hunting and mining in the two districts have polluted and damaged the reserve in recent decades.

Eight precious and endangered flora including Ngoc Linh ginseng, condonopsis in Tay Giang, pepper in Tien Phuoc, cinnamon in Tra My, large-size rattan and white corn in Hoi An were included on the list of conservation in the province.

An area of 15,000ha of Ngoc Linh ginseng (Panax vietnamensis or Vietnamese ginseng) was planted in Nam Tra My district.

Up to 19,000ha of critical habitat in Nong Son district was planned as a protection area for groups of the endangered Asian elephant with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Green Annamites Project.

The province plans to allocate funds of 4.4 million USD to restore a 100ha forest as a safe habitat for a herd of grey-shanked douc langurs (pygathrix cinerea) living in Dong Co village, Tam My Tay commune of Nui Thanh district in 2019-28./.VNA

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