[Report 21. Full report 1.3 MB. pdf format]

Executive Summary

This report is an English translation of the investment plan for Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve, Gia Lai province, originally written in Vietnamese by the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute (FIPI) in collaboration with BirdLife International. The objective of the original investment plan was to provide the necessary information and justification to secure funding to establish and manage Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve. The objective of the English translation is to make the information contained within the investment plan available to an international audience interested in Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve, Gia Lai province. Following approval of the investment plan at the provincial and national level, Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve was established in November 1999.

As part of the European-Union-funded project entitled Expanding the Protected Areas Network in Vietnam for the 21st Century, BirdLife International worked in collaboration with FIPI to formulate an investment plan for Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve. This work supported the government of Vietnam’s commitment to increase the nation’s protected area coverage to 2 million ha by the year 2000. Furthermore, this work was consistent with the Biodiversity Action Plan for Vietnam, in which Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve was identified as a "priority for action".

Between February and April 1999, BirdLife International and FIPI conducted a field survey in K’Bang and Mang Yang districts, Gia Lai province. During this survey, data were collected on the physical, biological and socio-economic features of Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve. These data were then used to formulate management recommendations for the nature reserve and buffer zone.

Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve is located in the Western Highlands of Vietnam. The nature reserve covers 41,710 ha, ranges in elevation from 570 to 1,748 m and supports a range of montane habitat types. Analysis of vegetation data shows that an area of 8,247 ha, equivalent to 20% of the nature reserve has been degraded by past commercial logging activities and continuing illegal timber extraction. A further 12,286 ha, or 29% of the nature reserve, has been cleared by commercial logging or shifting cultivation and now supports a range of secondary vegetation types.

During the field survey, 652 vascular plant species were recorded, including 16 globally threatened species (IUCN 1997) and 10 species endemic to Vietnam. Many of the plant species recorded at Kon Ka Kinh are of high economic value, particularly the timber species Fokienia hodginsii. To the south of Mount Kon Ka Kinh, the highest point in the nature reserve, lies a 2,000 ha plateau that supports mixed coniferous and broadleaf forest dominated by F. hodginsii. This habitat sub-type is not represented elsewhere in Vietnam’s protected areas system, and is one of the key conservation features of Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve.

Forty two species of mammal, 160 species of bird, 51 species of herpetile and 209 species of butterfly were recorded during the field survey. These included 12 globally threatened species (IUCN 1996), five restricted-range bird species and three mammal species endemic to Indochina. One of these endemic mammal species, Truong Son Muntjac Muntiacus truongsonensis, was only discovered in 1997, and is currently known only from one other protected area in Vietnam.

During the field survey, an undescribed taxon of laughingthrush Garrulax was collected. This taxon is closely related to Rufous-throated Laughingthrush G. rufogularis, and may constitute a species new to science.

At least eight butterfly taxa recorded at Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve may be new for science, and at least seven species may be new records for Vietnam. One mammal species, Moluccan Whiskered Bat Myotis ater, is a new record for Vietnam. In addition, several plant species recorded during the field survey may represent new records for Vietnam or new species for science.

A total of 27,210 people live in the seven communes that comprise the buffer zone of Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve, at a density of 16.9 people/km 2 . Seventy one percent of the inhabitants of the buffer zone belong to the Ba Na ethnic minority, with most of the remainder belonging to the Kinh (ethnic Vietnamese) ethnic group. Only 51% of the households in the buffer zone are permanently settled, although there are plans to settle more households as part of the government-sponsored ‘Fixed Cultivation and Sedentarisation Programme’.

The main economic activities in the buffer zone are agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and forest product collection. Most Kinh households, who practice wet rice cultivation, produce sufficient rice for the whole year. However, most Ba Na households, who generally practice shifting cultivation, only produce enough rice for four to nine months of the year; during the remainder of the year they depend upon other crops such as cassava and maize, or exploit forest resources. Exploitation of certain forest resources is occuring at unsustainable levels, and potentially the most harmful activities, from a conservation perspective, are hunting and rattan collection. Timber extraction by local people is believed to occur at low levels; a more serious problem is illegal timber extraction by groups of loggers from other parts of Vietnam.

Because of the low population density and large area of unused, fertile land, the buffer zone has been and continues to be a focus for spontaneous migration from other parts of Vietnam, particularly the northern provinces. For instance, in 1997 and 1998, a total of 413 migrants settled in Lo Ku commune, amounting to 17% of the current population of the commune. Spontaneous migration is one of the most serious conservation problems at Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve, because, as the population of the buffer zone increases, so does pressure on the forest resources of the nature reserve.

There are seven forest enterprises operating in the area. In total, these forest enterprises manage 134,084 ha of land, including 66,086 ha of natural forest. Although the forest enterprises are permitted to exploit natural forest, the area that they are allowed to exploit is reduced annually, and the focus of their activities is shifting from exploitation to protection. This investment plan proposes that some areas currently under the managment of Dak Roong and Krong Pa Forest Enterprises will be transfered to Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve. This report outlines four investment programmes to establish and manage Kon Ka Kinh Reserve for the five year period from 2000 to 2004. The first is an infrastructure development programme to demarcate the nature reserve boundary and construct the necessary infrastructure to protect and manage the nature reserve. The second is a conservation and protection programme of activities to protect natural forest and rehabilitate degraded areas. The third is a scientific research and monitoring programme to provide ecological informationto assist in the long-term management of the nature reserve, and to monitor the effectiveness of management actions. The fourth is an awareness and extension programme to involve local communities in conservation and promote the sustainable use of natural resources.

The estimated total cost of the four programmes is VND 21,837 million over the first five years. A buffer zone development programme to promote socio-economic development in the buffer zone and reduce local people’s dependence on forest resources should be formulated following the establishment of the nature reserve. This report outlines recommended activities to be included in this programme.

Kon Ka Kinh Nature Reserve is situated 12 km to the west of Kon Cha Rang Nature Reserve, linked by intervening forest areas. The two nature reserves, therefore, form an area large enough to support viable populations of large mammals, such as Tiger Panthera tigris, that neither area could support in isolation. However, the intervening forest areas are currently under forest enterprise management. BirdLife and FIPI strongly recommend that, in the future, these areas should be incorporated within the boundaries of the two nature reserves to form one contiguous protected area. This recommendation is contained within the Tropical Forestry Action Plan, the Biodiversity Action Plan for Vietnam and the BirdLife/FIPI report entitled Expanding the Protected Areas Network in Vietnam for the 21st Century.

[Report 21. Full report 1.3 MB. pdf format]