An Investment Plan for Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Kon Tum Province, Vietnam.

[Report 20. Full report 1.5 MB. pdf format [1]]

Executive Summary

This report is an expanded translation of the investment plan for Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Kon Tum province, 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 upgrade Ngoc Linh to a functioning nature reserve. The objective of this report is to provide a higher level of detail for an international audience interested in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Kon Tum province.

In April-May 1996 and March-May 1998, BirdLife International worked in collaboration with FIPI to formulate an investment plan for Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve. The plan, funded by the European Union and BirdLife International, was part of the government’s commitment to increase Vietnam’s protected area coverage to 2 million hectares by the year 2000.

Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Kon Tum province, is located in Vietnam’s Western Highlands. The area is at high elevation, with Mount Ngoc Linh, Vietnam’s second highest peak at 2,598 m, as its most prominent feature. The nature reserve’s proposed 41,420 ha coverage would be augmented by two adjacent proposed protected areas to the north: Ngoc Linh (Quang Nam province) and Song Thanh-Dakpring Nature Reserves. Together, the three nature reserves would cover more than 170,000 ha. Three Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs) were found in Vietnam. Bird endemism is believed to be a good indicator of an area’s overall biodiversity. Fieldwork in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Kon Tum province indicates that the area qualifies as Vietnam’s fourth EBA and warrants protected area status.

To better assess the value of conserving the area, a preliminary inventory of Ngoc Linh’s flora and fauna was conducted. The inventory found that the nature reserve is home to a number of endemic and threatened species. Four previously known restricted-range bird species were recorded, as were two species and 12 subspecies of birds new to science. The area is also home to two recently discovered mammal species. As for flora, 878 plant species were recorded, including 45 threatened plant species. The area is the only known location for the endemic Ngoc Linh or Vietnamese Ginseng Panax vietnamensis.

A biodiversity comparison of Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve with nine Vietnamese national parks shows that Ngoc Linh ranks higher in levels of overall biodiversity than all but one of Vietnam’s national parks (Cuc Phuong National Park).

A total of 13,876 people live in the nature reserve’s buffer zone. Most of area’s inhabitants (65%) are from the Xe Dang ethnic minority. The eight communes in the buffer zone suffer from poor access, a lack of health and education facilities, and a shortage of teachers and health workers.

About 75% of the area’s inhabitants survive by shifting cultivation, hunting, and collecting forest products. A number of these people have been scheduled to receive permanent housing under a government settlement programme.

Wet rice cultivation, swidden agriculture and animal husbandry are the main economic activities in the area. Annual water shortages, however, mean that only one crop of rice per year can be produced. Forty percent of the area’s population suffers from malnutrition and lacks sufficient food for at least one month per year.

Most households own livestock. There are five state-run forest enterprises operating in the area. Rung Thong Forest Enterprise is the only one that is continuing to cut timber (6,000 m 3 a year) and collect pine resin (30 tonnes a year) in the buffer zone. It is proposed that the people working in the forest enterprises will be recruited as nature reserve staff.

In order to conserve Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, a number of development programmes are proposed. The first is to improve the nature reserve’s infrastructure by constructing a new headquarters, building seven guard stations, demarcating the protected area boundary, and improving local trails and roads. The second is to implement a conservation and protection programme by hiring 42 forest guards, reforesting several areas with native species, and strengthening the ongoing government agroforestry programme. The third is to begin a scientific research programme to monitor and develop the area’s flora and fauna. The fourth is to design and implement an environmental education and awareness campaign, and the fifth is to create an administrative structure and hire 13 managers and support staff.

The nature reserve would be managed by the Kon Tum Provincial People’s Committee with the assistance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). The total cost of the five programmes would be VND16,317 million over five years

The objectives of the nature reserve would be to:

• conserve the representative tropical montane forest habitats;

• protect and maintain the area’s rich biodiversity;

• protect the populations of threatened and endemic species;

• promote the creation of a buffer zone; and

• safeguard the watershed protection value of the area.

This report proposes that, once Ngoc Linh (Kon Tum province), Ngoc Linh (Quang Nam province) and Song Thanh-Dakpring (Quang Nam province) Nature Reserves have been established, they be upgraded to national park status. This would afford the highest management category to and ensure central government funding for an extensive, representative example of the Kontum Plateau EBA.

[Report 20. Full report 1.5 MB. pdf format [1]]