A corner of Đồng Châu-Khe Nước Trong Natural Reserve in the central province of Quảng Binh — Photo baoquangbinh.vn

QUẢNG BÌNH — The central province of Quảng Bình will plant 50,000 indigenous trees to restore the ecological landscape at Đông Châu-Khe Nước Trong Natural Reserve under a project sponsored by Earthworm Foundation, a non-profit organisation which supports global business, farmers and communities to tackle environmental and social challenges around the world.

Accordingly, native species will be selected to replace hybrid acacia (a combination between Acacia mangium and Acacia auriculiformisforest) to increase biodiversity value in the reserve. Project activities include planting additional native trees, and monitor and reporting the survival rate and growth of planted forests after one year and three years. The project will be completed by the end of March.

Đông Châu-Khe Nước Trong Natural Reserve’s Management Board said that in recent years, thanks to afforestation and forest protection, the biodiversity value of the reserve has been properly preserved and increased. It has received support and investment from organisations around the world in this regard.

In the past four years, over 200,000 valuable native trees such as lim (Erythrophleum fordii) and doi (Michelia tonkinensis A. Chev) have been planted with funding from the local budget.

Covering over 14,000 ha, Đông Châu-Khe Nước Trong Natural Reserve is home to many rare animal and plant species at risk of extinction that need to be preserved, such as Sao la (scientifically known as Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) and Chà vá chân nâu (Pygathrix nemaeus).

There are also rare wood species including Lim xanh (Erythrophleum fordii Oliver) and Gu lau (Sindora tonkinensi) in the area.

Đông Châu-Khe Nước Trong was also recognised by the BirdLife International as one of 62 important bird areas and in the lowland endemic bird areas of Việt Nam. — VNS