Y Noi Lòng Ding (centre) of the forest management station 7 receives the award in the patrol category on Friday in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk.— Photo courtesy of WildAct

ĐẮK LẮK — Four individuals and four teams, with outstanding achievements and relentless efforts to protect the habitat safety of wild animals in Chư Yang Sin National Park, were awarded the "Guardians of Chư Yang Sin Forest" prize, with a total value of VNĐ100 million (US$4,000), in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk on Friday.

The award was organised for the first time by the Việt Nam Wildlife Action Centre (WildAct), in collaboration with the Việt Nam National Parks and Protected Areas Association (VNPPA) and the Management Board of Chư Yang Sin National Park.

The award is intended to recognise and promote the extraordinary work of forest rangers in preserving the ecosystem and unique species of the Trường Sơn mountain range.

Outstanding individual awards in the patrol category were presented to Y Noi Lòng Ding of the forest management station 7 and Đỗ Văn Lâm of the forest management station 10.

Outstanding individual award in the research category was given to Lê Thị Hà from the scientific research office.

The honourable-contribution individual award was presented to Nguyễn Văn Lương, deputy director of Chư Yang Sin National Park.

The outstanding team award in the effective patrol category was given to the forest management stations 5, 4 and 10.

The outstanding team award in the promising patrol category was presented to the community patrol team for forest protection.

Y Noi Lòng Ding, an ethnic forest ranger, said Chư Yang Sin was like his home as that was where he grew up and matured.

“To me, being a forest ranger is a way to express my love for Chư Yang Sin forest. Today, receiving the award as a forest ranger gives me even more motivation to fulfil my duties and strive to protect the natural resources of my home," he said.

Lộc Xuân Nghĩa, a representative of the Management Board of Chư Yang Sin National Park, said the award was a great spiritual gift for the forest rangers.

It gave an opportunity for them to convey to the community stories that they could understand, building a more positive view of the dedicated work that the ranger force was contributing to the preservation of the diverse ecosystem in the park.

Bùi Xuân Trường, Secretary General of the Việt Nam National Parks and Protected Areas Association, said forest management and protection activities were important and necessary tasks for special-use forest areas and protective forests.

However, forest ranger and protection forces were encountering many difficulties and challenges in performing their tasks.

Therefore, the award was essential as a timely encouragement to groups and individuals, who had excellent achievements in forest management and protection activities, he said.

Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang, Founder and Executive Director of WildAct, said the work of forest rangers and specialised forest protection forces was very tough, full of hardships and challenges.

“Therefore, we hope that these awards honouring dedication will provide additional motivation for forest rangers, as well as create a platform for the community to better understand and appreciate these valuable efforts,” she said.

Chư Yang Sin National Park is one of the hotspots with high biodiversity density that needs protection in Việt Nam.

The national park, covering a total area of about 60,000 ha, has only about 100 working forest rangers.

It means each forest ranger is responsible for about 600 hectares of forest. This reality shows the extreme pressures and difficulties faced by officers here. — VNS