Fokienia hodginsii tree, a precious wood, is preserved in a primary forest in Quảng Nam Province. The central province promoted the Sông Thanh nature reserve as a National Park in protection of endangered flora and fauna. Photo courtesy A Lăng Ngước

QUẢNG NAM  — The central province has promoted the Sông Thanh Nature Reserve as a National Park for the conservation of its rich biodiversity covering nearly 77,000 hectares, of which more than 58,000 was tropical, evergreen primary forest in districts of Nam Giang and Phước Sơn.

The park area, which will be preserved as one of the biggest carbon stores in central Việt Nam, is home to 831 species of flora and fauna, including 38 listed in the Red Book of Việt Nam, 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 Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Gia Lai and Kon Tum.

Quảng Nam has preserved two nature reserves – Sông Thanh and Ngọc Linh – a UNESCO-recognised world biosphere reserve Chàm Islands-Hội An, and the reserve of sao la, Vũ Quang ox, or Asian bicorn (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) (one of the world’s rarest large mammals) in Tây 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.

A forest area is seen in the Sông Thanh Nature reserve of Quảng Nam Province. The area was reserved for endangered Asia elephant species. VNS Photo Công Thành

Eight precious and endangered flora including Ngọc Linh ginseng, condonopsis in Tây Giang, pepper in Tiên Phước, cinnamon in Trà My, large-size rattan and white corn in Hội An were included on the list of conservation in the province.

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

Up to 19,000ha of critical habitat in Nông Sơn 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 US$4.4 million to restore a 100ha forest as a safe habitat for a herd of grey-shanked douc langurs (pygathrix cinerea) living in Đồng Cổ Village, Tam Mỹ Tây Commune of Núi Thành district in 2019-28. — VNS