The Biodiversity of Bac Huong Hoa Nature Reserve - Birdlife ...

should be conducted in forest below 400 m near to Cuoi village and most importantly in the
south-east, close to where the birds were caught in 1999. For mammals, the surveys should
determine which forest areas are still inhabited by Saola, White-cheeked Gibbon, Red-shanked
Douc Langurand HatinhLangur. Regarding reptiles, surveys should be conducted to determine
which streams still support freshwater turtles.
Development of hunting regulations
Appropriate regulations should be developed and enforced. This should be achieved through
involvement of SSGs. Regulations and enforcement should focus on preventing hunting in areas
which are found to support populations of Edwards’s Pheasant, Saola, White-cheeked Gibbon,
Red-shanked Douc Langurand HatinhLangur. The nature reserve should be zoned using the
results of biodiversity surveys and enforcement should be concentrated in areas where
professional hunters are known to operate and areas which still hold populations of key species.
The nature reserve management should strengthen support to SSGs and seek synergies with other
agencies operating in the area, to facilitate more effective enforcement of hunting regulations.
Control human settlement along the Ho Chi Minh Highway
Policies should be developed and enforced which strictly control settlement along the Ho Chi
Minh Highway in BHH NR (Tordoff et al. 2002). New settlement adjacent to medium or high
quality forest or within five kilometres of forest which supports populations of key species should
not be permitted.
Rehabilitation of poor quality forest and barren land
Even within BHH NR forest cover is fragmented. Poor quality forest and barren land in the centre
of the nature reserve and elsewhere should be the focus of a reafforestation programme, using
only trees native to the nature reserve. The feasibility of reconnecting blocks of high and medium
quality forest, with a minimum number of corridors should first be evaluated. Reafforested areas
should form corridors linking existing areas of medium and good quality forest to facilitate
dispersal of species.
Support to community based conservation initiatives
A rattan-growing model has been employed by BirdLife in communities in BHH NR. This
should be evaluated, and if appropriate, expanded to other communities in the nature reserve.
Management approach
Like other protected areas in Vietnam, the efforts of the reserve management board are likely to
be thwarted by inadequate law enforcement from relevant agencies, limited and poorly directed
funding and a lack of interest in biodiversity conservation in relevant local stakeholders.
Traditional approaches to protected area management in the central highlands of Vietnam may be
inadequate to achieve these conservation priorities. Innovative approaches to protected area
management offer the chance to source novel areas of funding and trial different methods of
achieving conservation aims. Since it is newly established, BHH NR does not suffer from the
inertia of poor past management practices, nor is there any precedent amongst local stakeholders
for interaction with a protected area. BHH NR is likely to be last protected area gazetted in
Vietnam and therefore it offers the last chance to trial innovative management approaches on a
protected area, with no previous management history.
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