Vietnam Primate Conservation Status Review 2002 - Hoang Lien ...

Vietnam Primate Conservation Status Review Part 2: LEAF MONKEYS
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hunting pressure in the forest. Geissmann & Vu Ngoc Thanh (2000) reported that every morning,
about 300 people climbed the path leading from La Hien to Kim Son Communes in order to transport
food to gold miners working in the “mining city” adjacent to Xuyen Son.
Inhabitants of Xuyen Son, who had traditionally collected their drinking water from a little river which
they had channelled in picturesque canals running through the whole village, are no longer able to do
so, because the mining city was erected upstream of the village. Because the chemicals used to bind the
gold poisoned the river, the villagers now have to collect and carry their drinking water from water holes
and brooks situated further up the mountain (Geissmann & Vu Ngoc Thanh, 2000).
Ba Be National Park and proposed extension (BAC KAN)
Special use forest: Ba Be National park (7,610 ha) and proposed extension (15,730 ha)
Forest size: about 13,000 ha (including extension)
Forest type: limestone and lowland evergreen
Elevation: 178m (Ba Be lake) to 1,098m a.s.l.
Leaf monkey and gibbon species: Trachypithecus francoisi, [Rhinopithecus avunculus]
Ba Be was decreed a cultural and historical site in 1977 and established as a national park in 1992.
The strictly protected area covers 7,610 ha including 300 ha of lake surface (BirdLife International &
FIPI, 2001). A feasibility study to extend the area of the park to 23,340 ha, with a buffer zone of 9,538
ha, was conducted in 1995 (BirdLife International & FIPI, 2001).
Ba Be is a complicated system of lakes, rivers, streams, and limestone mountains. Most of the forest
is secondary, having been exploited by humans for a long time. A total of 2,871 people from the Tay,
H’mong and Kinh ethnic groups live inside the national park (BirdLife International & FIPI, 2001).
Levels of disturbance are generally high, and selective logging and clearance for agriculture are
commonplace. Consequently, much of the forest in the national park is disturbed and few areas of
undisturbed forest remain (Hill et al., 1997). Non-timber forest products are still collected. Signs of
poaching were regularly recorded during a survey in 1996 (Hill et al., 1996a).
Cuc Phuong National Park (NINH BINH, HOA BINH, THANH HOA)
Special use forest: National park (22,000 ha)
Forest size: 20,479 ha
Forest type: limestone
Elevation: 100m to 636m a.s.l.
Leaf monkey and gibbon species: Trachypithecus delacouri, [Trachypithecus crepusculus]
Cuc Phuong was the first protected area to be established in Vietnam, and was decreed in 1962. In
1966 it was upgraded to the first Vietnamese national park, currently with an area of 22,000 ha.
The national park lies at the south-eastern end of a limestone range that runs north-west to Son La
Province. This limestone is predominantly karst, and the range rises sharply out of the surrounding
plains, to elevations of up to 636m a.s.l.
Cuc Phuong has an extremly rich flora. The national park is considered to be one of seven globally
significant centres of plant diversity in Vietnam (Davis et al., 1995). Cuc Phuong supports populations of
several mammal species of conservation importance, including the critically endangered Delacour's langur.
Six hamlets with 650 people were relocated from the central valley and two villages from the Buoi
river valley. However, there are still 2,000 people living inside the national park. The buffer zone and