Na Hang Nature Reserve, Tat Ke Sector - Frontier-publications.co.uk

Na Hang Nature Reserve, Tat Ke Sector 1997
13 0 CONCLUSIONS
13.1 Tat Ke sector
The Tat Ke sector of the Na Hang nature reserve is an important protected area
containing a large number of different habitat types, and particularly forests on
limestone. Although this ecotype once covered a large part of northern Vietnam, it is
becoming endangered as forests outside protected areas are cleared (MacKinnon,
1990); this process is visible all around Na Hang itself, especially in the more
accessible areas near roads and rivers, where very little remains of the former forest
cover.
As a result of this destruction, nature reserves become increasingly important as
reservoirs of biodiversity, and this is true even of predominantly secondary forest
areas such as Tat Ke. Tat Ke's patchwork of habitat types ensures that it supports a
particularly high diversity of certain taxonomic groups, including butterflies and birds.
Its forest has begun to recover following the cessation of large-scale logging in the Tat
Ke area (Nguyen Kim Dao, pers. comm.). For other taxonomic groups, however,
human disturbance seems to pose a threat to biodiversity. Mammal diversity in the
reserve is particularly high, and includes internationally important populations of
endangered species (Cox et al., 1994), but this diversity is threatened by hunting. It is
interesting that, while there was abundant evidence of mammal species such as
Muntiacus muntjak and Sus scrofa in the Ban Bung sector, the results of this survey
suggest that these commonly hunted species were rare in the Tat Ke sector.
13.2 Comparison of the Tat Ke and Ban Bung wilderness zones
The Tat Ke sector contrasts greatly with the southern (Ban Bung) sector of the reserve,
which was the subject of an earlier (January-March 1996) study by S.E.E (Hill and
Kemp, 1996). Both areas share a similar limestone geology, and in both, the natural
vegetation is made up of tropical forest ecotypes, with montane forests towards the
peaks of the highest mountains. However, historical factors have led to the differential
development of the two areas. While Ban Bung is nearer to the town of Na Hang,
access to that part of the reserve has in the past been poor. In Tat Ke, the presence of a
logging road has allowed more extensive clearance of natural forests, so that the Ban
Bung sector is now dominated by primary forest formations, while, in the Tat Ke
sector, secondary forest is predominant. Primary forest in the northern sector is now
limited to the West (Nui Khau Tep) and South, where the human population is most
sparse. Even in these areas, some disturbance of the forest has occurred. However,
these forests still harbour important populations of birds and mammals (including the
Asiatic Black Bear and Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey).
The human population of Tat Ke is large and expanding, although the forestry
authorities plan to move certain groups (the Hmong) out of the reserve altogether.
Relocation of human populations from reserve areas has been planned in several
Frontier-Vietnam Environment Research Report 9 53