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Frontier Vietnam Environmental Research 

REPORT 24 

Kim Hy Proposed Nature Reserve 

Biodiversity Survey and Conservation Evaluation 

2001 

Frontier Vietnam 

2004

Frontier Vietnam Forest Research Programme Report No.24.

Frontier-Vietnam Forest Research Programme 

Report 24 

KIM HY PROPOSED NATURE RESERVE 

Biodiversity Survey and 

Conservation Evaluation 

2001 

Frontier Vietnam 

Hardiman, N., Canh, L.X., & Fanning, E. (eds) 

Society for Environmental 

Exploration 

LONDON 

Institute of Ecological and 

Biological Resources 

HANOI 

2004 


Technical report citation: 

Frontier Vietnam (2002) Hardiman, N., Canh, L.X., & Fanning, E. (eds.) Kim Hy Proposed 

Nature Reserve: Biodiversity Survey and Conservation Evaluation. Frontier-Vietnam Forest 

Research Programme Report No. 24. The Society for Environmental Exploration, London and 

the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Hanoi. ISSN 1479-117X 

© Frontier-Vietnam 

ISSN: 1479-117X 


Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR) 

The Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR) was founded by decision HDBT 65/CT of the 

Council of Ministers dated 5 March 1990. As part of the National Center for Natural Science and 

Technology, IEBR’s objectives are to study the flora and fauna of Vietnam; to inventory and evaluate 

Vietnam’s biological resources; to research typical ecosystems in Vietnam; to develop technology for 

environmentally-sustainable development; and to train scientists in ecology and biology. IEBR is 

Frontier's principal partner in Vietnam, jointly co-ordinating the Frontier-Vietnam Forest Research 

Programme. In the field, IEBR scientists work in conjunction with Frontier, providing expertise to 

strengthen the research programme. 

The Society for Environmental Exploration (SEE) 

The Society is a non-profit making company limited by guarantee and was formed in 1989. The Society’s 

objectives are to advance field research into environmental issues and implement practical projects 

contributing to the conservation of natural resources. Projects organised by The Society are joint initiatives 

developed in collaboration with national research agencies in co-operating countries. 

Frontier-Vietnam 

Frontier-Vietnam is a collaboration of the Society for Environmental Exploration (SEE), UK and 

Vietnamese institutions, that has been undertaking joint research and education projects within the 

protected areas network of Vietnam since 1993. The majority of projects concentrate on biodiversity and 

conservation evaluation and are conducted through the Frontier-Vietnam Forest Research 

Programme. The scope of Frontier-Vienam project activities have expanded from biodiversity surveys 

and conservation evaluation to encompass sustainable cultivation of medicinal plants, certified training 

and environmental education . Projects are developed in partnership with Government departments (most 

recently the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources and the Institute of Oceanography) and national 

research agencies. Partnerships are governed by memoranda of understanding and ratified by the National 

Centre for Natural Science and Technology. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

Forestry Protection Department 

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Frontier-Vietnam 

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Hanoi, VIETNAM 

Tel: +84 (0) 4 869 1883 

Fax: +84 (0) 4 869 1883 

E-mail: frontier@netnam.vn 

Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources 

Nghia Do, Cau Giay, Hanoi, VIETNAM 

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Fax: +84 (0) 4 736 1196 

E-mail: Lxcanh@ncst.ac.vn 

Society for Environmental Exploration 

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Tel: +44 20 76 13 24 22 

Fax: +44 20 76 13 29 92 

E-mail: info@frontier.ac.uk 

Internet: www.frontier.ac.uk 


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

This report is based upon field research conducted by Frontier-Vietnam (expeditions 

VN013 and VN014), which ran consecutively from July to December 2001. The survey 

team consisted of Frontier-Vietnam field staff, scientists from the Institute of Ecology 

and Biological Resources (IEBR) in Hanoi and the Hanoi National University, and 

volunteer research assistants. 

The authors would like to express their thanks to the following members of the survey 

team: 

Dr Ha Van Tue Botanist IEBR, Hanoi 

Dr Tran Dinh Nghia Botanist Hanoi National University 

Mr Pham Duc Tien Mammologist IEBR, Hanoi 

Dr Bui Tuan Viet Entomologist IEBR, Hanoi 

Mr Quy Student IEBR, Hanoi 

Field Staff: 

Mr Nicholas Hardiman Research Co-ordinator 

Mr Martin Weil 

Assist. Research Co-ordinator 

Mr Gareth Goldthorpe Assist. Research Co-ordinator 

Miss Nguyen Thuy Giang Liaison Officer (July-December) 

Miss Nguyen Thu Hien Liaison Officer (July) 

Research Assistants during the survey period were: 

VN013 

Mr Darren Wilson 

Mr William Selby 

Mr Myron Dang 

Mr Colin Phifer 

Miss Joanna Brown 

Miss Rachel Maclean 

Miss Rhiannon Bamping 

Mr Andrew Logie 

Mr Matthew Levan 

Mr Chris Bracchi 

Mr Andrew Morgan 

VN014 

Mr Michael Bishop 

Miss Natalie Cosa 

Miss Micaela Elphick 

Mr John Gatrell 

Miss Rebecca Grant 

Mr Mans Axel Mauritz 

Miss Jocelyn Middleton 

Mr Mark Smith 

Mr Martin Thorogood 

Miss Gail Tanner 

Mr Catherine Banks 

Frontier Vietnam Forest Research Programme Technical Report No.24. 1

Administrative support for the implementation of this project was provided by Mr 

Elizabeth Tydeman and Ms Leanne Clarke (Project Managers), and Mr Nguyen Duc 

Long (Technical Assistant). Financial and administrative support was provided by the 

Society for Environmental Exploration. Technical support was provided by the Institute 

of Ecology and Biological Resources, Hanoi. 

The first draft of this report was reviewed by Ms. Nicola Beharrell, Programme Manager 

for Research at Frontier. Many thanks are due to Neil Furey of Frontier-Vietnam and 

Andrew Tordoff of Birdlife International for their comments on individual chapters. 

Special thanks are also due to Dr. Alexander Monastyrskii (Russian-Vietnam Tropical 

Centre, Hanoi) for his identification of butterfly specimens and contributions to the 

butterfly chapter; Ms. Ho Thu Cuc (Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, 

Hanoi) for her identification of amphibian specimens. 

The authors would like to especially acknowledge and thank the provincial and district 

authorities for their kind assistance, in particular the Peoples’ Committee and Forest 

Protection Department offices in Bac Kan, Na Ri, Bach Thong, An Tinh, Kim Hy and 

Cao Son for their support and guidance throughout and subsequent to the sixth month 

survey period. 

In Vietnam, the Society has a five Memorandum of Understanding with the Institite of 

Ecological and Biological Resources. The agreement is ratified by the National Centre 

for Natural Science and Technology. 

Frontier Vietnam has ganied financial and logistical support from the following sponsers: 

British Petroleum Vietnam Cable and Wireless Yamaha Motors 

Royal Netherlands Embassy Fuji-Xerox Asia Pacific The British Embassy 

The New Zealand Embassy Australian Embassy The Finnish Embassy 

Darwin Intitiative Community Fund English Speaking Union 

The Hong Kong and Shangai Banking Corporation Olympus 


List of Abbreviations used in this report: 

BAP Biodiversity Action Plan 

BARD 

Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development 

DARD 

(district) Department for Agriculture and Rural Development 

DET 

Department for Education andTraining 

EA 

Environmental Awareness 

EE 

Environmental Education 

EU/EC 

European Union/European Commission 

FFI 

Fauna and Flora International 

FIPI 

Forest Inventory and Planning Institute 

FPD 

Forest Protection Department 

FREC 

Forest Resources and Environment Centre (division of FIPI) 

Gov. SRV Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 

IEBR 

Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources 

IUCN 

International Union for the Conservation of Nature 

MARD 

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 

MoET 

Ministry of Education and Training 

MPI 

Ministry of Planning and Investment 

NGO 

Non-governmental organisation 

NP 

National park 

NR 

Nature reserve 

NTFPs 

Non-timber forest products 

PAHE 

Poverty Alleviation and Hunger Eradication programme 

PARC 

(Protected Area Conservation project) 

PNR 

Proposed Nature Reserve 

RDBV 

Red Data Book of Vietnam (used for Plants and Animals) 

WCMC 

World Conservation Monitoring Centre 

WWF 

World Wide Fund for Nature 

UNDP 

United Nations Development Programme 


CONTENTS 

Acknowledgements 1 

List of Abbreviations 3 

Table of contents 4 

Figures 9 

Abstract 8 

1 INTRODUCTION AND PROJECT AIMS 

1.1 Conservation in Vietnam 11 

1.2 Introduction to Bac Kan province 13 

1.3 Project aims 14 

2 DESCRIPTION OF KIM HY PROPOSED NATURE RESERVE 

2.1 General description and survey details 15 

2.1.1 Site location and Access 15 

2.1.2 Biogeography 15 

2.1.3 History and status 15 

2.1.4 Management 18 

2.1.5 Past studies of the region 19 

2.1.6 Period of study and survey locations 20 

2.2 Physical environment 20 

2.2.1 Climate 20 

2.2.2 Topography and hydrology 21 

2.2.3 Geology and soil 21 

2.2.4 Vegetation 23 

3 VEGETATION 

3.1 Introduction 24 

3.2 Methods 24 

3.2.1 Forest plots 24 

3.2.1.1 Site selection 24 

3.2.1.2 Forest trees 25 

3.1.2.3 Ground flora 25 

3.2.2 Botanical collection 25 

3.3 Results 26 

3.3.1 Site description 26 

3.3.2 Forest plot 26 

3.3.2.1 Tree flora 26 

3.3.2.2 Ground flora 27 

3.4 Discussion 29 

3.4.1 Zones II and III 29 

3.4.2 Zone I 32 

3.4.3 Important flora of Kim Hy PNR 35 

3.5 Forest protection and threats to forest conservation 38 


3.6 Conclusions 41 

4 FAUNA 

4.1 Butterflies 

4.1.1 Introduction 42 

4.1.2 Methods 42 

4.1.3 Results 43 

4.1.4 Discussion 43 

4.1.4.1 Species richness 43 

4.1.4.2 Biogeographical composition 44 

4.1.4.3 Habitat distribution 44 

4.1.4.4 Species of conservation interest 45 

4.1.5 Conclusions 45 

4.2 Hawk moths 46 






4.3 Amphibians 49 





4.3.4.1 Species of conservation interest 50 

4.3.4.2 Conservation threats 50 

4.3.5 Conclusion 51 

4.4 Birds 52 





4.4.4.1 Range extensions and 

altitude reductions 53 

4.4.4.2.Species of conservation interest 53 

4.4.4.3 Habitat distribution 54 

4.4.4.4 Conservation threats 54 


4.5.1 Mammals: Bats 56 

4.5.1.1 Aims and methodology 56 

4.5.1.2 Results 57 

4.5.2 Mammals: Non-volant 59 

4.5.2.1 Introduction 59 

4.5.2.2 Methods 59 


4.5.2.3 Results 61 

4.5.3 Conservation threats 67 

4.5.4 Discussion and conclusions 69 

5 Socio-economic features 

5.1 Introduction 71 

5.2 Methodology 72 

5.3 Results 72 

5.4 Demography and ethnicity 73 

5.4.1 Population 73 

5.4.1.1 Population growth and density 73 

5.4.1.2 Family planning 73 

5.4.1.3 Population movement and 

distribution 74 

5.4.2 Ethnicity 75 

5.5 Infrastructure and access 76 

5.6 Health 77 

5.7 Education 78 

5.7.1 Introduction to education and environmental 

awareness (EA) in Vietnam 78 

5.7.2 Education in Kim Hy PNR 79 

5.7.3 Frontier EA surveys at Kim Hy PNR 81 

5.7.3.1 Aims and methodology 81 

5.7.3.2 Results: teacher interviews 82 

5.7.3.3 Results: pupil questionnaires 82 


5.8 Agriculture and economy 85 


5.8.2 Paddy rice systems 86 


5.8.2.2 Land shortages 86 

5.8.2.3 Current solutions to land shortages 87 

5.8.3 Hillside cultivation 91 


5.8.3.2 Maize cultivation 92 

5.8.3.3 Other hill cultivation schemes 92 

5.8.4 Animal husbandry 94 


5.8.4.2 Ruminants 94 

5.8.4.3 Other domestic animals 95 

5.9 Forest land management and development 98 

5.9.1 Forest land allocation policy 98 

5.9.2 Special use forest stewardship 99 

5.9.3 Current and recent NGO forestry initiatives 102 

5.9.4 Proposed forest management at Kim Hy PNR 103 


6 DISCUSSION 105 

7 RECCOMMENDATIONS 109 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 120 

APPENDICES 

Appendix 1: List of plant genera in Kim Hy PNR 128 

Appendix 2: Vegetation plot statistics 132 

Appendix 3: Species list: Butterflies 137 

Appendix 4: Species list, Hawk moths 140 

Appendix 5: Species list, Birds 142 

Appendix 6a: Species list, Bats 145 

Appendix 6b: Species list, Non-volant mammals 145 

Appendix 7: Population statistics for Kim Hy PNR 147 

Appendix 8: Agricultural output 150 

MAPS: 

Map 1: Location of Kim Hy Proposed Nature Reserve and Other 

Protected Areas in the Region 16 

Map 2: General Administrative Features Within Kim Hy PNR 17 

Map 3: Land cover at Kim Hy PNR 28 

Map 4: Forest Management at Kim Hy PNR 97 


Figures 

Fig 2.1 Summary of the findings of species surveys for the scientific appraisal of Kim Hy 

proposed Nature Reserve in 1997 19 

Fig. 2.2. Plant diversity by phyla in Kim Hy proposed Nature 19 

Figure 2.3: Summary of principal soil types and their distribution within the Nature Reserve 

boundaries proposed by 22 

Figure 3.1. Summary description of forest plots 26 

Figure 3.2. Summary of forest plot data derived from forest plots FPA-FPI. 26 

Figure 3.3. Dominant Families with respect to basal area of wood. 27 

Figure 3.4. Summary of ground vegetation data derived from forest plots FPA-FPI. 27 

Figure 3.5: Principle FIPI classifications of natural vegetation types in Kim Hy P.N.R. with 

approximate summary statistics 30 

Fig. 3.6: Red-listed plant species recorded by previous surveys of Kim Hy P.N.R. 37 

Figure 4.1.1: Bio-geographical composition of butterfly species recorded at Kim Hy proposed 

Nature Reserve. 44 

Figure 4.4.1Altitude reductions for bird species Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve 53 

Figure 5.1: Environmental education within the current curriculum 79 

Figure 5.2: summary statistics of school attendance at the time of Frontier surveys in Kim Hy and 

An Tinh communes, 2001. 80 

Figure 5.3: EA Test results comparing commune schools 82 

Figure 5.4: EA Test results comparing primary and secondary-level understanding 83 

Figure 5.5. Annual farming cycle within Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve. 85 

Photograph 1: Front view of skull of Hylobates concolor cf. hainanus (Nomascus cf. 

Nasatus 65 

Photograph 2: Side view of skull of Hylobates concolor cf. hainanus (Nomascus cf. 

nasatus). 65 

Photograph 3: Top view of Hylobates concolor cf. hainanus (Nomascus cf. nasutus) 

skull. 65 


ABSTRACT 

This report describes a biodiversity survey of Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve 

22º10.40’’-22º18.20’’N / 105º54.25’’-106º18.40’’E), Na Ri district, Bac Kan province, 

Vietnam, conducted as part of the Frontier-Vietnam Forest Research Programme, 

between the months of June and December 2001. 

The Frontier-Vietnam survey involved studies of the extent and condition of forest types 

within the proposed Nature Reserve; collection of baseline biodiversity and ecological 

data on butterflies, moths, amphibians as well as birds and mammals; and a socioeconomic 

survey of local communities. The aim of this work was to provide information 

regarding the biodiversity value of the site and threats posed to these values, to assist the 

development of conservation management within the proposed Nature Reserve. 

Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve covers 18,555 hectares and protects an ecosystem, 

forest on limestone, which falls within the Northern Indochina Subtropical Forest 

ecoregion. The area contains over 6,179 inhabitants belonging to the Kinh, Dao, Tay and 

Nung ethnic groups. The majority of these are settled in the fring and buffer area of the 

proposed Nature Reserve, with some small communities also located in the main forest 

block. Agriculture provides the principal source of income for the majority of the 

resident population. However, productivity is low and local communities are heavily 

dependent upon the natural resources of the proposed Nature Reserve. 

Currently, the Nature Reserve is one of only two sites known to contain the Chinese 

Forest Musk deer (Birdlife International, 2001), which is endangered in Vietnam (RDB, 

2000). The findings of this survey imply that the proposed Nature Reserve is host to a 

high diversity plant species. At least 23 species of mammal, 67 bird species (possibly 

much more) and 93 butterfly species, as well as numerous moth species. Aside from its 

biological value, Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve possesses economic value, which is 

particularly important to local communities. For the inhabitants of the area, the forest 

provides an essential source of building materials, fuel, food, medicine and income. It 

also plays an important role in local watershed protection, directly affecting the lives of 

local people for whom water availability influences agricultural productivity. In addition, 

the proposed Nature Reserve also possesses several assets, including great scenic beauty 

and cultural diversity that provide it with potential as a destination for ecotourism. This 

is strengthened by the Reserve’s close proximity to Hanoi. 

Unfortunately however, much of the natural environment of the proposed Nature Reserve 

has been affected by human activity. Forest clearance and logging for settlements and 

agriculture has led to a dramatic reduction in forest cover in non-limestone outlying 

areas, and the limestone forest block risks fragmentation in a number of areas, primarily 

due to upland hill cultivation expansion and the effects of illicit gold mining activities. 


Detrimental activities such as illegal logging, widespread wood collection and animal 

grazing continue within the area. These are inhibiting the regeneration process in many 

areas and threaten to further degrade areas of remaining forest. Wildlife populations have 

also suffered badly as a result of intensive hunting and disturbance, and some species, 

such as the Western Black-crested Gibbon (Nomascus concolor) are facing imminent 

local extinction. The status of the Chinese Forest Musk Deer is threatened within the 

area. Unless measures are taken to reverse current trends, this and many other species 

face a serious threat of local extinction. 

In Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve, as in many other parts of Vietnam, problems of 

environmental deterioration are strongly linked to the socio-economic status of the local 

communities. Local agricultural productivity is low, with many households experiencing 

yearly food shortages and this, together with a lack of infrastructure and other 

alternatives, obliges exploitation and reliance upon local forest resources. Other 

problems facing conservation include the accessibility and relative isolation of the 

proposed Nature Reserve within a heavily populated region and presence of an 

established trade in forest products. While additional measures to protect the local forest 

and its resources are urgently required, unless underlying issues such as levels of poverty 

and community development are also addressed, it is unlikely these will be sustainable. 

The results of the present survey suggest that Kim Hy may be an important site for 

conservation in Vietnam but it is also threatened. The area of natural habitat within the 

Reserve has declined greatly from the edges and much of the remainder remains under 

pressure. Unless decisive measures are taken to address the current problems presented 

to conservation within the proposed Nature Reserve, such as revision of its boundaries, 

ratification and increased resources for protection and socio-economic activities, much of 

the biodiversity of the area may be lost. 


1. Introduction and Project Aims 

Conservation in Vietnam 

Vietnam stretches from 23° 37.5’ N in the north to 8° 00.5’ N in the south, and has a land 

area of 331,690 km 2 (UNDP, 1997). The natural vegetation was once dominated by 

tropical forests but these have undergone a rapid decline in the 20 th century. In 1943, 

approximately 44% of the country's land area was forest. By 1983, this had declined to 

24% (MacKinnon, 1990). Good quality natural forests now cover only around 10% of 

the land area and, of this, only around 1% could be described as pristine (Collins et al., 

1991). 

The natural vegetation of lowland Vietnam is dominated by two broadly defined types: 

tropical wet evergreen (and semi-evergreen) forest, and tropical moist deciduous forest 

(monsoon forests) (WWF & IUCN, 1995). Wet evergreen forest is found in areas with a 

regular, high rainfall (>1500mm per annum), and is largely restricted in Vietnam to the 

southern and central regions (WWF & IUCN, 1995). Monsoon forests experience a 

distinct dry season and are dominated by deciduous tree species (Whitmore, 1984). They 

dominate inland and northern Vietnam, an area classified by Udvardy (1975) as 

'Thailandian Monsoon Forest'. At higher altitudes (700m and above), lowland forest 

gives way to montane forest formations, which differ from lowland forests in their 

distinctive physical structure and floral composition (Whitmore, 1984; Collins et al., 

1991). In addition to these terrestrial forest types, coastal areas of Vietnam support 

mangrove and, in the south, Melaleuca forests, and there are small areas of fresh-water 

swamp forest in low-lying areas of southern Vietnam (Gov. SRV, 1994a). 

Vietnam’s forests contain a wealth of biodiversity. In a recent assessment by the World 

Conservation Monitoring Centre, Vietnam was ranked as the 16 th most biologically 

diverse country in the world (WCMC, 1992a). It is estimated that Vietnam has about 

12,000 species of higher plants (WCMC, 1992b), of which only around 10,200 are 

currently known to science (Le Tran Chan et al., 1999). Vietnam is known to be home to 

273 species of mammal (including 5 endemic species), nearly 850 species of birds 

(including 10 endemic species), and at least 257 species of reptile and 82 species of 

amphibians (WCMC, 1992b; Birdlife International, 2002; Nguyen Van Sang and Ho Thu 

Cuc, 1996). 

Unfortunately, the biological resources of Vietnam are currently under threat. Two Red 

Data Books have been prepared for Vietnam: Volume 1, Animals (RDBV, 2000), lists 

366 threatened species; and Volume 2, Plants (RDBV, 1996) lists 350. Several 

endangered species of mammal, including kouprey (Bos sauveli), Javan rhinoceros 

(Rhinoceros sondaicus), tiger (Panthera tigris) and Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) 

are facing imminent extinction in Vietnam. Forest degradation and the loss of 

biodiversity have been caused by a number of factors. Two major wars since 1946 and 

several border disputes contributed to a loss of forest cover and increased levels of 

poaching. 


Between 1961 and 1971, 2.6 million hectares of terrestrial forest in South Vietnam was 

subject to aerial herbicide bombardment at least once (Mai Dinh Yen and Cao Van Sung 

in Cao Van Sung (ed.), 1998). Direct war damage was less extensive in North Vietnam, 

although indirect forest loss, for example clearance to increase agricultural production, 

occurred throughout Vietnam (MacKinnon, 1990). Overall, around 14% of Vietnam's 

forest cover was lost between 1943 and 1975 (MacKinnon, 1990). 

Since reunification in 1975, forest loss has continued due to a number of factors generally 

connected to population growth. In 1994, the population of Vietnam was approximately 

72.4 million (UNDP, 1997), with a growth rate of 2.1% per year. In 1998, this figure had 

increased to 77 million with an increased growth rate of 2.3%. Most of the population of 

Vietnam is concentrated on the intensively cultivated alluvial plains (Ministry of 

Forestry, 1991). The highlands are more sparsely populated, and it is here that the major 

forest areas can be found. However, the population of the highlands has been increasing 

through natural growth and immigration. During the period 1981-1989, over 500,000 

people were assisted by the government to migrate from the densely populated lowlands 

into the highlands (Ministry of Forestry, 1991). Rapid population growth has resulted in 

clearance of forest land for agriculture and increased exploitation of forest products. On 

average, logging destroys 30,000 hectares of forest per year and degrades a further 

70,000 hectares, whilst fire destroys 25,000 hectares (WCMC, 1992b). 

The decline in the quantity and quality of Vietnam's native forests was addressed by the 

publication in 1990 of the Tropical Forestry Action Programme for Vietnam (Ministry of 

Forestry, 1991) which concluded that many protected areas were too small and/or too 

degraded to satisfy their conservation goals and also pointed out the lack of adequate 

management plans or inventories for many of the protected areas in Vietnam. Since this 

time, the protected areas network has been revised and extended. 

Vietnam’s first protected area, Cuc Phuong (now known as Cuc Phuong National Park), 

was established in 1962. In 1998, there were 93 protected areas in Vietnam, including 11 

National Parks, 55 Nature Reserves and 27 Cultural/ Historical sites, with a total decreed 

area of 985,280 ha or roughly 3 % of the national land area (Birdlife International, 2001). 

In many of these sites, biodiversity inventories have been conducted by Vietnamese 

institutions, such as the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute (FIPI), aided by a number 

of foreign NGOs, including Frontier-Vietnam, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), 

Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and Birdlife International. Despite this, the 

Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) of 1994 was still able to identify several reserve areas 

which lack basic biodiversity surveys and management plans (Gov. SRV, 1994). In 

response to other recommendations in the BAP, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural 

Development currently plans to further extend the protected area network to a total of 2 

million ha, representing 6% of national land area (Wege et al., 1999). 

The Frontier-Vietnam Forest Research Programme was established in 1993, in 

collaboration with the Ministry of Forestry. Working together with the Institute for 

Ecology and Biological Resources, Hanoi and Hanoi National University, it has 

conducted research in numerous protected areas. 


Introduction to Bac Kan province 

Bac Kan province is bounded by the co-ordinates 21º48’-22º 44’N and 105º26’-106º15’E 

and has a total land area of 4,857km² (Bac Kan General Department of Statistics, 2001). 

It was determined as a distinct ecological/socio-economic unit in the administrative 

restructuring of the country in 1997, when Programme 364 split Bac Thai province into 

Bac Kan and Thai Nguyen. Six communes from Bach Thong district to the west were 

merged with ten communes from Phu Luong district to the north to form Cho Don 

district, a transition area between the ‘midland’ agro-ecological zone represented by Thai 

Nguyen and the ‘northern mountains’ zone of Bac Kan (Castella et al, 1-18, 2002). The 

new province is now composed of six rural districts (Ba Be, Ngan Son, Na Ri, Bach 

Thong, Cho Don and Cho Moi) plus one urban district of Bac Kan, which contains the 

provincial administrative centre. 

Over 30% of the communes in Bac Kan are classed as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, with 21% of 

households earning less than 5USD per month. Recent agricultural development and 

doubled public investments saw provincial GDP rise by nearly 60% between 1996 and 

2000. Rural poverty correspondingly decreased (Castella et al, 121-146, 2002). Bac Kan 

experiences the usual constraints to socio-economic development as many other northern 

mountainous provinces: biophysical (sloping terrain, acidic soils, unpredictable climate), 

environmental (deforestation, erosion, flooding), infrastructural (poor access, 

communications and power), economic (subsistence, lack of capital and markets), 

cultural (ethnic conflict, languages, lack of education) and intellectual (comparative lack 

of access to information/training leading to inflexibility). Out of the 61 provinces listed in 

the UNDP National Human Development Report 2001, Bac Kan is ranked at 54 and 

included in the Low Human Development bracket. 

The climate of Bac Kan province is typical for northern Vietnam, following a monsoon 

pattern of a distinct wet season between April and September with most precipitation in 

July (on average 263mm, or 82% of the annual figure), and a dry season between October 

and March, when the mean precipitation range per month is 13.0-70.5mm. In the summer 

months temperatures range from 22.9-27.3ºC, whilst in winter the average temperature is 

18ºC, sometimes dropping to 2.2ºC. Several rivers source in Bac Kan with major 

ecological and economic roles downstream (Castella et al 1-18, 2002; FIPI, 1997)). 

The natural vegetation of Bac Kan has undergone decline in parallel with the rest of the 

northern areas of the country. The principal causes of forest loss have been due to shifting 

cultivation and over-exploitation of natural forest products, as well as agricultural 

expansion (Nguyen Van San & Gilmour, 1999). The heterogenous land cover mosaic of 

Bac Kan province includes areas of lowland rice agriculture interspersed with bare land, 

regenerative scrub and degraded forest, but it is only on the areas of limestone tower karst 

that continuous stretches of relatively intact forest on limestone exist without strong 

anthropogenic influences upon the landscape. 


These remaining pockets of extant limestone-based climax vegetation provide an 

important refuge for a number of plant and animal species alongside similar areas in Lang 

Son and Cao Bang provinces to the east and north respectively. Both Na Ri district in Bac 

Kan and Cao Bang province appear to support important populations of eastern blackcrested 

gibbon Nomascus conolor hainanus (Pham Duc Tien, pers. Comm., See Chapter 

4.5 of this report.), whilst previous studies of forested areas in Huu Lien Nature Reserve 

(Furey et al, 2001, Nguyen Xuan Dang et al, 1999) and the Ba Be lakes area (Hill et al, 

1997) found 794 and 551 plant species respectively, along with a high diversity of key 

faunal groups, many of them of conservation importance and economic/local value. 

Between July and December 2001, Frontier-Vietnam conducted roughly 4 months of 

biodiversity survey work in Kim Hy Proposed Nature Reserve, which is situated to the 

east of Bac Kan province, north Vietnam. 

Project Aims 

The overall aims of the work carried out by the Frontier-Vietnam forest project are: 

• To conduct baseline surveys of protected areas and Special Use Forests in North 

Vietnam; 

• To investigate the socio-economic conditions of the human inhabitants in and 

immediately connected with these areas, in order to evaluate the benefits derived 

from the forest resources and the threats posed by human exploitation; 

• To provide information on the biological values of and threats to these areas, and 

to assist in the development and execution of management plans in those areas. 

The specific aims of the survey in Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve were: 

• To conduct vegetation surveys in order to describe the dominant forests types present 

and to identify threatened assemblages and species occurring within the study area; 

• To collect baseline biodiversity and ecological data for selected groups of taxa 

including birds, butterflies, moths, amphibians, and mammals through the collection 

of specimens (not birds or medium to large sized mammals), observation in the wild 

and interviews with local people; 

• To collect information regarding the socio-economic status of local inhabitants, with a 

particular emphasis upon patterns of natural resource use; and to interview local forest 

protection officials in order to determine their views concerning the Reserve’s 

management and practical conservation policies being undertaken; 

• To support the recommendation by FREC and Birdlife International that the boundary 

of the proposed Nature Reserve be revised to accommodate areas of good quality 

forest left out of the original design, and to review the nature of this revision; 

• To combine a literature survey of other work done at Kim Hy and elsewhere in Bac 

Kan province with the results of Frontier’s fieldwork to provide a comprehensive and 

up-to-date description and evaluation of the proposed Nature Reserve. 


2. DESCRIPTION OF KIM HY PROPOSED NATURE RESERVE 

2.1 General Description and Survey Details 

2.1.1 Site Location and Access 

The existing boundaries of the Nature Reserve at Kim Hy as proposed in the 1997 

Investment Plan by FIPI’s North-west Subdivision (see section 2.1.3 below) are within 

the co-ordinates 22º10.40’’-22º18.20’’N and 105º54.25’’-106º18.40’’E They include an 

18,555ha area of land equivalent to 27.7% of Na Ri district, eastern Bac Kan province, 

situated in Central far-northern Vietnam (Map 1). These boundaries comprise the total 

land area of Kim Hy, An Tinh, Luong Thuong and Lang San communes as defined since 

Programme 364 (FIPI, 1997). 

The Proposed Nature Reserve is 30km south-east of Ba Be National Park, previously in 

Cao Bang province but now situated in Bac Kan, and can be reached from Hanoi on 

Highway 3 which leads to Bac Kan town, 60km east on Highway 256 leading to Na Ri 

district, and on Highway 279 which leads to Kim Hy commune; the latter has recently 

been surfaced on many stretches but nevertheless involves significant river crossings 

which can make the area inaccessible by car or jeep at times during the wet summer 

months. 

2.1.2 Biogeography 

Following the bio-geographical classification of Mackinnon and Mackinnon (1986), Kim 

Hy lies within the bio-unit 6a (South China) of the Indochinese sub-region. According to 

the ‘eco-region’ classification developed by Wikramanayake et al (1997), the area falls 

within the Northern Indochina Subtropical Forest Region. 

2.1.3 History and Status 

The Kim Hy forest and outlying areas were first proposed as a Nature Reserve through an 

investment plan drawn up by the North-west FIPI Subdivision in 1997 detailing the 

boundaries of the 18,555ha area and the zones contained therein. This document 

supported a proposal in 1998 by the provincial FPD for the same area to be included on 

the ‘2010 list’ of the government’s protected area programme. The proposal, whilst 

having been approved by MARD, is yet to be ratified by a government decision by the 

Council of Ministers, and there is therefore no management board in place to specifically 

protect the area. Current management of the area falls under the remit of the 

central/provincial level Forest Protection Department and Peoples’ Committee. 




2.1.4 Management 

The investment plan was annexed to a scientific appraisal of the forest land within the 

boundaries, and proposed three principal zones: 

1) Restricted zone of forest on limestone totalling 6,505ha; 4,487ha in Kim Hy, 

954ha in An Tinh, 884ha in Luong Thuong and 240ha in Lang San. This is 

‘Special Use Forest’ (Gov. SRV, 1993) with the purpose of conservation of 

limestone forest ecosystems and scientific research. Logging, hunting, clearance 

for agriculture, grazing of livestock and introduction of alien species to be strictly 

prohibited. 

2) Regeneration zone mainly composed of degraded (largely non-limestone) forest 

and scrub with scattered trees totalling 8,715ha, of which existing forest for 

protection comprises 2,397ha, a natural forest regeneration area 4,483ha, a 

degraded forest rehabilitation area 370ha, agro-forestry 548ha, land for grazing 

460ha, agriculture 299ha and miscellaneous areas (housing, bare land etc) 158ha. 

This zone would have various functions according to the above classifications, 

principally encouraging the natural regeneration capacity of the remaining forest 

alongside planting of local forest species, whilst improving the living standards of 

local communities through improving infrastructure, initiating silvicultural/agroforestry 

practices and allocation of forest protection contracts (see chapter 5). 

3) Administration and Service zone totalling 3,335ha and including 507ha of forest 

for protection, 1,577ha of natural/assisted regeneration, 636ha of agroforestry/cultivation 

of non-timber forest products (medicinal/ornamental plants), 

270ha of land for grazing, 167ha for agriculture, and 178ha for miscellany. The 

functions of this zone would be similar to Zone 2, only with more emphasis on 

development of rural industry (including tourism) and agriculture. 

Because the exact boundaries of these divisions are as yet only roughly demarcated, 

they are not included on Map 4 in this report. In reference to Maps 2 and 3, however, 

they are clear in their general extent. All of the PNR area is currently classified as 

‘Special Use Forest’ on FIPI maps (see Map 4, Chapter 5) except for sub-region 184 

in An Tinh which is classed as [watershed] ‘Protection Forest’. An extensive buffer 

zone area of 27,000ha was also proposed, circling the entire Nature Reserve boundary 

and including the communes Con Minh, Van Minh, Luong Thanh, Luong Ha, Van 

Hoc and Vu Loan in Na Ri district and Vu Muon and Cao Son communes in Bach 

Thong district. This area has been submitted for 1.8 billion VND of government 

investment to improve productivity primarily through agricultural/agro-forestry 

technological development (FIPI, 1997). 

A revision study done by the Forest Resource and Environment Centre of FIPI, also 

in 1997, proposed an alternative boundary for the Nature Reserve, supported by 

Birdlife International in 2000, which has not yet been adopted by management 

authorities in land surveys. The original FIPI Investment Plan described 9,409ha of 

the Proposed Nature Reserve as natural forest (71% being in Kim Hy and An Tinh), 

including 7,104ha of limestone forest (79% in Kim Hy and An Tinh). However, 


perhaps by using more stringent definitions for ‘natural forest’, FREC land use maps 

indicate only 5,715ha of natural forest, a small proportion of the total proposed area 

of 18,555ha. Their proposal adjusts the boundary to exclude large tracts of agriculture 

and scrub land from the north of the Nature Reserve and include approximately 

5,600ha of Cao Son and Vu Muon communes, Bach Thong district (part of Kim Hy 

commune prior to 1997), which would contain 3,600ha of the 9,795ha of natural 

forest within the new boundary. The total area within the revised Nature Reserve 

boundaries proposed by FREC is 17,154ha (Tordorff et al, 2000). Both the original 

and revised boundaries are shown on all maps in this report. 

2.1.5 Past Studies of the Region 

The scientific appraisal accompanying the proposal for the Reserve was based upon 

scientific surveys undertaken by FIPI and botanists from the Xuan Mai Collage of 

Forestry, Hanoi. A summary of their findings is given in Figures 2.1 and 2.2. The full 

report with lists of species is unpublished and not widely available. 

Taxonomic group Families Genera Species_____ 

Plants 148 522 792 

Mammals 26 n/i 67 

Birds 50 n/i 143 

Reptiles 12 n/i 35 

Amphibians 6 n/i 21 

Figure 2.1. Summary of the findings of species surveys for the scientific appraisal of 

Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve in 1997 (FIPI, 1997). 

Phylum Family Genus Species 

Yeopodiophyta 2 2 4 

Polypodiophyta 17 26 45 

Pynophyta 4 6 7 

Magnoliopsida 193 396 587 

Liliopsida 22 92 149 

Total 148 522 792 

Figure 2.2. Plant diversity by phyla in Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve 

(Vu Van Canh, in FIPI, 1997). 


Lists of plants and animals in Kim Hy and in the Red Data Books for Vietnam (1996; 

2000) are also provided in the appraisal, but are almost certainly in need of review, 

especially where lists of animals are concerned, as significant amounts of data were 

gleaned from interview work with local residents or older surveys of the region. It is now 

highly unlikely that populations of Tiger (Panthera tigris), Leopard (Panthera pardus), 

Asiatic wild dog (Cuon alpinus) and Lesser Malay Chevrotain (Tragulus javanicus) still 

exist in this area. Many other records for all groups, especially for the various species of 

Mustelid, Ursid, Primate, Cervid and Felid listed, as well as species such as the great pied 

hornbill (Buceros bicornis), require up-to-date confirmation. 

A rapid field survey was also undertaken by Birdlife International in 1999 in order to 

investigate specific findings and reports regarding Kim Hy’s biodiversity and to support 

the revision of the Nature Reserve boundary to that proposed by FREC in 1997. 

2.1.6 Period of Study and Survey Locations 

The Frontier-Vietnam survey spanned two work phases conducted in 2001, from 3 rd July 

to 31 st August, and 23 rd October to 14 th December. Base camps for the survey teams were 

situated in the main agricultural/alluvial valleys of Kim Hy and An Tinh communes for 

phases 1 and 2 respectively, so that the limestone forest could be widely accessed from 

two sides. The main limestone forest block was the principal target of the Frontier floral 

and faunal surveys, and outlying areas in Luong Thuong and Lang San communes were 

largely neglected, as these are more immediately accessible for future survey by local 

teams and were felt likely to support common and widespread species. Non-limestone 

areas in the hills and agricultural valleys surrounding each base camp were surveyed, 

however, in order to represent the fauna of these other habitat categories in the proposed 

Reserve area. Satellite camps were located throughout the limestone forest area, limited 

by logistical constraints of access, water and safety. The second phase included a period 

of study in Cao Son commune outside the original proposed boundary in the investment 

plan. Some locations in the north-west and south of the area were not surveyed due to 

logistical and administrative restrictions. Survey site locations are illustrated in Map 3, 

and geo co-ordinates are provided in Chapter 3. 

2.2 Physical Environment 

2.2.1 Climate 

The following information is summarised from data provided by the Na Ri district and 

Bach Thong district Peoples’ Committees, the investment plan by FIPI and supplemented 

by Frontier survey data. 

The Kim Hy area experiences a distinct rainy season between April and September, with 

over 60% of annual rainfall falling in June and July. Average yearly rainfall is 1,508mm 

(maximum 1,686mm). Evapo-transpiration levels are high at an average of 71.8mm 

(maximum 111.4mm, minimum 92.0mm) especially between December and January, 


when heavy mists and, sometimes, hoar frost settles in the valleys early in the morning. 

At this time of year there tends to be a large difference between diurnal and nocturnal 

temperatures (reaching 20.8ºC during Frontier’s survey), and the temperature can fall to 

2ºC. Much of the precipitation condenses in the form of mist; during Frontier’s phase 2 

work, 26 consecutive days passed without any rain during November. These winter 

conditions can seriously damage crops. Average temperature is 21.6ºC (maximum 

38.6ºC). Humidity averages 82% but can fall to 10%. Prevailing winds are north-easterly 

and south-westerly. 

2.2.2 Topography and Hydrology 

Much of the landscape of Kim Hy and An Tinh communes, where most of the remaining 

forest lies, is strongly characterised by dramatic outcrops of limestone tower karst, 

forming a topographical patchwork of sheltered valleys and gorges interspersed with 

steep, rocky cliffs. Access over this terrain is extremely difficult, accounting for the 

relatively in tact forest block; slope angles on the karst are over 45º and most reach 

heights of 650-800m, the highest being Kuoi Coi at 985m. A number of caves, crevasses 

and subterranean gorges have formed in or under the limestone from erosion and 

chemical weathering, performing some important ecological functions. 

To the north and east, mudstone–based hills with slope angles of around 20-25º and 

average heights of 400-500m source the tributaries of the Bac Giang river, which flows 

through An Tinh and Luong Thuong communes, 5km to the north-east of Na Ri and into 

Ngan Son district. Between these hills the landscape is dominated by flooded rice 

paddies. 

There are virtually no over-ground water bodies within the main limestone area of Kim 

Hy and An Tinh as most precipitation percolates through the limestone and collects in or 

below the limestone bedrock in deep underground ‘wells’, forming a well-developed 

subterranean drainage system marked by seasonal fluctuations in water level and 

sometimes spilling over to form small surface streams. 

2.2.3 Geology and Soil 

Geologically, Kim Hy and An Tinh communes are dominated by Devonian- 

Carboniferous limestone of various depth of deposition and which have been influenced 

by denudation and karstic processes associated with fluctuations in sea level. The 

mudstone hills rest on beds of quartzite, sandstone and schist. No soil surveys were 

conducted during the Frontier work phases: the information below is taken from surveys 

undertaken by FIPI in 1997. A map summarising distribution of the main soil types is 

held at the provincial FPD office. 


Soil Type 

[N2VFHq]: Ferralitic soil on mudstone on 

isolated sloping areas >35º, north-west 

Kim Hy. Average depth 50-80cm. Humus 

A+AB=20-30cm, raw (cold 

microclimate). 

Kim 

Hy 

Luong 

Thuong 

Lang 

San 

An 

Tinh 

Total 

944 944 

[N3IVFq]: Ferralitic soil on mudstone. 3,544 1,746 964 6,264 

[N3IVFv]: Ferralitic soil on mudstone 

and limestone footslopes/valleys. Soil 

layer

2.2.4 Vegetation 

The natural climax vegetation of the Special Use Forest of Kim Hy proposed Nature 

Reserve as classified by Thai Van Trung (1978) is ‘lowland tropical evergreen forest on 

limestone’ and ‘low montane broadleaved evergreen forest’ equating to ‘forest on 

limestone’ and ‘sub-montane dry evergreen forest’ in the definitions developed by 

Mackinnon and Mackinnon (1986; 1997). The forest is composed of a mixed dominance 

of species and families, largely tropical/sub-tropical evergreen but also some deciduous 

and coniferous species. A summary of the main natural vegetation types found in the 

area, and the current classification used by the management authorities, is provided in 

Chapter 3. 


3. VEGETATION 

3.1 Introduction 

Vietnam's flora is composed of at least 8,000 vascular plant species (IUCN, 1986). 

Recent statistics put the known figure of plant species as 10,192 (Le Tran Chan et al., 

1999), including cultivated and introduced species, though there is a consensus within 

Vietnam that the true figure is over 12,000. The geographical position of the country, 

together with the wide range of environmental conditions, allows a wide variety of floral 

elements to survive here. Three main elements can be distinguished, the Sino- 

Himalayan, Indian and Malesian elements (Whitmore & Grimwood, 1976). In addition 

to these there are endemic elements; 11.9 % of Vietnam’s currently known vascular 

plants are endemic (Le Tran Chan et al., 1999). Areas of particularly high botanical 

biodiversity in Vietnam were mapped by Schmid (1993). The forests of Vietnam have 

particular significance for the conservation of biodiversity of both plants and animals. 

The physical and biological characteristics of forest at any site are influenced by local 

climate, geology, altitude and topography (Whitmore, 1984), as well as biotic, human and 

historical factors. The varied topography characteristic of limestone tower karst areas 

combined with complex patterns of substrates (ranging from bare rock or talus and scree 

on outcrops to thick soil layers in valley floors) may also create a wide array of 

microhabitats in which edaphic factors such as water stress and nutrient availability bear 

a strong influence upon the development and distribution of vegetation communities 

present. 

The natural climax vegetation of Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve as classified by Thai 

Van Trung (1978) is seasonal evergreen forest on limestone. This equates to forest on 

limestone according to the classification developed by Mac Kinnon and Mac Kinnon 

(1986). 

The aims of the fieldwork conducted during the 2001 Frontier-Vietnam survey were to 

describe the dominant forest types occurring within Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve 

and to identify threatened assemblages and species occurring within the study area. 

3.2 Methods 

3.2.1 Forest Plots 

3.2.1.1 Site selection 

Vegetation survey plots were established at nine locations (FPA-FPI) within the main 

block of limestone forest at Kim Hy. Eight of these are located within the boundaries of 

the proposed Nature Reserve, with one (FPI) located just outside the current boundaries, 

but inside the boundaries recommended by FREC. The purpose of surveying vegetation 

at FPI was to provide supporting data for this recommendation, in that the area is 

composed of the forest type that is broadly homogenous with the rest of the Kim Hy 


limestone forest and thus provides an extended area of contiguous habitat for the faunal 

and floral species it supports. 

Vegetation work was aimed primarily at those areas within the limestone forest, rather 

than the areas of non-limestone forest, scrub forest and bare land which lie on the rim of 

the limestone area. The latter areas were surveyed to some extent during the formulation 

of the Feasibility Study for the proposed Nature Reserve, and are much more amenable to 

study on a regular basis by the Forest Protection Department responsible for the area, 

given time and available resources. Basic information on these areas, based upon 

previous surveys by FIPI and the local Forest Protection Department, is provided in the 

discussion of this chapter so as to provide a comprehensive synopsis. Within the 

limestone forest area, logistical constraints meant that the full altitudinal gradient 

affecting structure and dominance of forest ecosystems on limestone could not be 

quantitatively recorded by means of vegetation plots. The plots therefore tended to 

concentrate upon the valley floor edges and slopes of the limestone karst, the highest 

plots being situated at approximately 780masl. Sites for survey were selected according 

to considerations of health and safety of the survey team, and as to how representative the 

site was of the surrounding forest. 

3.2.1.2 Forest trees 

At each site, a 50m x 50m (1/4 hectare) plot was established. Plot boundaries were 

measured using compasses starting in the southwest corner and marked out using barrier 

tape. Within each plot the ‘diameter at breast height’ (DBH) of each tree with a DBH of 

6cm or greater at 1.3m above ground level was measured and identified to genus level (or 

species level where possible) and its position mapped within the plot. Plot characteristics 

were also recorded (canopy height, aspect, slope, altitude). 

3.2.1.3 Ground flora 

In each of the forest plots, the ground flora was studied using 25 2m x 2m quadrats 

placed diagonally through the plot starting in the southwest corner (covering 4% of the 

plot area). Within each quadrat all tree seedlings, shrubs, herbs, lianas and palms were 

identified and the number of individuals recorded. 

3.2.2 Botanical Collection 

No botanical specimens were collected during the present survey. However, some 

opportunistic observation and collection for field identification was carried out by the 

research teams in more inaccessible, higher altitude areas where vegetation plots could 

not be done. Identifications in the field were made using Vietnam Forest Trees (FIPI, 

1996) and Cay Co Vietnam (Pham Hoang Ho, 1991). 


3.3 Results 

3.3.1 Site description 

Plot 

Co-ordinates 

Altitude (m) Slope () Aspect 

FPA UTM 48 Q 08212 

UPS 23 61119 

FPB UTM 48 Q 08698 

UPS 23 59843 

FPC UTM 48 Q 08405 

UPS 23 59377 

FPD UTM 48 Q 08501 

UPS 23 58514 

FPE UTM 48 Q 11562 

UPS 23 59788 

FPF UTM 48 Q 11291 

UPS 23 59486 

FPG UTM 48 Q 08727 

UPS 23 57006 

FPH UTM 48 Q 08974 

UPS 23 56793 

FPI UTM 48 Q 06438 

UPS 23 55329 

3.3.2 Forest Plots 

3.3.2.1 Tree flora 

630 40 SE 

690 35 SE 

530 30 SW 

730 30 NE 

520 45 NW 

650 40 NE 

570 30 W 

630 35 W 

780 40 S 

Figure 3.1. Summary description of forest plots. 

A summary of data on forest trees derived from forest plots FPA – FPI is given in Figure 

3.2. For each of the sites, the total basal area of wood was calculated for every tree 

family in the plot, so that the relative predominance of each plant family within the tree 

flora at each site could be ascertained. Full details are given in Appendix 2. 

Nomenclature follows Le Tran Chan et al. (1999). 

Site No. of Tree No. of Tree No. of Total Basal Area Mean DBH 

Families Genera Individuals m² m²/ha (cm) 

FPA 15 18 105 11.94 47.76 26.10 

FPB 13 16 172 12.14 48.59 17.29 

FPC 16 19 169 9.60 38.41 19.18 

FPD 23 27 137 6.27 25.09 15.80 

FPE 13 18 123 8.95 35.79 20.35 

FPF 17 21 175 9.88 39.84 19.94 

FPG 14 15 175 10.49 41.94 19.07 

FPH 15 16 159 12.89 51.59 21.28 

FPI 12 15 201 8.61 34.42 19.47 

Figure 3.2. Summary of forest plot data derived from forest plots FPA-FPI. 


Site Family % Basal Area 

FPA Tiliaceae 53.85 

FPB Moraceae 52.77 

FPC Tiliaceae 29.79 

FPD Tiliaceae 56.58 

FPE Tiliaceae 50.63 

FPF Tiliaceae 44.86 

FPG Tiliaceae 49.74 

FPH Tiliaceae 29.34 

FPI Tiliaceae 54.78 

Figure 3.3. Dominant Families with respect to basal area of wood. 

3.3.2.2 Ground flora 

A summary of the ground flora data derived from the nine forest plots (FPA-FPI) is given 

in Figure 3.4. 

Plot 

Total No. of 

Stems 

No. of 

Families 

No. of 

Genera 

Average No. 

Genera / Quadrat 

FPA 553 28 40 9 

FPB 497 32 42 8 

FPC 695 24 33 6 

FPD 987 29 38 8 

FPE 916 20 26 8 

FPF 1064 26 34 10 

FPG 670 38 49 11 

FPH 561 41 55 9 

FPI 730 31 45 11 

Figure 3.4. Summary of ground vegetation data derived from forest plots FPA-FPI. 



3.4 Discussion 

3.4.1 Description of vegetation types found within the regeneration and 

administrative zones (II and III) of Kim Hy P.N.R. 

The north and north-eastern region of the proposed nature Reserve, which comprise the 

regeneration and administrative areas and which are to a greater extent excluded in the 

proposal by FREC, are comprised of a patchwork of vegetation types, largely derivatives 

of, or directly threatened by, human activity. The land-cover has been classified by FIPI 

(1997) into various categories depending primarily upon level of human impact and 

potential for regeneration or rehabilitation. Aside from hill cultivation and the relatively 

extensive areas of paddy rice adjoining highway 279 and its associated settlements in 

Luong Thuong and Lang San, the principle FIPI categories are summarised in Figure 3.5 

overleaf. Much of the northern area is classified on FIPI maps as ‘non-permanent forest’, 

indicating the mosaic of regenerative habitats, and which has been included in the 

classification of ‘scrub with scattered trees’ in Map 3 of this report. 

The areas of scrub with few or no trees are mainly in Luong Thuong and Lang San’s 

northern and eastern areas as well as much of eastern An Tinh, which comprises the main 

body of the administrative/service zone, i.e. much of the accessible east and south-east of 

the P.N.R. This habitat is also found scattered in northern parts of Kim Hy commune 

(sub-regions 172 and 165), and it is largely a consequence of previous slash and burn 

practices of local populations during the 1980s and to a lesser extent the 1990s. It has had 

little chance to regenerate and the ferralitic soil supporting it is typically dry and 

exhausted, with little water retention capacity. This results in the many grassland species 

growing there, such as Ormosia balansae and Psychotria sp., which regularly dry out in 

the winter months. These areas also typically support herbaceous communities of 

Mimosa, Crotalaria and Desmodium (Fabaceae). In some areas, this scrub savannah is 

adjacent to areas of settlement, rice paddy and hill cultivation, and is currently serving as 

fallow ground awaiting future cultivation, or as grazing for domestic ruminants (buffalo 

and, to a lesser degree, cattle). In cases where grazing of ruminants is not regulated 

(leading to over-grazing), grass species of low forage value such as Chrysopogon sp. and 

Paspalum conjugatum tend to colonise. Invasions of inedible Imperata cylindrica and 

Chromolena odorata more commonly invade when the pastures are not maintained 

(Castella et al, 2001). In the FREC revised proposal’s south-western area in Bach Thong 

district, degraded scrub land forms much of the land area bordering the poor forest and 

the relatively extensive areas of hill cultivation in Cao Son commune, due to a historical 

shortage of paddy land and lack of technical development in agriculture in that region, 

which has led to the intensive use of the non-karst hillsides. 


Figure 3.5: Principle FIPI classifications of natural vegetation types in Kim Hy P.N.R. with approximate summary statistics. Bold borders denote 

combined categories used in Map 3 (Chapter 2): IIA1-IIIA1= ‘Degraded forest’; V/N= ‘Bamboo forest’, IA= ‘Scrub’; IB/IC= ‘Scrub with trees’. 

Source: FIPI, 1997. 

Category 

no. 

IIA1 

IIA2 

IIB 

Category name 

Regeneration 

non-limestone 

forest 

Regeneration 

non-limestone 

forest 

Regeneration 

non-limestone 

forest 

Area in the Mean canopy Mean DBH Mean height Mean basal area Average no. of Average volume 

P.N.R (ha) extent (range) 

/ha (range) trees/ha (range) of timber (range) 

1,490.7 0.3-0.4 5cm 5m n/i 1,000-1,500 n/i 

350.7 0.4-0.5 11cm 8m n/i 600 n/i 

105.0 0.4-0.6 16cm 12m 9m 2 500-550 50-70m 3 

IIIA1 Poor nonlimestone 

forest 

88.1 0.3 22cm 13.5m 10m 2 250-300 50-60m 3 

V ‘Vau’ Bamboo 

forest 

153.3 n/i 4cm 7m - 4,000-7,000 - 

N ‘Nua’ Bamboo 

forest 

94.4 n/i 5cm 8m - 4,000-6,000 - 

IA Scrub-savannah 888.7 - - - - - - 

IB Shrub forest 2,695.5 0.1-0.2 n/i n/i n/i n/i n/i 

IC Scrub with 

scattered trees 

4,760.6 0.3-0.4 n/i 1-3m n/i 1,000 n/i 

Category 

no. 

IIIA1 

IIIA2 

Category name 

Highly disturbed 

limestone forest 

Medium 

limestone forest 

Area in the Mean canopy Mean DBH Mean height Mean basal Average no. of Average volume 

P.N.R (ha) extent (range) 

area/ha 

trees/ha (range) of timber (range) 

517.5ha 0.3-0.5 20cm 12m 9m 2 230-330 40-60m 3 

5,986ha 0.6-0.7 27cm 16m 19m 2 350-380 120-140m 3 


Scrub with trees is the most widespread land cover category within the existing proposed 

boundary except for medium limestone forest, and covers the majority of the regeneration 

zone which forms the north of Kim Hy (sub-regions 171,172,165 and 173), much of 

Luong Thuong (sub-regions 164 and 174) and central Lang San. The land supporting this 

habitat is of a much better quality than that of scrub without trees: although tree cover 

extent is variable depending upon location and slope angle, a number of regenerative 

species are present. The principle species include Crotoxylon sp. (Clusiaceae), Litsea 

sp.,(Lauraceae), and Lithocarpus sp. (Fagaceae) (FIPI, 1997). Once again, this habitat 

tends to border areas of scrub, hill cultivation and poor forest, making it a ‘transitional 

habitat’ for flora and fauna; it supports a number of faunal species which also utilise the 

limestone forest block. It is suitable for natural regeneration and for mixed 

rehabilitation/cultivation schemes in areas proximate to human settlement. 

The remaining non-limestone forest in zones II and III of the proposed reserve is made up 

of patches of bamboo forest and degraded/regenerative forest generally on the higher, 

less accessible sloping land. Bamboo forest is divided by FIPI into two categories 

according to dominance of ‘Vau’ and ‘Nua’ bamboo [Sic.], both being scattered across 

the northern areas of Kim Hy, Luong Thuong and Lang San. This has grown naturally 

near wet areas (such as near streams or rivers), taken over degraded forest edges after 

previous forest destruction for cultivation, and usurped woody species after exhaustive 

over-exploitation of forest timber. Poor quality forest also has a patchy distribution north 

of the main limestone forest area, with distinctions between shrub forest, scrub with trees 

and regenerative forest being somewhat blurred. For this reason, FIPI have again devised 

different categories as shown in figure 3.5; IIA2 and IIA1 describe forest recovering from 

hill cultivation which took place during the co-operative era of the 1960s and 1970s, with 

the latter having the least potential for natural recovery. IIB forest is in later stages of 

recovery, and IIIA1 is degraded principally from over-exploitation for timber, firewood 

and NTFPs (FIPI, 1997). Once more, these categories should be treated more as a 

continuous scale in actuality, but help to distinguish the natural history and disturbance 

regimes which have shaped their respective species composition, soil quality and 

structural dynamics. Regenerative species such as Lithocarpus sp. and Phoebe sp. 

(Lauraceae) are typical species here, with much disrupted patterns of dominance and 

structure, and often extensive presence of competitive woody and non-woody pioneer 

species (FIPI, 1997; Kim Hy FPD, pers comm.). This type of forest is also extensive in 

the areas south and west of the villages of Cao Son commune inside and adjacent to the 

FREC boundary, and is often in close proximity to human settlements. 


3.4.2 Description of forest types found within the restricted zone (I) of Kim Hy 

P.N.R. 

In designing the Nature Reserve at Kim Hy, FIPI have chosen the continuous limestone 

forest area as the habitat for strict protection, aware that, despite its forbidding 

environment, human activity has and does pose a real threat to forest resources and 

biodiversity there. The restricted zone has the primary purpose of biodiversity 

conservation along with watershed protection, and comprises the entire limestone area. 

The forest in this area changes in its quality, the levels and nature of human impact 

varying from the fringes to the central area. As Map 3 shows, the forest block 

experiences deleterious edge effects, particularly extensive in Cao Son and Kim Hy 

communes, due largely to forest clearance and exploitation of both timber and non-timber 

forest products which are relatively easy to transport down the slopes immediate to the 

settlements in those areas. This is especially the case in Cao Son, where much of the area 

classed as ‘poor limestone forest’ forming a limb extending south is in fact karst outcrops 

interspersed with more accessible mudstone hills. These areas are formed of regular 

mosaics of forested scree slopes and hilltops with the fertile valleys either left fallow or, 

more commonly, used for cultivation of hill crops. The entire valley floor is typically 

used up entirely by such cultivation, with an abrupt transition to less disturbed limestone 

forest at the edges of the basins where the rocky outcrops begin: there is little forest left 

which is not scree-based. In these areas of poor quality forest, structure is unclear and 

middle and upper forest canopies are regularly broken, allowing for the development of 

thick shrub vegetation. There are still important tree species here, such as 

Excentiodendron tonkinensis (Tiliaceae), but they tend to be immature populations due to 

unsustainable thinning of large specimens on the more accessible slopes. 

The Frontier plots were principally focused in the higher quality ‘medium forest’ 

(IIIA2) on limestone at Kim Hy, and may be categorised broadly according to the 

dominant features of the two main vegetation layers; 

• Streblus/Excentiodendron forest on limestone slopes (FTB, FTC) 

• Mixed Excentiodendron forest on limestone slopes (FTA, FTD-FTI) 

The Streblus/Excentiodendron forest is more often (but not uniformly) situated nearer the 

limestone basin floors where the land usually slopes more gently at c. 30-35°. In 

Frontier’s plots, however, it is most prominent in FPB at 630m, where the distinct 

middle-canopy (c.5-12m) actually forms most of the canopy cover and is overwhelmingly 

dominated by Streblus cf. tonkinensis (Moraceae), which accounts for precisely one third 

(57) of all of the trees in the plot and 52.8% of the basal area of wood. This species is 

shade tolerant, grows extensively under established canopy cover provided by 

Excentiodendron cf. tonkinensis (Tiliaceae), and is generally medium sized and restricted 

to the middle-storeys: the mean DBH of Streblus trees in FPB is 16.73cm, close to the 

average of 17.29cm for the whole plot. A characteristic of this forest type is relatively 

high stocking density and low mean DBH. It shares this level with members of Fagaceae 

(Lithocarpus sp.), Clusiaceae (small specimens of Garcinia cf. fagraeoides), 

Euphorbiaceae (Strophioblachia sp.), and to a lesser extent Fabaceae (Dalbergia sp., 


Pithecellobium sp.). The extant upper canopy is composed mainly of Excentiodendron cf. 

tonkinensis (26 individuals accounting for over 15% of the basal area of wood), joined by 

a handful of specimens of Pometia cf. pinnata (Sapindaceae). Dipterocarps 

(Dipterocarpus and Hopea) are also present in small numbers. The strong dominance of 

Streblus/Excentiodendron makes this type of forest somewhat less diverse than the mixed 

type in terms of families and genera of trees. Ground flora is sparse due to the shade 

provided by the extensive middle canopy, a large proportion being saplings of canopy 

trees such as Excentiodendron (20% of the ground flora stems), Streblus, Dalbergia 

(Fabaceae), Wendlandia (Rubiaceae) and Garcinia. Other woody species more sparsely 

distributed in the forest are also represented here, such as Ficus (Moraceae) and Acer 

(Aceraceae), alongside smaller populations of various herbaceous plants, particularly 

Impatiens(Balsaminaceae), and members of Araceae and Orchidaceae. 

FPC is an example of this type of forest at a lower altitude (530m), situated close to the 

Imperata cylindrica/shrub-covered basin floor which increases the amount of the ambient 

light in the lower reaches of the plot. As a result, ground flora is rather more extensive, 

with a comprehensive carpeting of species of Polypodiaceae. However, elsewhere in the 

plot, the pattern is similar, with dominant Excentiodendron forming the upper canopy 

(c.12-20m) this time alongside Garcinia and Spondias sp. The latter is softwood with 

little economic value, which often forms an extensive emergent canopy sparsely 

distributed above forest on limestone. Together these three genera account for over 70% 

of the basal area of wood in the plot due to the large tree sizes. Meanwhile, once more, 

Streblus dominates the lower middle canopy, Antidesma (Euphorbiaceae) and Litchi 

(Sapindaceae) forming the upper middle canopy, and Excentiodendron, Streblus and 

other woody saplings such as Xylopia sp. (Annonaceae) strongly characterising the 

ground flora. Despite having been recorded as one of the main vegetation types within 

the reserve, areas containing Streblus sp. were found to be relatively patchy and 

restricted: Sreblus was actually absent or represented by one or two individuals in most 

plots. 

The second, more widespread forest type exhibits more mixed and varied patterns of 

dominance. Previous studies by Birdlife International identified species such as 

Terminalia myriocarpa (Combretaceae), Pometia pinnata (Sapindaceae), and Bischofia 

javanica (Euphorbiaceae) in this forest type, although few of these were recorded in the 

Frontier plots and none were found to be dominant, suggesting some degree of 

heterogeneity in this more mixed type. The majority of the forest in Frontier’s survey 

across the altitudinal range was found to be more diverse with regard to both tree and 

ground flora, or at least to exhibit dominance of various different genera replacing 

Streblus in the middle storeys. These are principally from Euphorbiaceae (Mallotus, 

Antidesma and Glochidion) and Fagaceae (mainly Lithocarpus, also Castanopsis). 

Similar to FPB and FPC, the upper and emergent canopies are heavily dominated by 

species of Tiliaceae (principally Excentiodendron cf. tonkinensis but also Colona sp.) 

which account for a mean of 48.54% of basal area of wood from only 15% of the 

individuals across the remaining plots. Other large specimens of Michelia 

(Magnoliaceae), Markhamia (Bignoniaceae), Acer, Garcinia, Pometia, Lithci, Sweitenia 

(Meliaceae) and Elaeocarpus (Elaeocarpaceae) sp., as well as larger specimens of the 

middle canopy trees, also complement the upper storeys. Forest stratification is 


sometimes blurred. Other middle storey trees widespread at somewhat lower densities 

include Aglaia (Meliaceae), Wendlandia, Choerospondias (Anacardiaceae), Villebrunea 

(Urticaceae), Ficus, Syzigium (Myrtaceae), Elaeocarpus, and Diospyros (Ebenaceae). 

Most of the plots were dominated by continuous scree, and as such many of the above 

genera, such as species of Ficus, Antidesma, Aglaia and Syzigium are drought tolerant 

and specially adapted to sloping limestone habitats with thin soils high in Magnesium and 

Calcium. Some of these are also common in the Streblus/Excentiodendron forest. Ground 

flora, whilst containing large numbers of woody saplings of Excentiodendron and midstorey 

species listed above, is much more diverse in terms of herbaceous species, lianes 

and other non-woody plants not as specifically adapted to this environment. Araceae is 

consistently well-represented, including Aglaeonema, Colocasia, Homalomena, 

Arisaema, Schefflera, and Hedera sp.. Melastomaceae (largely Sonerilla and Medinilla), 

Acanthaceae (Strobilanthes and Chroestes), Urticaceae (Laportea), Polypodiaceae 

(Drynaria and others) and Aspleniaceae (Asplenium) also make up significant 

proportions of the ground flora. A number of orchid species and other ornamental plants 

are found in this forest type, especially in the regions of FPF and FPG-FPI. These include 

species of Luisia, Liparis, Dendrobium, Cymbidium, Calanthe, Denoria and 

Bulbophyllum. These are especially common at higher altitudes such as at FPI, perhaps 

where they are less easily collected by local people for sale. 

A forest type highly distinct in its nature is to be found on the more open areas of low 

canopy vegetation on karst hilltops, which, being exposed to higher winds and thus 

having a cooler, drier microclimate, tends to exhibit a number of sub-tropical and 

temperate as well as tropical broadleaved tree species. These include the pines 

Pseudotsuga brevifolia, Tsuga chinensis, Abies nukiangensis and Keteleeria davidiana 

(Pinaceae), Amentotaxus yunnanensis (Amentotaxaceae) and deciduous trees such as 

Acer sp. which are also found on the scree slopes below. These are often joined by 

broadleaved species, including Lithocarpus fisse, L. bacgiangensis (Fabaceae), 

Phyllanthus parvifolius, P. clarkei (Euphorbiaceae) and species of Quercus, Illicium 

(Illiaceae), Wendlandia and Madhuca. Ground flora includes Rhus chinensis 

(Anacardiaceae), Memecylon edure (Melastomaceae), species of Hypobathrum 

(Rubiaceae), Canthium (Acanthaceae), Tilia (Tiliaceae), plus various members of 

Poaceae, Themeliaceae, Gesneraceae and Ericaeae. A number of orchid species are also 

to be found here such as Peristylus candidus, Dendrobium acinaciforme and D. 

pachyglossum. Just below these steep outcrops, there is typically a thin band of 

[Cyrurunadia] bamboo and Pandanus tonkinensis (Pandanaceae) may also be abundant. 

This bamboo is a consequence of the opening of the canopy on these steep rocky 

outcrops, with the peak flowering periods every 10-15 years providing plentiful food for 

rodent populations. The forest immediately below these outcrops, covering slopes falling 

at a 40-45° angle is typically lower in stature (ambient height c. 15m), with species 

usually found in the upper canopy being smaller and sharing dominance more equally 

with mid-storey species. This is partly due to the climatic features mentioned above, and 

partly because the substratum is often continuous scree here, with very little soil to root 

on: larger trees tend to be inherently unstable. FPI represents this forest well, with low 

diversity of trees represented in a relatively large number of small individuals. Whilst 

Excentiodendron cf. tonkinensis still dominates the upper canopy with 68 individuals, the 

average DBH for this species (26.95cm) is much lower than in other plots, and other 


genera usually represented by sizeable individuals, such as Garcinia and Pometia, instead 

share the fluid middle storey with members of the Euphorbiaceae and Fagaceae. This 

forest has large amounts of ambient light, and a diverse herbaceous content at the ground 

level. 

Past surveys (FREC, 1997; Birdlife International/FIPI, 2000) have identified fairly 

distinct forest types upper slopes. However, Frontier’s survey suggested the 

Excentiodendron sp. is widely dominant across the altitudinal range, except at the very 

summits of the karst outcrops, and it is the middle and ground layers that are more 

heterogenous according to geographical location and, to a lesser extent, altitude and 

topography. The results of Frontier’s work indicated that, rather than there being a 

‘threshold’ altitude at which vegetation types change here, both mixed Excentiodendron 

and Streblus/Excentiodendron forest are distributed between the fringes of the limestone 

basins (c.500m) to well over 600m. Both FPE at 520m and FPD at 730m were broadly 

similar in their composition and structure, yet FPD and FPI (780m), both relatively high 

altitude plots, were markedly different in their structure and levels of diversity. It seems 

from these results that the forest type and constitution depends significantly more upon 

micro-environment factors such as soil depth, gradient, aspect, disturbance regimes 

(including stochastic factors like natural tree falls), and local climate. With the exception 

of the karst summits, these factors do not correspond strongly to altitudinal variation, 

given that even the highest points in the area are less than 1,000m. It is thus unlikely that 

the two forest types identified in this report are found in any particular areas or altitudes, 

but are instead dispersed together across the limestone block. 

3.4.3 Important flora of Kim Hy P.N.R. 

Within the high floral diversity of Kim Hy P.N.R., a number of species suffer varying 

levels of risk and rarity, a list of which is given in Figure 3.6. This list may not be 

comprehensive, but as with the list of endangered mammals previously listed for Kim 

Hy’s scientific appraisal, some of the plant species listed for the area may require further 

confirmation. Many of these are important from an economic as well as conservation 

viewpoint, both locally and nationally, their over-exploitation contributing to their 

threatened status. Important timber species here include Markhamia stipulata, Madhuca 

passquiere and Excentiodendron tonkinensis. FIPI consider 107 species from 43 families 

of tree found at Kim Hy to be in need of special protection at the local level. About 18% 

of the total number of species in the area -102 plant species from 54 families - are of 

medicinal value (FIPI, 1997). These include red listed species such as Drynaria fortunei, 

Tetrapanax papyiferum, Cimbodium barometz, and Morinda officinalis. There are 34 

species from 24 families (principally Rosaceae) of edible food trees and 22 species from 

18 families of forest vegetables. Six species from four families are used for their essential 

oils (FIPI, 1997). Another main economic feature of the local ground flora is the 

ornamental value, especially regarding the Orchidaceae. Dendrobium sp., Anoectichilus 

setaceus and species of Bulbophyllum are especially at risk here due to profitable Chinese 

markets for these plants. Other ornamental plants at Kim Hy include Cibotium barometz, 

and some species of Cycas. Species identifications were undertaken by FIPI for the 


scientific appraisal of Kim Hy in 1997, but the list is not widely available. There may be 

more beneficial species as yet unrecorded. 

The principle risk for the majority of these species is the destruction or degradation of 

their natural environment, although some are used commercially such as Aquilaria 

crassna (‘eaglewood’ tree which may be mixed with other non-timber plants to produce 

medicine), Chukrasia tabularis, a commercial timber, and Calamus tonkinensis, the 

rattan palm. Zenia insignis is not specifically exploited in Vietnam, but is uncommon, 

and is the only member of its genus. A few of these plants are not restricted to good 

quality forest; Colona polonei, for example is a small pioneer tree often found in lowland 

secondary, disturbed or re-colonising forest. However, most of the above species have 

very restricted geographical ranges and scattered distributions, with few large trees 

remaining. Excentiodendron tonkinensis, Madhuca pasquire, Dalbergia tonkinensis and 

Parashorea chinensis are all restricted to the southern provinces of Guangxi, Yunnan, 

Guangdong and Hainan island and northern provinces of Vietnam, whilst E. tonkinensis 

and Zenia insignis are among the many plants found at Kim Hy which are endemic to 

limestone habitats (IUCN, 2002). The two endangered species are of particular note. E. 

tonkinensis has been more recently upgraded to this status due to significant population 

declines having been observed after over-exploitation and lack of sufficient regeneration 

(IUCN, 2002). As Kim Hy represents an area of extensive dominance of this species, a 

lack of legal protection for the habitat may result in unsustainable extraction of this wood 

in the future. The emergent Dipterocarp Parashorea chinensis is restricted to a 20km 2 

area in Yunnan, China, but is sometimes found in pure stands in Vietnam (IUCN, 2002): 

it is also present at Ky Thuong proposed Nature Reserve and Huu Lien Nature Reserve, 

although apparently not at Ba Be National Park (Tordorff et al, 2000). 


Fig. 3.6: Red-listed plant species recorded by previous surveys of Kim Hy P.N.R. 

1997 

Source: FIPI, 

K = Insufficiently known, DD = Data Deficient E/EN = Endangered, V/VU = Vulnerable, T = Threatened, 

R= Rare, LR/nt = Low Risk/near threatened, LR/cd = Low Risk/conservation dependent 

NO. SPECIES FAMILY ANON., 1996 (Red 

Data Book, Viet 

Nam) 

IUCN 

1997 

IUCN 

2002 

1 Ardisia silvestris Myrsinaceae V 

2 Aquilaria crassna Thymeliaceae K 

3 Calamus platyacanthus Arecaceae V 

4 Calamus tonkinensis Arecaceae R 

5 Camellia pleurocarpa Theaceae VU 

6 Chukrasia tabularis Meliaceae K 

7 Cibotium barometz Dicksoniaceae K 

8 Colona poilanei Tiliaceae R LR/nt 

9 Cycas chevalieri Cycadaceae R 

10 Dalbergia tonkinensis Fabaceae K VU 

11 Dipterocarpus retusus Dipterocarpaceae VU 

12 Drynaria fortunei Polypodiaceae T 

13 Eriobotrya serrata Rosaceae R 

14 Excentiodendron hsienmu Tiliaceae V 

15 Excentiodendron tonkinensis Tiliaceae V EN 

16 Garcinia faraeoides Clusiaceae V 

17 Guihaia grosefibrosa Arecaceae R 

18 Illicium parvifolium Illiaceae R 

19 Keteleeria davidiana Pinaceae E 

20 Licuala tonkinensis Arecaceae R R 

21 Madhuca pasquiere Sapotaceae R VU 

22 Markhamia stipulata Bignoniaceae V 

23 Meliantha suavis Opiliaceae K 

24 Morinda officialis Rubiaceae K 

25 Paphiopedilum appletonianum Orchidaceae R 

26 Parashorea chinensis Dipterocarpaceae K R EN 

27 Platanus kerrii Platanaceae T VU 

28 Pothos kerrii Araceae R 

29 Tetrameles nudiflora Tetrameliaceae K 

30 Zenia insignis Fabaceae R LR/nt 


3.5 Forest protection and threats to forest conservation in Kim Hy P.N.R. 

Since the 1950s, forest loss in the area surrounding Kim Hy’s limestone forest area has 

undergone significant levels of de-forestation in line with many other areas of Bac Kan 

province, largely due to population and land issues, and as an indirect consequence of 

central government policy interpreted variously at the local level with regard to land 

allocation, forest contracting and agricultural/silvicultural technology and practise. 

Although most of the proposed Nature Reserve is classed as ‘Special Use Forest’ by the 

FPD, much of the non-limestone-based forest has been clear-felled or over exploited for 

its timber and pole-wood to such an extent that it is heavily degraded. Similar pressures 

now therefore affect the fringes of the limestone forest and the valley basins within even 

the more remote medium limestone forest. Rarely do these valleys contain undisturbed 

forest, as the history of relatively large populations of gold miners and ‘satellite farms’ 

(as well as temporary hunter camps) has led to varying degrees of degradation. This has 

since extended to the fringes of the main limestone area to the extent that continued forest 

exploitation may in the future compromise the ecological integrity of this forest. Shifting 

cultivation in the area has now been stopped, hill farming stabilised and further clearance 

effectively halted, but hillsides already cleared are still mainly under active cultivation, 

negating the chance for forest recovery or rehabilitation, yet ensuring temporary food 

security for the nearby villagers. The problems are not insurmountable, however; the 

threats are recognised by the local and district FPD and measures are in place to 

ameliorate the problem, using both enforcement and incentive. 

If a Nature Reserve is ratified at Kim Hy, there will be five forest stations with 15 staff 

and the HQ at Lang San: these will be in Tham Mu village, An Tinh, the centre of Kim 

Hy, the northern and western edges of the PNR near Ngan Son and Bach Thong districts 

respectively as well as the main checkpoint in Lang San (FIPI, 1997). At present, Kim Hy 

FPD (3 staff) is responsible for Luong Thuong, Lang San, Kim Hy, An Tinh and Luong 

Thanh. Con Minh FPD (3 staff) is responsible for Con Minh, Dong Sa and Quang Phong. 

The FPD in Con Minh felt they needed 10 staff to patrol and administrate these areas 

effectively, but the provincial department understood staffing numbers in the area to be 

sufficient, despite the need for a better administrative infrastructure. The commune 

departments meet once a month in Na Ri. More information regarding the forest 

protection scheme and issues surrounding the non-limestone forest area at Kim Hy 

proposed Nature Reserve is provided in Chapter 5. 

The increased FPD presence in the area over the years, especially the establishment of the 

two guard stations on highway 279 in Con Minh and Kim Hy (see Map 4), has 

significantly reduced the volume of illegal commercial timber extraction for transport out 

of the area, and rarely do the FPD catch people with significant amounts of wood for 

external sale anymore. When they do it is the main canopy species which have been cut – 

principally Excentiodendron tonkinensis, and Madhuca passquiere, but also Markhamia 

tabularis, Vatica vietnamensis and Sindora vietnamensis. (Con Minh FPD, pers. 

Comm..). Now the exploitation problem is generally local in its nature, as all trucks and 

other large vehicles leaving the area are required to stop at the checkpoints at these 

stations. The local demand extends around the entire rim of the limestone forest, with the 


most accessible areas of forest with suitable trees being targeted as priority, and then 

transported internally if need be. Most large cuts are of Excentiodendron tonkinensis, a 

hardwood used in the manufacture of chopping boards (a fairly lucrative and constant 

local market) and construction of houses; one group of local people were felling and 

processing timber for housing near the second Frontier base camp at An Tinh during the 

second expedition, for the construction of a house in the northern area of the commune. 

There is very little, if any large scale timber felling which is not undertaken with the 

explicit permission of the commune Peoples’ Committees, however, and local protection 

staff related a fairly positive view of the responsibility of local people in this matter (Kim 

Hy and Con Minh FPD, pers. Comm.). Although E. tonkinensis is listed as regionally 

‘endangered’ by the IUCN (2002) and nationally ‘vulnerable’ in the RDBV (1996), both 

mature stands and juvenile stems of this species are locally abundant within the forest 

where selective logging on the karst hillsides is not extensive, and it is more the effect 

upon the forest’s structural dynamics which is deleterious from this activity than the 

direct threat to the species’ local survival. Other species, however, which are also 

traditionally used in construction, have suffered more dramatically in the past in this area, 

notably Chukrasia tabularis, (‘data deficient’ in the RDBV) Markhamia stipulata 

(nationally ‘vulnerable’) and Madhuca passquiere (‘rare’ in the RDBV, and regionally 

‘vulnerable’ as listed by IUCN, 2002). It seems that mature populations of these trees, 

along with certain Dipterocarp species of Vatica and Hopea (the latter principally situated 

upon lower areas with deeper, wetter soils) have been reduced to a small number of 

mature individuals surviving in the limestone forest interior, where logging conditions are 

much less favourable. These timber trees are among those earmarked by FIPI in the 1997 

investment plan for rehabilitation of the forest edge upon the designation of the Nature 

Reserve, which could serve to restore elements of the previous lowland soil-slope forest 

cover over time (FIPI, 1997: see Chapter 5 for more details) 

Aside from large-scale timber felling, which is relatively easy for forest protection 

authorities to monitor, it is the smaller scale but more constant degradation of both forest 

edge and forest interior which may be causing the most challenging threats to the forest 

quality. On forest land allocated in areas surrounding the villages of all four communes 

within the proposed area, collection of dead wood for fuel is permitted, but some 

households in Kim Hy and An Tinh reported a shortage of this resource for their needs, 

requiring that they cut small trees for this purpose, as well as for fencing to protect 

dwellings, gardens and hill crops (principally from wandering livestock) – this was 

especially a problem in Kim Hy commune, and is increasingly exacerbated by the 

growing demand, with villagers sometimes having to travel over two kilometres into the 

forest to collect fuel wood alongside other forest products. Traditionally a problem in the 

hills to the north of Kim Hy, the villagers are turning increasingly towards the limestone 

forest as a potential source of pole and fuel wood. 

Neither is this problem restricted to the forest edge; the presence of gold miners, remnant 

from a purge of the previously much higher population (approximately 3,000 according 

to Geissman and Vu Ngoc Thach, 1998) by the local police in 1998, may also be having a 

continued effect upon large stretches of the limestone forest. Some of these people are 

local but many are from surrounding provinces or districts, and at least six mines with 


associated accommodation and limited garden cultivation were encountered within Kim 

Hy commune. This activity effectively renews the previous problem of ‘second farms’ 

sometimes cultivated relatively deep in the forest during the collective period when hill 

cultivation was important for bridging the gap between inefficient wet rice production 

and food security. Whilst this practise is now rare despite population pressures upon wet 

rice land, gold miners continue to occupy many of the interior limestone valley basins. 

The extent of their disturbance to the natural environment is highly variable, depending 

both upon their methods of gold extraction and upon the size of the operation. In some 

cases, the mines were very small, often situated in small forest clearings, composed 

merely of a single lean-to with one to three occupants relying largely upon access to 

villages and to a lesser extent forest products for their dietary needs, and probably having 

fairly negligible effects upon the surrounding forest quality. Others were family 

operations in larger basins which were being actively cultivated, and which most likely 

placed more substantial demands upon the surrounding forest resources. Disturbance is 

not restricted to the floral ecological regime. Where miners extract through use of 

dynamite, considerable and regular disturbance is done to local faunal populations, 

especially those relying upon scree habitats for refuge (see Chapter 4.5). These are 

generally the smaller operations, which also use a ground-boring method, disused 

remnants of which are to be found well into the forest. The larger operations tend to use 

machinery-operated extraction methods at semi-permanent surface mines, involving 

water-blasting and sieving of soil from the limestone rock, whereby about a kilogram of 

gold may be collected per year in the sediment pool nearby. Although not as violent as 

the dynamite method, these operations usually cause a permanent noise from machinery 

and generators, and once more prove to be a significant disturbance to the surrounding 

faunal populations, which are often forced to the higher areas of the karst for refuge. In 

some cases, social problems such as drug abuse, often related to illicit gold mining here, 

were observed, and both forest protection and civil administration authorities implied that 

most local villagers would prefer to see the remaining miners expelled from the area, 

bringing as it does a constant trickle of people from other areas, and some significant 

social security issues. However, a large number of the gold miners (especially the familyorientated 

operations) feel they depend upon the activity, or that it is vastly more 

profitable than other forms of income generation: one lone miner who had occupied the 

same site for eleven years quoted an income of 100 million VND during 2000. It will be a 

challenge for the combined authorities to deal with this problem in a manner which is 

firm, but which does not merely drive such communities to other forms of forest 

exploitation. The existence of a managerial, legislative and enforcement infrastructure 

which could cope with such a challenge would be a highly beneficial aspect of the 

establishment of the Nature Reserve at Kim Hy. 

Fire is responsible for some forest loss within the proposed Nature Reserve, although it is 

usually a naturally occurring and fairly small scale phenomenon which indeed has its 

place in the natural forest ecosystem’s cycle of regeneration and renewal (Richards, 

1996); some forest trees such as certain species of Wendlandia are resistant to fire. In the 

dry season, however, a fire-prevention team is assembled by the local FPD branches, 

comprised of local people with a summary payment of 300,000VND for the duration. 


These teams inspect potential hazards within forested areas throughout the reserve, but it 

seems that fire is no longer a major problem of forest destruction since the extirpation of 

the majority of gold miners (who often caused accidental fires) from the main body of 

forest. 

The final issue facing the conservation of floral species and communities within Kim 

Hy’s main body of limestone forest is that of the collection of non-timber forest products, 

the nature of which are indicated in section 3.4.3 of this chapter, and is particularly 

noticeable with regard to ornamental species of the Orchidaceae. This activity is also well 

established here, especially with villagers from An Tinh commune, who may travel 

several kilometres through the forest for this purpose. However, whether due to falling 

demand or to tighter controls, the practise has apparently become less common in the last 

two years (Pham Duc Tien, pers. comm.). Once again, this activity is one which is 

difficult to monitor without greater protection staff resources, due to its small scale and 

occurrence within deep forest. Collectors of non-timber forest products do, however, tend 

to use established paths for access, meaning it may be possible to regulate relatively 

easily in the future if such resources are allocated. 

3.6 Conclusions 

Although some of the more dramatic threats to the medium limestone forest at Kim Hy 

proposed Nature Reserve such as clearance for cultivation and disturbance associated 

with gold mining have in more recent years been reduced in their severity and intensity, 

these threats remain at significant enough levels as to be of continuing concern to the 

forest management authorities, especially where it is felt that the activities cannot be 

monitored effectively, or where (as in many cases) they are more a result of difficult 

socio-economic realities than of recreation or profit-seeking enterprise. This point is of 

special note for the future management board of the Nature reserve if it is to include areas 

in Cao Son and Vu Muon communes, where despite important tracts of medium 

limestone forest area being present, there is conversely a higher traditional dependence 

upon forest products and hill cultivation by local village populations. There are some 

incidences of gold mining here also, but not on the scale of Kim Hy, An Tinh or Con 

Minh communes. At present, Bach Thong district does not have the funds or 

infrastructure in place to address many of these issues, which may exacerbate the 

problem more rapidly in these areas. Consistent dialogue between the civil administration 

and financial bodies as well as the forest protection departments of both Na Ri and Bach 

Thong districts is needed in order to manage the conservation and rehabilitation measures 

pertaining to the limestone forest area. The establishment of a Nature Reserve covering 

this area will provide both an incentive and, through its management board, a forum for 

such communication so that integrated management can be implemented. 

The botanical diversity of the forest of the Kim Hy area so far lends the most argument 

for a Nature Reserve to be established here, and FIPI and Frontier surveys, imply both the 

existence of significant communities of species which have both economic and 

conservation value, and a high potential for regeneration and rehabilitation of degraded 

forest and scrub areas through integrated economic and conservation-orientated schemes. 


4. FAUNA 

4.1 BUTTERFLIES (LEPIDOPTERA, ROPALOCERA) 

4.1.1 Introduction 

Although butterflies as a group are highly diverse in their habitat preferences, a number 

of individual species are highly specific (usually according to food plant availability) as 

regards their requirements from the natural environment. As a result, butterflies are often 

considered to be important indicators of overall biodiversity (Ehrlich, 1988, Gov. SRV, 

1994). They are also one of the only invertebrate groups for which identification works 

have been composed for the South-East Asian region (e.g. Corbet & Pendlebury, 1992; 

Pinratana, 1977-97; Lekagul et al, 1977; Osada et al, 1999), including, more recently, 

field guides for preliminary identification of more common species (Monastyrskii, 2002). 

Until recently, little work had been undertaken on the butterfly fauna of Vietnam. The 

first attempt to produce a comprehensive list for the Lepidoptera of Indochina was 

published by Dubois and Vitalis de Salvasa in 1919. This was followed by collections 

made in the mid-twentieth century, culminating in a checklist for Vietnam containing 455 

species of butterfly (Metaye, 1957). Numerous studies, undertaken principally by the 

Vietnam-Russia Tropical Centre and supplemented by a number of baseline surveys by 

Frontier-Vietnam (reviewed in Hill, 1999; and Devyatkin, 1999) and the Czech Academy 

of Sciences, have more recently contributed much to the understanding of Vietnam’s 

butterfly diversity, ecology and conservation issues. These studies have also led to the 

discovery of a number of new species and records for the country (Monastyrskii, 2000; 

Monastyrskii, pp.118-119. in Anon, 2001). 

The Frontier-Vietnam survey in 2001 appears to be the first study regarding the 

lepidopteran fauna of Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve (see also Chapter 4.2 on 

Sphingid moths). The aims of the survey were to formulate a species list as 

comprehensive as possible for the proposed Nature Reserve across the range of habitats 

present therein, and to provide details regarding bio-geographical and habitat distribution 

of the species recorded. 

4.1.2 Methods 

As the first baseline survey of the area, the Frontier-Vietnam field work did not involve 

butterfly transects, instead sampling the butterfly population on an intensive but ad hoc 

basis. Two methods were used: 

Hand nets: The most versatile and opportunistic method, hand nets were used by survey 

teams throughout both expeditions. They were employed in more open areas surrounding 

the base camp areas and soil basins (usually contained scrub/shrub vegetation) within the 

limestone forest block, in the forest interior at all survey sites, and at the karst summits. 

However, survey effort and success of capture was inevitably biased towards the more 

open areas, due to the greater ease of observation and capture especially where the 


substratum was jagged limestone. Collection generally took place between 0800 and 

1600 hours, on consecutive days where possible. 

Canopy traps: As described by Austin and Riley (1995). These were used at all survey 

sites within the limestone forest area in order to account for those species which feed 

(and therefore tend to fly) in the upper/upper middle storeys of the forest. They were 

generally hung at between 15 and 20m above ground level. Over-ripe fruit, fermented 

alcohol, sugar and sugar-based food was used as bait, both independently and mixed, and 

to varying levels of success. Traps were checked at sunrise and sunset. 

In both of the above methods, butterfly specimens were taken after a preliminary field 

identification by applying pressure to the thorax to kill the individual, and storing the 

specimens in airtight containers containing drying agents paradichlorobenzene and silica 

gel. 

Identifications were made by A. Monastyrskii of the Vietnam-Russia Tropical Centre in 

Hanoi. Taxonomy and Nomenclature follow Pinratana (1977-96) and Corbet and 

Pendlebury (1992), with variations incorporated from more recent works. 

4.1.3 Results 

A total of 93 species of butterfly (from 403 identifications) were recorded for this survey 

period: a full list of these is provided in Appendix 3. The species comprise nine families: 

the Papilionidae (11 species), Pieridae (12 species), Danaidae (7 species), Satyridae (13 

species), Amathusiidae (4 species), Nymphalidae (24 species), Acraeidae (1 species), 

Lycaenidae (16 species) and Hesperiidae (5 species). 

4.1.4 Discussion 

4.1.4.1 Species richness 

The number of butterfly species recorded in Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve was 

significantly lower than other sites of similar forest type and habitat quality. For example, 

Frontier surveys of a similar length at Na Hang Nature Reserve (Hill, 1997), Ben En 

National Park (Tordorff et al, 2000) and Ba Be National Park (Hill et al, 1997) yielded 

143, 168 and 167 species respectively. In contrast to Huu Lien Nature Reserve, which 

contains a wealth of butterfly species - 181 were recorded on the Frontier survey there in 

2000 (Furey et al, 2002) – Kim Hy was not found to be especially diverse on this survey, 

which spanned both wet and dry seasons and all existing habitats. The reasons for this are 

unclear, as survey effort may be considered to be comparable to the above mentioned 

surveys It seems at this stage premature to conclude that this result indicates an actual 

poverty in species diversity, and may be more linked with the predominant habitat type 

surveyed on the Frontier expeditions (see section 4.1.4.3 on habitat preferences below). 

More than 90% of captures were made using hand nets, which may mean that a number 

of canopy species were missed in this survey. It is highly unlikely that the species list 


provided here is exhaustive, and it is strongly recommended that further baseline surveys 

are undertaken to gain a more comprehensive understanding of Kim Hy’s butterfly 

diversity. 

4.1.4.2 Bio-geographical composition 

Of the 93 species listed in Appendix 3, geographical distributions were derived for 72 

(most of the Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae have incomplete data existing) from previous 

works on Vietnam’s butterflies (Hill, 1999) and those of the Indo-malayan realm 

(Lekagul et al., 1977; Corbet and Pendlebury, 1992; D’Abrera, 1982-96). A summary of 

the known ranges (as adapted from Hill, 1999 and Monastyrskii, 1998) of the recorded 

species is provided in Figure 4.1 below, with species-specific details given in Appendix 

3). 

Geographical distribution Number % of species 

of Species 

________________________________________________________________________ 

1 Endemic (E.Himalayas, S.China, N. Indochina) 7 7.5 

2 Mainland South-East Asia 13 14.0 

3 Entire Indo-Malayan region 43 46.3 

4 Entire Indo-Malayan & Australasian region, Palaearctic 7 7.5 

5 Old world tropics 2 2.2 

n/i. no information 21 22.5 

Total 72 100 

Figure 4.1.1: Bio-geographical composition of butterfly species recorded at Kim Hy 

proposed Nature Reserve. 

The majority of species recorded at Kim Hy for which information is available have wide 

distributions throughout the entire Indo-malayan realm, mostly from the Nymphalidae 

(eleven species) and Pieridae (nine species) families, also from the Papilionidae (five 

species). This was also the pattern in Frontier’s survey of Huu Lien nature reserve, and is 

believed to be a characteristic of forested areas in northern Vietnam (Hill, 1999). 

The families Amathusiidae, Satyridae and Papilionidae all contain species at Kim Hy 

which are endemic to the northern Indochinese area, including the Satyrid Penthema 

michallati which is endemic to Vietnam. 

4.1.4.3 Habitat distribution 

188 of the 403 specimens identified to 56 species were caught over a scrub habitat, whilst 

211 specimens identified to 78 species were caught in forested habitat (37 of which were 

found only in forest areas). Five of the species captured in the limestone forest were only 

caught on the summits of the limestone hills, which were usually over 700m in altitude; 

these were Papilio doddsi, Papilio castor, Papilio bianor (Papilionidae), Thaumantis 


diores (Amathusiidae) and Rohana tonkiniana (Nymphalidae). It is difficult to speculate 

over the implications of these figures, however, as more substantial numbers of species 

identified would provide more informed discussion regarding the general habitat 

preferences of the different families. Some preliminary findings here follow general 

patterns found in other surveys (Furey et al, 2002; Hill, 1999); for example, Nymphalidae 

and Pieridae had a similar number of species found in scrub and forested areas, 

Lycaenids were somewhat more abundant in open areas and forest clearings, and all 

species of Amathusiids were found in the shade of the forest canopy in low densities, 

which is a typical (although not universal) trait of this family (Hill, 1999). Other species 

generally associated with forest cover identified from Kim Hy include the Satyrid 

Melanitis phedima and the Papilionid Atrophaneura aidoneus, but there are likely to be 

several others. 

Overall, however, most families were represented by fairly equal numbers (of both 

specimens caught and species identified) in scrub and forest habitats, which is in some 

conflict with other studies of Vietnam’s butterfly fauna (e.g. Spitzer, 1993, Osborn et al, 

2000), which tends to suggest that forested areas are dominated by fewer species of 

butterfly, with more diversity to be found in areas of grassland, scrub, shrub and forest 

edge or clearing. It is possible that, as Frontier’s survey effort was concentrated within 

the limestone forest area, proportionally more of these species were recorded, whilst 

more survey time spent in the more open habitats in the future may account for a number 

of species that went unrecorded here. However, the body of information examined in 

this case is insufficient to draw any firm conclusions regarding habitat distribution. 

4.1.4.4 Species of conservation interest 

None of the species recorded at Kim Hy by Frontier are currently regarded as being of 

national or international conservation concern, and many of the species recorded are 

common. However, five of the species have a relatively restricted range (see Appendix 

3), and others may be restricted to forest habitats, the absence of forest corridors 

inhibiting their dispersal. 

4.1.5 Conclusions 

The Frontier-Vietnam survey of Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve should be considered 

preliminary only, but provides an insight into the diversity of species dwelling both in the 

limestone forest and in more open areas. With further surveys conducted in the future, the 

proposed Nature Reserve may prove to hold a similar diversity to other limestone-based 

areas which include a variety of habitats in northern Vietnam. Although similar levels of 

species richness were recorded for both scrub and forest habitats, it is the latter which is 

the most important from a conservation standpoint, as it is those species exhibiting forestspecificity 

that will be least adjustable to any habitat disturbance or degradation that may 

take place in the future, including that of open basins within the limestone forest area. 


4.2 HAWK MOTHS 


Although much work has been conducted on the Sphingidae (hawkmoths) in South-East 

Asia as a whole, this group remains relatively unknown in Indochina. For example, An 

Annotated Checklist of the Sphingidae of Vietnam (Kitching & Spitzer, 1995), lists 117 

species for the country, whilst stressing that knowledge regarding both the content and 

particularly distributions of the fauna are as yet incomplete. 

The 2001 Frontier-Vietnam survey appears to be the first research regarding the hawk 

moth fauna of Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve. The aim of the survey was to compile a 

species inventory for the Nature Reserve. 

4.2.2 Methods 

Sphingids were surveyed using light trapping equipment consisting of a mercury vapour 

lamp, mounted in front of a large, erect white sheet (approx. 3m x 2m). Specimens were 

selectively collected by hand from the sheet and immediate surrounding area, 

anaesthetised in a jar charged with ethyl acetate and killed by injection of a small 

quantity of ammonia into the thorax. Details on mercury vapour lamp collection are given 

by Austin (in Sutherland (ed.) 1996). For each collected specimen, data regarding the 

location, habitat type, altitude, date and collector were recorded. Specimens were stored 

in paper envelopes, using paradichlorobenzene as a preserving agent. 

Overall, a total of 182.5 hours of light trapping were conducted within the proposed 

Nature Reserve over the course of 21 nights, between July 17 th to August 20 th and 31 st 

October and 15 th November 2001. During the summer months (July to August) trapping 

survey effort was relatively intense due to high levels of activity, and trapping typically 

took place from 2000 hours until first light at approximately 0500 hours: on 4 of the 14 

summer trapping nights, trapping ceased after 4 – 6.5 hours after the starting time at dusk. 

During the second work phase from October to December, the survey effort for Sphingids 

was reduced due to very low numbers of specimens appearing on the trap, whilst survey 

effort was shifted to other groups. The species information provided in Inoue et al (1997) 

indicates that from their records, for well over a third of Thai species of hawkmoth, the 

adult (flying) period lies outside these autumn months, and this may also be the case in 

Vietnam. However, it is still important for further studies to continue trapping at this time 

of year as some species have only been caught during these months and may be highly 

specific in their period of activity. Light traps were constructed in the vicinity of the base 

camps for each work phase, located with sufficient distance from the camp to ensure that 

the vapour bulb was the only significant light source in the area, and positioned at the 

highest feasible vantage point to enable maximum light broadcast over the surrounding 

limestone forest block. 


Preliminary field identification of Sphingids were made using Moths of Thailand 

(Sphingidae) (Inoue et al. 1997). Final determinations are to be made by Alexander 

Napalov at Riga Zoo, Latvia. 

4.2.3 Results 

A total of 42 species belonging to 21 genera were provisionally identified over the course 

of both expeditions; these are listed in Appendix 4. 


Of the 42 species recorded during the survey, three are not listed in Kitching and Spitzer 

(1995): Ampelophaga dolichoides, Rhagastis hayesi, and Calambuly poecilus poecilus. 

Callamulyx poecilus poecilus has been recorded in this country since the time of writing 

of Kitching and Spitzer’s list in Vietnam (Kitching, 2001) , its previous range description 

(Inoue et al 1997) being from northern India through Nepal and South-east Asia to 

Taiwan, but not Indochina. The occurrence of Ampelophaga dolichoides and Rhagastis 

hayesi in Vietnam have, however, been confirmed from more recent surveys of northern 

protected areas (see SNFC, 2000; Tordoff et al. 1999 & 2000; Furey et al, 2002) and 

therefore neither of these represent new records for the country. 

The species most commonly caught on the trap were Theretra nessus, T. clotho, T. 

suffusa and Acosmeryx shervellii, although in the autumn work phase T. silhetensis and 

Cechenena minor represented a higher proportion of species caught. For some species, 

such as Rhagastis hayesii, Polyptychus trilineatus undatus and Craspedortha porphyria 

porphyria, only one specimen was recorded throughout the two work phases, perhaps 

indicating either lower population densities or populations more distant from the light 

trap, further inside the forest over which the light was broadcasted. It seems probable that 

the species recorded in this survey exist at highly variable population densities in the 

area, which may depend upon their degree of specialisation to their habitat: species such 

as Cechenena aegrota, Theretra suffusa, Ambulyx Pryeri and A. ochracea appear to 

exhibit highly specific preferences of food plant (Inoue et al 1997). More commonly 

exploited food plants for the sphingids recorded in Kim Hy include species of Begonia 

(Begoniaceae), Dillenia (Dilleniaceae), Impatiens (Balsalminaceae), Lagerstroemia 

(Lythraceae), Vitis (Vitaceae), Leea (Leeaceae), Garcinia (Clusiaceae), Castanopsis, 

Quercus (Fagaceae), Sterculia (Sterculiaceae), Rhus (Anacardiaceae) and Wendlandia 

(Rubiaceae). Although Sphingids as a group exhibit diverse feeding habits, different 

genera of Sphingid exploit different feeding niches, and it may be that, given the 

relatively high plant diversity in Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve, many more species 

exist in the area than have been identified so far. Indeed, given the short trapping period 

and limited physical coverage of the present survey, the current list is unlikely to be 

exhaustive. There are undoubtedly a number of day flying species present (which are not 

attracted to the lamp) that were not recorded during the present survey. With further 

survey work, it is highly probable that additional species will be discovered within the 

Nature Reserve. 



Levels of species richness would appear to be comparable to, although somewhat less 

than other protected areas in northern Vietnam. For example, 53 species have been 

recorded at Pu Hoat proposed Nature Reserve (Osborn et al. 2000) and 51 species at Huu 

Lien Nature Reserve (Furey et al. 2002): no surveys of hawk moths were undertaken at 

Ba Be National Park by Frontier. As only one of the work phases in Kim Hy fell within a 

season of higher activity for adult Sphingids, as opposed to two in Frontier’s survey of 

Huu Lien, which operated between April and August (Furey et al 2002), it may be that 

further surveys during spring and summer months may yield further additions to the 

current list for Kim Hy. Although the number of species recorded for Kim Hy represents 

approximately 36% of the total found in Vietnam, higher levels of species richness have 

been recorded at other sites such as the Pu Mat and Hoang Lien Nature Reserves which 

are known to host 83 and 78 species respectively (SNFC, 2000; Tordoff et al. 1999). 

Once again, as the above differences are at least partially due to differences in survey 

effort, it is difficult to make inferences about overall levels of diversity, but these results, 

alongside those of the butterfly survey, indicate that Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve 

may be considered to harbour fairly diverse and ecologically significant Lepidopteran 

species. The current conservation importance of these species is not known; many of the 

species are widespread in Asia, but may depend upon forest blocks such as that in Kim 

Hy for the successful proliferation of their food plants. 


4.3 AMPHIBIANS 


The List of Reptiles and Amphibians of Vietnam (Nguyen Van Sang and Ho Thu Cuc, 

1996) lists 82 amphibian species for Vietnam. Since this publication however, many new 

species, especially amphibians, and new records for the country have been discovered 

(e.g. Inger et al. 1999; Ohler et al. 2000), with recent lists comprising over 112 species, 

10 of which are listed in the Red Data Book of Viet Nam (IUCN 1996). 

Prior to the Frontier Vietnam survey in 2001, a total of 21 amphibian (and 35 reptile) 

species were recorded for Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve, two of which – Rana 

microlineata and R. spinosa – are listed as threatened in the Red Data Book for Viet Nam 

(1996). This research combines the results of direct collection and observations 

conducted during 1997 by the north-western subdivision of FIPI (1997). The aim of the 

Frontier Vietnam survey was to further build upon the existing species inventory of 

anurans (frogs and toads) for Kim Hy and identify any factors threatening populations 

within the Nature Reserve. No urodeles (salamanders and newts) or apodans (caecilians) 

were collected during the survey. 

4.3.2 Methods 

Similar to the other groups studied, the majority of survey was conducted around the 

principal study sites and expedition base camps. However, as material collected during 

the first expedition awaits identification, this report concerns collections made during the 

second expedition (study sites 5 – 9 and An Tinh base camp site) only. In these areas, 

survey effort was concentrated upon aquatic and associated habitats and largely took 

place at night between 1900 and 2200 hours, although opportunistic collection also 

occurred throughout the survey period. All search effort was conducted between 100 and 

700 metres altitude across a range of habitat types. 

Amphibians were located via visual searches or by their vocalisations and were captured 

by hand. Captured individuals were retained in plastic bags overnight prior to 

identification the following morning. For each individual, date, time, location, vegetation 

type and microhabitat details were recorded. Colours of specimens were recorded in life, 

prior to killing the animals in chorobutanol solution. Specimens were then fixed in 10% 

formalin solution for 12 hours and preserved in 70% ethanol solution. Some digital 

photographs were made of frogs captured at the base camp sites in order to aid 

preliminary identification in the field. Amphibian specimens were identified by Ms. Ho 

Thu Cuc of the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources in Hanoi 

. 


4.3.3 Results 

A total of 6 anuran species belonging to 4 families were recorded during the second 

expedition phase, which is discussed below. Voucher specimens from the Frontier- 

Vietnam survey are deposited at the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, 

Hanoi. 


4.3.4.1 Species of Conservation Interest 

None of the species confirmed above for the Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve are 

currently considered of international conservation concern (Hilton-Taylor, 2000). Rana 

andersoni (Ranidae) is, however, listed as ‘threatened’ in the Red Data Book for Vietnam 

(IUCN 1996), and Rana maosonensis (Ranidae) is thought to be endemic to Vietnam 

(Sang et al 2000). Most of the species encountered are common species: indeed, on the 

Frontier survey, there was a very low overall success rate in finding amphibians dwelling 

in mature forest habitats, and few vocalisations were heard at any of the principal survey 

sites. Due to the lack of any significant bodies of surface water inside the main forest 

block, it is likely that anuran species are more thinly populated in this area: only 17 out of 

39 (44%) individuals identified were caught in the limestone forest area (generally the 

tree frogs Microhyla pulelira (Microhylidae) and Polypedates leucomystax 

(Racophoridae), the behavioural ecology of which depends more upon water from 

secondary precipitation than groundwater bodies) despite survey effort being 

concentrated there. The remaining specimens were mainly common toads (Bufo 

melanostictus (Bufonidae)) and frogs (principally Rana limnocharis (Ranidae)) found in 

the agricultural and scrub land surrounding base camp: many more individuals of these 

species were caught and released than were kept as specimens. All of the species 

collected by Frontier in Kim Hy were also collected during frontier’s surveys of Huu 

Lien Nature reserve (Furey et al 2002). 

4.3.4.2 Conservation threats 

Amphibian populations in forested areas throughout northern Vietnam are threatened by 

habitat loss and degradation as a result of domestic clearance for agriculture and timber 

exploitation for building materials, resale and fuel wood. In addition, collection of 

amphibians for domestic consumption and restaurant trade is considered a major factor 

directly contributing to amphibian population decline in Vietnam (Nguyen Quang Trong, 

2000). 

In Kim Hy, extensive loss and degradation of mature forest on lower hill slopes and 

valley floors has occurred in the majority of accessible areas within the proposed Nature 

Reserve. Although this disturbance may benefit some populations of species associated 

with more anthropogenic landscapes and correspondingly high existing population 

densities such as Bufo melanostictus and Rana limnocharis, it may equally be expected to 

adversely affect species exhibiting some degree of reliance upon forest habitat, especially 


tree frogs (Microhylidae, Racophoridae, etc). It is, therefore, populations of the latter 

forest dependent species that are exposed to the greatest threat from these activities 

Although not directly witnessed during the survey period, anecdotal evidence also 

suggests that hunting of amphibians for domestic consumption occurs to some extent 

within the proposed Nature Reserve. In the past, the skin secretions of the common toad 

Bufo melanostictus have been used for medicine, and the meat given as food for children 

with rickets and slow growth, whilst species of Ranidae have also been used as a food 

source. This does not seem to be threatening anurans in the Kim Hy area significantly, as 

the practices, where they remain, do so on a small scale basis. 

4.3.5 Conclusion 

With a total of 21 confirmed amphibian species from the FIPI surveys which have 

received some confirmation from Frontier’s surveys, Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve, 

although comparable in terms of species richness to some protected areas in northern 

Vietnam, does not appear in itself especially significant. Whilst no surveys of amphibians 

were undertaken in Frontier’s survey of Ba Be National Park, 21 species are also 

currently confirmed for Huu Lien Nature Reserve (Furey et al, 2002), indicating than in 

areas of limestone forest in north Vietnam such as these maintain somewhat lower 

amphibian diversity (and population density) than other areas of continuous forest in the 

country. Greater levels of amphibian species richness have been observed in numerous 

other protected areas such as Hoang Lien Nature Reserve with 41 species (Tordoff et al. 

1999) and Pu Hoat Nature Reserve with 30 species (Osborn et al. 2000). Although 

partially a product of differences in survey effort, these differences can be attributed to 

the greater altitudinal and habitat diversity of these sites, and the differences in surface 

water availability. The majority of the species considered in this report possess relatively 

widespread distributions in mainland Southeast Asia and, to a lesser extent, northern 

Indochina. 

Amphibian populations within the Nature Reserve, particularly forest dwelling species, 

are threatened by extensive loss of forest habitat and continued disturbance of remnant 

areas and, to a lesser extent, possibly by collection for trade and local consumption. 

Protection of remaining forested areas should be considered of key importance for 

conservation of these and other species currently inhabiting the Nature Reserve. 


4.4 BIRDS 


Vietnam hosts a diverse avian fauna. A recent checklist (Vo Quy and Nguyen Cu, 1995) 

gives a total of 828 species, although this omits several species found within the country. 

More recent estimates, including several newly described species (eg. Eames et al, 

1999a; Eames et al, 1999b), place the national total at around 850 species (representing 

approximately 9% of the world total). Approximately 200 of these are non-resident 

migratory species (Gov. SRV, 1994). Four ‘endemic bird areas’ of particular importance 

to the conservation of endemic bird species have been identified by Birdlife International: 

the Annamese lowlands, the Kon Tum plateau, the Da Lat Plateau and the southern 

Vietnamese Lowlands. 

The principal aim of the bird survey conducted by Frontier-Vietnam in Kim Hy was to 

complement or confirm the existing species list for the proposed Nature Reserve detailed 

in the Feasibility Study (FIPI 1997), based upon survey results by FIPI, which identified 

143 bird species in this area, from 50 families and 17 orders, and also to identify threats 

facing the existing bird populations as a part of the Kim Hy forest ecosystem. 

4.4.2 Methods 

The bird survey was conducted throughout the area of the Kim Hy proposed Nature 

Reserve between the months of July and December 2001. Typically, four to five days 

were spent in each of the principal study areas, and continuous observations were made 

within the alluvial valleys running west-east in Kim Hy commune and south-north in An 

Tinh commune throughout the study period. Attempts were also made to visit other 

outlying areas in Cao Son and Vu Muon communes in Bach thong district in order to gain 

a comprehensive impression of the species distribution and principal areas of bird 

activity, species composition and abundance. Special emphasis was placed on forest 

habitat, although a considerable amount of time was inevitably spent in areas of scrub 

due to the preponderance of this habitat. All bird observations were made between the 

altitudes of 100m and 800m, with the greater majority occurring between 100 – 350m. 

Field observations were made using binoculars and recorded using either a portable tape 

recorder or notebooks. For each sighting, information regarding date, habitat, altitude 

and abundance was recorded. Observations were made throughout the day, although the 

majority of survey effort focused on the periods following dawn and prior to dusk, the 

times of highest bird activity. No mist netting for birds was conducted. Two species were 

identified after having been found dead either by natural causes or after having been 

found in a hunter’s trap. Anecdotal evidence was also compiled by interactions with local 

villagers in both communes, some of whom also caught birds for food or market. 

The literature used in the field for identification was Birds of South-east Asia (King et al., 

1975), A guide to the birds of Thailand (Lekagul & Round, 1991), A Field Guide to the 

Birds of Thailand and South-east Asia (Robson, 2000) and Birds of Hong Kong and 


South China (Viney et al., 1994). The sequence and nomenclature used in this report 

follows Inskipp et al (1996). 

4.4.3 Results 

Reasonably good physical coverage of the proposed Nature Reserve area (both current 

and recommended) was achieved, but due to logistical access constraints, much of the 

limestone forest could not be surveyed comprehensively. In total, 67 species arranged in 

22 families were recorded. These are listed in Appendix 5, together with information 

regarding basic ecological distributions, abundance, conservation status and endemism. 


Although few species were recorded during the present survey, it is probable that a 

number of shy, understorey, nocturnal and high-flying (Apodiidae, Accipitridae, etc) 

species are present, although unrecorded during the survey. A number of recorded 

sightings made during the survey have not been included as they were deemed 

insufficiently verified to be included in the species list. 

4.4.4.1 Range extensions and Altitude reductions 

There were two range extensions from those detailed in Robson (2002): 

SPECIES ALT/RANGE: ROBSON (2002) ALT/RANGE: FRONTIER 

Purple sunbird Resident Myanmar, Thailand, N Cambodia + N, E Tonkin 

(Nectarinia asiatica) C,S Laos, C,S Annam, Cochinchina 

Figure 4.4.1 

Altitude reductions for bird species Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve. 

4.4.4.2 Species of conservation interest 

No species currently listed as of national or international conservation concern were 

recorded during the survey period. A selected account of species of their interest is given 

below. 

Grey peacock pheasant (Polyplecton bicalcaratum): 

A specimen of this species was captured for food by a villager of An Tinh on the fringes 

of the limestone forest, and although secretive and not observed in its natural habitat on 

this survey, they were reported to be common in the area. The species is listed on CITES 

Appendix 2. 

Hill myna (Gracula religiosa): 

This species was seen in cages in both the district and provincial towns, and is a popular 

pet both locally and nationally. The species is listed on CITES Appendix 2. 


Asian barred owlet (Glaucidium cuculoides): 

The species was often seen and heard in lowland areas near base camp, and is listed on 

CITES Appendix 2. 

4.4.4.3 Habitat distribution 

The majority of species (roughly 60 per cent) were observed in or over agriculture, bare 

land, scrub and other open and early successional vegetation and are typical of such 

habitats. Despite similar levels of survey effort, significantly less (26 species) were 

recorded within mature limestone forest, although this may partially reflect the greater 

difficulty of observation within this habitat. The streaked wren babbler (Napothera 

brevicaudata), found to be common throughout the limestone forest, is endemic to this 

habitat. Very few species specifically adapted to open water habitats eg. rivers and 

ponds, were recorded during the survey, although an unconfirmed sighting of a Ruddybreasted 

crake (Parzona fusca) deserves further investigation. 

Most of the birds observed at Kim Hy were resident in north Vietnam, but some winter 

visitors were identified between October and December. This include the Large hawk 

cuckoo (Cuculus sparverioides), Japanese thrush (Turdud cardis), Fork tailed swift (Apus 

pacificus) and white wagtail (Motacilla alba). This information is included in Appendix 

5. 

Due to the extensive area of contiguous mature forest in Kim Hy relative to, for example 

Huu Lien, where forest patches have become increasingly fragmented and are under more 

serious threat from deleterious anthropogenic edge effects, a number of forest-dwelling 

avian species are able to survive on the steep, inaccessible limestone slopes, and exploit 

traditional behavioural and feeding niches. These include use of mature trees for nesting 

by woodpeckers, middle-canopy mixed feeding flocks of drongos, warblers, yuhinas and 

bulbuls, and utilisation of the dark understorey by species such as the streaked wren 

babbler. Whilst the more open areas of natural regenerative forest growth in the interior 

limestone basins are beneficial for species thriving in forest-edge and scrub forest 

environments, further inhibition of this regeneration would destabilise these local 

environments and potentially damage local breeding forest bird populations. It should 

therefore be a primary concern for the forest protection authorities to prevent existing 

small-scale utilisation of the valley floors for agriculture and gold mining within the 

forest block escalate, endangering the security of the extant forest avifauna. 

4.4.4.4 Conservation threats 

The principle threat to avifauna in the proposed Nature Reserve area is the effects upon 

their natural habitats caused by encroachment from past clearance for hill cultivation. As 

this has been largely stabilised in Kim Hy and An Tinh communes, this may not be a 

significant threat in the future if present patterns are adhered to; areas in Bach Thong 

district may experience further problems of this nature, however. Selective logging and 

the collection of smaller poles for fuel wood also helps to degrade the natural habitat 


upon which some bird species depend. This is not restricted to the forest edges; activities 

such as gold mining and hunting in the limestone forest interior have to a certain extent 

exacerbated the problem. A number of species are relatively versatile in their habitat 

preferences, and some forest-dwelling birds adapt to scrub conditions on the forest fringe; 

however, this may depend upon the existence of proximate forest for refuge and foraging 

resources. 

There was some evidence of direct hunting in the area, largely for sale to local and 

provincial towns. Popular caged species included red whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus 

jocnosus), great barbet (Megalaima virens), hill myna (Gracula religiosa), and black 

throated laughingthrush (Garrulax chinensis). Larger birds such as pheasants are 

occasionally also trapped for food, and local children were also observed both raiding 

nests and capturing live birds for recreation in areas of scrub. In itself this is not a 

significant threat to bird populations, but coupled with other more widespread issues, 

exacerbates the problem of disturbance to breeding populations, especially if less 

common species are inadvertently affected. The side effects of hunting of mammals was 

also observed during the survey when an eared pitta (Pitta phayrei) was identified having 

been caught in a snare trap. 


Kim Hy proposed Nature reserve has proved to be relatively rich in bird life, both in 

terms of abundance and species diversity. The number of species recorded on the Frontier 

survey in Kim Hy is comparable to, if somewhat higher than, the 45 species recorded in 

Huu Lien Nature reserve, where the local avifauna appears to have suffered more 

considerably from pressure from human encroachment upon forest resources (Furey et al, 

2002). The total number of species listed for the proposed Nature Reserve incorporating 

results of the previous surveys by FIPI, is comparable to the 214 species found in the 

Frontier surveys of Ba Be National Park in 1994 (Kemp et al) and 1996 (Hill et al, 1997) 

if the additional extensive aquatic habitats at Ba Be are taken into account. However, 

some of the species contained on the list compiled from previous surveys by FIPI, , such 

as the great hornbill (Buceros bicornis), may require further verification. 


4.5.1 Mammals: Bats 

4.5.1.1 Aims and methodology 

The aim of the Frontier bat survey was to compile a species list as comprehensive as 

possible for the proposed Nature Reserve, in the absence of any specific previous surveys 

on this group. The data detailed in the current report were gained from live trapping using 

mist nets and harp traps. The primary literature used to make field identifications of both 

small mammals and bats were: 

• The Mammals of the Indo-Malayan Region. Corbet & Hill, 1992; 

• Mammals of Thailand. Legakul & McNeely, 1988; 

• Bats of the Indian Sub-continent. Bates & Harrison, 1997. 

All elements of the bat survey took place at, or nearby, the study sites near the Frontier 

base camps at the rim of the limestone forest, or within the forest block itself. On 

occasions, trapping did not take place at satellite camps due to the areas unsuitability for 

mist netting and the logistical problems of transporting the harp traps great distances over 

limestone karst. The majority of trapping was undertaken within the boundaries proposed 

in the original FIPI investment plan, the one exception being the final survey site (west of 

vegetation plot FPI) which lies approximately 1 km west of the Investment Plan 

boundary but within that boundary proposed by FREC (see Map 3). 

Trapping was conducted along perceived flight corridors through the forest, foraging 

areas and potential roost sites such as caves. Altitudes of trapping sites ranged from 300 

m to 650 m. 

Trapping equipment consisted of two harp traps (4-bank design; one at base camp sites 

and, when possible, one at satellite camp sites) and mist nets (6×3m, 9×3m; used mostly 

at satellite camps). The harp traps were set-up in situ and activated shortly before dusk to 

avoid catching day-flying birds. Traps were then checked for captured animals at 2000 

hours (around 2 hours after sunset, peak activity for most bat species) and left active 

over-night to be checked again at 0700 hours, when many bats are returning to their 

roosts. During day-light hours the traps were left in situ but deactivated by the removal of 

the capture-bag. Mist nets were activated in situ shortly before dusk. Due to the stress 

caused to captured animals and the potential damage to the nets themselves, these were 

attended constantly by rotational teams between 1900 and 0000 hours. 

Captured animals were provisionally checked at the trap. Basic biometrics including 

forearm length, sex and pelage were recorded for all individuals, and species already 

collected on the survey were promptly released at the trap sight where they were caught. 


Potentially new species to the survey were taken as voucher specimens. These were killed 

using diethyl ether soaked in cotton wool in an airtight container: the specimen was 

placed inside the container and subsequently injected in the main muscle cavities with 

10% formaldehyde solution, prior to storage in 70% ethanol solution. All voucher 

specimens are coded and stored at the IEBR in Hanoi. 

4.5.1.2 Results 

The success of the bat survey was somewhat greater than that for small mammals (see 

section 4.5.2), although there was a marked difference in apparent abundance between 

the two phases. Whether this was due to variation in trap effort, season or location is, 

however, unclear. A total of 18 species were provisionally identified, consisting of 

species from four families; Pteropodidae (1 species), Hipposideridae (4 species), 

Rhinolophidae (7 species) and Vespertillionidae (6 species). Three of the Vespertilionids 

still require definitive identification to species level and therefore their identification may 

be considered provisional only. These results could be considered comparable to those 

listed at Huu Lien (Furey, 2002) which gave a list of 11 species from three families. Huu 

Lien, approximately 50 km Southeast of Kim Hy, is similar to the latter in being a 

limestone karst dominated area and so, it is perhaps no surprise that at least seven of the 

species found in Kim Hy were also present at Huu Lien. A full species list is included in 

Appendix 6a. 

Of these 18 species, two are of conservation concern; Rhinolophus paradoxolophus, 

listed as “Vulnerable” (Hilton-Taylor, 2000) and Rare (RDBV, 2000) and Ia io which is 

considered “Rare” at the national level (RDBV, 2000), “Low risk” by at the regional 

level (Hilton-Taylor, 2000) and also recorded in the FIPI list of endangered animals for 

the area (FIPI, 1997). Bourrets’ horseshoe bat (R.. paradoxolophus) was previously only 

known in Vietnam from two specimens but has now been recorded from several sights in 

Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. Those records pertinent to Vietnam are; Sa Pa, Lao Cai 

province, Couc Phoung National Park, Phong Nha Nature Reserve and now KHPNR. It 

has been suggested that this species generally tends to exhibit preferences for limestone 

forest (Francis, 1996).The great evening bat is the only member of the genus Ia and is not 

only the largest bat amongst the Vespertilionids, but has also been described as one of the 

rarest (Topal, 1970; Duckworth, et. al., 1999). First recorded in Vietnam from a cave in 

Couc Phoung National Park, Ninh Binh province, by Topal (1970) little is known about 

its ecology or distribution. The specimen collected by Frontier-Vietnam represent only 

the fourth record of this species in Vietnam, previous specimens coming from Ba Be 

National Park, Cuc Phoung National Park and Phong Nha Nature Reserve. 

One trapping site that is particularly worthy of note is a series of large caves in the southwestern 

area of the proposed nature reserve. The caves were brought to the attention of 

the team whilst working on the eighth satellite camp. Local hunters told of a large cave 

around 2km west of the satellite camp where locals often went to catch bats for meat. On 


this information an extra satellite camp was organised with the primary objective being to 

carry out intensive bat trapping at these caves. There are three large caves there, all of 

which hold bat communities to varying densities. Over a five night trapping session, 

using 9x3m mist nets, specimens from eleven species were taken. 


4.5.2 MAMMALS: Non-volant 

4.5.2.1 Introduction 

Prior to Frontier-Vietnams’ work in the area, little in the way of mammal surveys had 

been carried out in KHPNR. As part of their Rapid Field Survey, Birdlife International 

(Tordorf et al., 2000) carried out several interviews with members of the Kim Hy 

commune (particularly with representatives of the Tay ethnic group) from which they 

compiled a list of 15 species that included 5 primates, 3 carnivores and 5 ungulates. Of 

particular interest among these, in terms of conservation status, were; the Eastern black 

crested gibbon (Nomascus [Hylobates] concolor), sun bear (Ursus malayanus), Chinese 

musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) and Southern serow (Naemorhedus sumatraensis). 

Fauna and Flora International also carried out two surveys, both in 2001 and both with 

the primary objective of investigating the presence of the gibbon N. cf. concolor (La 

Quang Trung & Trinh Dinh Hoang, 2001a & 2001b). Although no direct records were 

made of this species in the area, interviews confirmed both their historical and current, 

albeit reduced, presence within Kim Hy’s limestone forest. In addition, they gained 

records for another 6 primates, 9 carnivores and 4 ungulates through both direct and 

indirect methods. 

The aim of Frontier’s survey was to build upon both the Birdlife and FFI species lists 

with special attention to the black gibbon and Chinese musk deer, two mammal species 

whose global distribution is restricted to a handful of sights in both China and North 

Vietnam (Corbet & Hill, 1992). 

4.5.2.2 Methods. 

The data detailed in the current report were gained from four principle sources: 

• Live trapping (Sherman traps); 

• Direct field observation; 

• Indirect signs (spoor); 

• Interviews with hunters. 

The primary literature used to make field identifications of mammals were: 

• The Mammals of the Indo-Malayan Region. Corbet & Hill, 1992; 

• Mammals of Thailand. Legakul & McNeely, 1988; 

• A Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo. Payne, Francis & Phillips, 1994; 


• The Mammal Tracks of Thailand. Kanjanavanit, 1997; 

• Field Guide to the Key Mammal Species of Phong Nha-Ke Ban. Pham Nhat and 

Nguyen Xuan Dang, 2000. 

Live trapping: Small mammal trapping was carried out, when possible, at or near 

Vegetation surveys sites (see Map 3) using 15 Sherman traps provided by Mr Pham Duc 

tien of the IEBR. These were laid out along a transect within a suitable area (i.e. near to a 

path but within the forest) with an approximate spacing of 10-15m between each trap. 

Traps were baited with either rice seed, dry noodles or peanuts placed inside the trap 

itself with a small amount scattered around the trap entrance to act as an attractant. They 

were activated shortly before dusk and checked for captured animals approximately two 

hours after sunset. Traps were left active overnight, checked again at sunrise and then left 

in situ, but deactivated, during daylight hours. The basic biometrics (head-body, ear, tail, 

and hind-foot length, pelage and sex) of captured animals were taken and those species 

already taken as voucher specimens on the survey were immediately released. Those for 

which no specimen had been collected were killed by placing the individual into an 

airtight container with cotton wool soaked in diethyl-ether, in accordance with the UK 

Scientific Procedures Act (1986) Code of Practice. Once the animal was dead 

comprehensive biometrics were taken (including those detailed above) and the specimen 

tagged with a unique code. Storage was facilitated by immersing the specimen in a 70% 

ethanol solution, and specimens are kept at the IEBR in Hanoi. 

Direct field observations: Direct observations were made on an opportunistic basis. It 

was found that early morning bird surveys were ideal for observing mammals, 

particularly squirrels and tree shrews. When a mammal was sighted, the observer would 

record as many details as possible (e.g. general description of body shape, pelage, 

behaviour, site description) along with a rough sketch when relevant. The literature cited 

above was then used to arrive at provisional field identifications. 

Indirect Signs: Spoor (physical evidence of the passing of an animal in the form of 

either scat, tracks, feeding signs or remains) were also collected or recorded on an ad hoc 

basis. The method of recording varied with the type of spoor, whereby; droppings and 

remains were collected and preserved (using cotton wool, soaked in ethanol, in an airtight 

bag) for later identification, tracks were measured and sketched and when possible, 

photographs were taken of feeding signs. Provisional field identifications could thus be 

complemented by further analysis in Hanoi. 

Interviews with Hunters: Interviews involved at least one hunter in each of An Tinh, 

Kim Hy and Cao Son communes, and were commonly undertaken with a member of the 

commune police present. Photographs were used to aid recognition of the animal species 

described. All interview data is considered provisional, and does not in itself constitute a 

definite record of the species identified for the area. 


4.5.2.3 Results 

A total of 35 species were recorded from seven orders: Pholidota (1 species), Insectivora 

(1 species), Scadentia (1 species), Primates (8 species), Carnivora (9 species), 

Artiodactyla (5 species) and Rodentia (9 species) with varying levels of confidence. The 

list has been included, in full, in Appendix 6 and follows the sequence and nomenclature 

of Corbet and Hill (1992). The gibbon Hylobates concolor is classified by Geissmann, et 

al. (2000) as Nomascus nasatus. 

Live Trapping: 

Despite a relatively intensive trapping regime, very few small mammals were recorded in 

this manner. Only two voucher specimens were taken, the Asian white-toothed shrew 

(Crocidura fuliginosa) and Ryukyu mouse (Mus coroli). It was suggested that such a low 

diversity and abundance of small mammals could be explained by the nature of the 

habitat; limestone forests being typically a relatively dry ecosystem (Pham Duc Tien, 

pers. comm.). Several individuals identified as Niviventus sp. were also trapped but were 

not kept as specimens due to their naturally high abundance and national commonality 

(Pham Duc Tien, pers. comm.). 

Direct Field Observations: 

In addition to the trapped specimens, one other species, classed as “small mammal” was 

recorded (Tupai belangeri). This individual was observed close to the base camp in An 

Tinh on the second work phase. However, those most commonly seen were two species 

of squirrel, Ratufa bicolor and Callosciurus erythraeus. Furthermore, the remains of the 

former were occasionally seen at hunters camps, the hunters citing them as popular 

bushmeat species due to their large size and relative ease of capture using guns. 

Of the five species observed in the possession of hunters (including the above mentioned 

R.. bicolor) the specimen of Macaca assemensis is of particular interest as it is listed both 

in the IUCN Red List and the Red Data Book of Vietnam as “Vulnerable”. This particular 

specimen was seen in Cao Son during Socio-economic interviews being carried out there. 

The animal was a young individual and was due to be sold locally (the location was not 

specified, but Con Minh markets were a likely destination) possibly as a pet. The hunter 

reported that these animals were present in the limestone forest areas close to Lung Ly 

and the surrounding villages, but in decreasing abundance. 

Indirect Signs: 

The discovery of spoor either served to confirm the presence of species previously 

recorded during interviews with hunters (Nomascus concolor, Arctonyx collaris, Felis 

sp., Naemorhedus sumatraensis and Sus scrofa) or, in the case of one species (Moschus 

berezoskii), acted as the source of a new record for this survey. 


Interviews with Hunters: 

By far the most successful method employed during the expedition, in terms of numbers 

of species identified, were the interviews carried out with local hunters, although there is 

a varying degree of confidence ascribed to these results. Of the 23 species identified in 

this manner only seven were confirmed beyond doubt (either through their additional 

observance in the wild, observance with hunters or through the collection of their spoor). 

A further fourteen species were scored the confidence value of 2 (“unconfirmed but 

confident”). This level of confidence was given to those species which had not been 

recorded by any other method during the expedition but, due to their commonality or 

cited range (as listed in Corbet and Hill, 1992) or their inclusion in the Birdlife Rapid 

Field Survey or FFI surveys were deemed likely to be present. All are listed either in the 

IUCN Red List or the Red Data Book of Vietnam. 

Of the remaining 11 species reported by the hunters, 10 were given the value 1 

(“unconfirmed and unsure”) while one is listed as “out of range” (M. nemestrina). As 

there is such a level of uncertainty about many of these species it may be prudent to carry 

out further surveys in the area with the primary objective of compiling a more exhaustive 

and comprehensive list of large/meso-mammals. The two species of large cat are of 

particular interest as a scat, thought most likely to have originated from a large cat, was 

found during the expedition. Unfortunately, no identification from this evidence alone 

was possible. Species of particular interest are discussed below: 

Nycticebus pygmaeus (pygmy loris). 

Records for this species originate from interviews with hunters but are supported by both 

the Birdlife and FFI surveys. Listed as “Vulnerable” in both the IUCN 2000 red list and 

the RDBV this primate is only found East of the Mekong (Corbet & Hill, 1992). 

Macaca nemestrina (pig-tailed macaque). 

Although only recorded through interviews, scat identified as having originated from an 

unknown species of macaque (Pham Duc Tien, pers. comm.) was found during the 

project. However, M. nemestrina was not recorded by either Birdlife or FFI. As this 

species is listed as “Vulnerable” by the IUCN and the RDBV, further surveys would be 

needed in order to confirm the existence of this species in the area. 

M. assemensis (Assamese macaque). 

The records for Assamese macaque, in the current survey, originate both from interviews 

and through the direct observation of a captive animal. Listed by both the IUCN and 

RDBV as “Vulnerable” the current record for this species is supported by the findings of 

Birdlife and FFI. Despite its listing, M. assemensis is cited as being the most common 


macaque species found in hills and mountains and can be found down to 300m in 

limestone karst areas (Duckworth, et al, 1999). 

M. arctoides (bear macaque). 

Listed by both the IUCN and RDBV as “Vulnerable” the current record for this species is 

supported by the findings of Birdlife and FFI, having been actually seen by the FFI field 

team (La Quang Trung & Trinh Dinh Hoang, 2001a & 2001b). This species of macaque 

tends to be more terrestrial than others and may be vulnerable to hunting pressures when 

snares are used, perhaps explaining the high rate of observations of captive individuals 

(Duckworth, et al, 1999). 

Semnopithecus francoisi (Francois’ langur). 

Francois’ langur was recorded solely through interviews during both the current project 

and by the Birdlife International survey. Furthermore, four groups of this langur were 

heard by the FFI team on their first survey and another three seen during the second. 

Francois’ langur has a highly restricted range (small parts of Lao PDR, northern Vietnam 

and southern China), and is only found east of the Mekong. It is associated with areas 

dominated by limestone karst (Duckworth, et al. 1999). Listed as regionally 

“Endangered” by the IUCN (2000) and “Vulnerable” in the RDBV, confirmation of its 

presence here, which is now in little doubt, represents an important component of the 

area’s biodiversity. 

Hylobates concolor hainanus (eastern black-crested gibbon). 

Towards the end of the first work phase, an important confirmation of existing 

populations of Hylobates concolor was made when a local guide operating with the field 

team informed the field team of the shooting of a female gibbon in Kim Hy commune. 

The specimen had been killed for food, and had been eaten before the field team were 

able to investigate. However, skull and hand remains of the individual were recovered 

from the hunters. Upon return to Hanoi, samples (wet and dry samples both of skeletal 

fragments from the skull, and hair and skin samples from the hand) were sent to Dr. 

Christian Roos of the German Primate Centre (in Goettingen, Germany) for genetic 

analysis. Dr. Roos’ results confirmed that the Kim Hy gibbons are Hylobates concolor 

Nomascus cf. masatus), closely related to the gibbons of Hainan island (H.c.. hainanus) 

in China (Dr. Christian Roos, pers. comm.). Previous records for this species in Kim Hy 

forest date back as far as 1983 when two gibbon skins were collected (Dao Van Tien, 

1983), and the subspecies is listed in the FIPI report accompanying the investment plan 

of 1997. Since 1983 any subsequent surveys in the area, including one specifically aimed 

at locating gibbons, have failed to record any direct evidence, although all have included 

reports from local people claiming the animals to be rare but present (Geissmann, et al., 

2000). 


This species has been described as the least well known but most critically endangered 

primate species world-wide (Geissmann, et al., 2000 & Geissmann and Vu Ngoc Thanh, 

2000) with an estimated global population not exceeding 50 individuals. Although both 

the Birdlife and FFI surveys recorded this species though interviews with locals, neither 

were successful in either observing them in the wild or in obtaining spoor. The numbers 

that may exist there remain unknown, though many estimates put the number between 6- 

20 individuals (Andrew Tordoff, pers. comm., Barney Long, pers. comm. & La Quang 

Trung, pers. comm.). Further research in Cao Bang province by FFI and the IEBR have 

revealed the existence of other, possibly larger populations of H.conoclor (Pham Duc 

Tien, pers.comm.), but this is an exceptionally important record for Kim Hy proposed 

Nature Reserve. Its presence, as a top priority species, strengthens the case for the area’s 

imminent ratification as a Nature Reserve. It is highly recommended that further work is 

carried out in this area in order to determine the population size of the resident gibbons 

and that plans are drawn up as to the best way to not only address the protection of this 

population but also asses its role in the conservation and continuation of the species. 


Photograph 1: Front view of 

skull of Hylobates concolor 

cf. hainanus (Nomascus cf. 

nasatus) 

Photograph2: Side of skull of 

Hylobates concolor cf. 

hainanus (Nomascus cf. 

nasatus). 

Photograph 3: Top view of 

Hylobates concolor cf. 

hainanus (Nomascus cf. 

nasutus) skull. 


Ursus thibetanus (Asiatic black bear). 

Records for the black bear in the current survey refer to data gained through interviews 

with local hunters. However, the FFI survey records the presence of a bear species in the 

limestone forest area from tracks and, although Birdlife report the presence of Sun bear 

(U. malayanus) from remains found in a hunters house, it may be that, considering the 

more southerly range of the sun bear, that this represents a misidentification. In view of 

this uncertainty, further work should be carried out in the proposed Nature Reserve to 

determine the status of bear species. U. thibetanus is listed as regionally “Vulnerable” by 

the IUCN and “Endangered” in the RDBV. 

Lutra lutra (Eurasian otter). 

Listed as “Vulnerable” by both the IUCN red list (2000) and the RDBV the presence of 

the Eurasian otter is not supported by either the Birdlife or FFI surveys. However, it is 

cited by Corbet & Hill (1992) as not only occurring throughout Vietnam but also to be 

associated, in Asia, with montane habitats. Further work should be carried out in the area 

to determine the status of this species. 

Pardofelis nebulosa (clouded leopard). 

The occurrence of the clouded leopard in the Kim Hy area is not supported by either the 

Birdlife or FFI surveys. Although the only record for it, in the current survey, originates 

from interviews it is interesting to note that scat, very much akin to the scat of a large cat, 

was found on the Frontier survey. However, it can not be determined from which species 

it originates. As the clouded leopard is listed as “Vulnerable” by both the IUCN red list 

(2000) and the RDBV, further work should be carried out to ascertain its status at Kim 

Hy. 

Moschus berezoskii (Chinese musk deer). 

During the second phase of the expedition several incidences of spoor, strongly believed 

to belong to Chinese musk deer (Pham Duc Tien, pers. comm.), were observed. These 

included droppings and browse evidence. Dang Ngoc Can and Nguyen Xuan Dang 

(1999) identified 108 species of plant that are used by this deer as a food source. The 

browsed plants found at Kim Hy include Desmos triphylla (Fabaceae), Diospyros sp. 

(Ebenaceae) and Bauhinia (Fabaceae). Evidence of feeding on these plants was observed 

at various locations on both work phases, principally at the karst summits. 

Previous records from KHPNR indicate that the Musk deer is fairly common in the area 

(Tordoff et al., 2000) but the failure of hunters in the current survey to identify this 

species is notable. It seems unlikely that this species eludes hunters as, although the musk 

deer is naturally secretive and timid it is also very predictable in its’ movements, using 

well established routes around its home range (Dang Ngoc Can & Nguyen Xuan Dang, 

1999). However, the current record is supported by both the Birdlife and FFI surveys, 


ecords from the latter represented by samples of hair found in the forest and identified as 

belonging to M. berezoskii (La Quang Trung, pers. comm.). The musk, produced by the 

male during rutting season, is used primarily in medicine but also in luxury items such as 

soap and perfume. China appears to be the main market for this product, with between 

500 and 1000 kg used every year (Dang Ngoc Can & Nguyen Xuan Dang, 1999), 

although it is assumed that much of this originates from the musk farms found in China 

(Corbet and Hill, 1992). Through a historical regime of intensive hunting, the musk deer 

has become extremely rare within north Vietnam, records existing only in Cao Bang and 

Lang Son. It is now considered to be nationally “Endangered” (RDBV, 2000). 

Naemorhedus sumatraensis (serow). 

Droppings and possible tracks of the serow were discovered in the same area as that 

described above for the musk deer. Serow are associated with forests on steep sided hills 

and mountains (both limestone and non-calcareous) and its’ presence at Kim Hy is 

supported by both FFI and Birdlife International (represented by the discovery of several 

horns identified as belonging to this species) surveys. They are listed as “Vulnerable” by 

the IUCN red list (2000) and the RDBV, the main threat appearing to be their extensive 

use in medicine. There is cross border trade in serow parts between Vietnam, Laos, China 

and Thailand, further illustrating the need for improvement in the enforcement of antihunting 

laws in Kim Hy’s limestone forest. 

Hystrix brachyura (East Asian porcupine). 

Listed as regionally “Vulnerable” by the IUCN, the presence of the East Asian porcupine 

in the proposed Nature Reserve is supported by the FFI survey. 

4.5.3 Conservation threats 

There are three principle anthropocentric activities within the forest that can be described 

as posing a threat to the mammalian wildlife of KHPNR: 

• Hunting; 

• Gold Mining; 

• Logging (both for timber and land clearance); 

In terms of the non-volant mammals, it seems that hunting remains the major threat to 

species survival. The majority of hunting appears to be carried out at night using guns as 

opposed to trap-lines which were said in interviews to be unpopular in the harsh terrain 

typical of limestone areas. However, at least one trap line was discovered by the team 

during the sixth satellite camp (near FPG). It was made clear by all interviewees that, in 

recent years, hunting had become less popular and intensive due to the current difficulty 

in finding the favoured animals. One man, interviewed for his activities relating to the 


collection of medicinal plants, claimed that he had bought a trap some years ago but had 

never used it due to the huge investment of time required to catch animals that had 

become so rare. 

In particular, hunters in An Tinh reported a definite decrease in numbers of gibbons, 

monkeys and bears over the past five years. They claimed, for example, that during 

hunting sessions (usually of 3-4 days) 2-3 years ago they would often hear gibbons and 

monkeys calling in the mornings. Recently, however, such animals are hardly ever heard. 

Despite this, hunters interviewed both in Kim Hy and An Tinh communes stated that 

hunting, mainly for subsistence but also for selling to fellow villagers and in local 

markets, remained an important occupation. They also claimed that the majority of the 

hunting took place on the forest fringes, access to the heart of the forest being difficult. 

These hunters also stated that they still see signs of bears (i.e. broken trees, claw marks 

on trees and tracks on the ground) both on the edge of the forest and deeper in. Bears 

occasionally come into the fields surrounding the village to eat the grain, although this is 

not seen as a problem of any significance. Interviewees reported seeing wild cats, 

including leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), in the afternoons, but that numbers had 

dwindled. The FPD branch at Con Minh reported that the hunting problem was 

exacerbated by the large number of guns in circulation since the war with China in the 

late 1970s/early 1980s. Because of the perceived social security threats brought into the 

area by gold miners in the past, police also sell guns fairly liberally to the villagers for 

self-defense, which are then used for hunting. As the gold mining problem is much 

reduced now, the FPD now wonder if this is necessary any longer, given that it fuels the 

environmental problems of the PNR. 

The extensive, though reduced, level of opportunistic gold mining that occurs within the 

limestone forest is likely to exacerbate the pressures put on local wildlife. The activities 

of gold miners may also be having an impact upon the availability of caves for roosting 

bats. The locating of existing caves and fissures and using dynamite to blast deeper into 

the rock (the effects of which were observed during both survey expeditions) negates the 

use of these caves by the bats, a factor which will be of particular threat during the 

breeding season. Gold mining of various methods was observed throughout the limestone 

forest area in both Na Ri and Bach Thong, although it was noticeably concentrated nearer 

the forest fringes (see Chapter 3). This activity also affects non-volant mammal species; 

the musk deer, for example, uses caves for shelter in the wet season (Dang Ngoc Can & 

Nguyen Xuan Dang, 1999)), and disturbance from noise pollution may disrupt normal 

behaviour. Many primates, including the eastern black-crested gibbon, are very sensitive 

to human noise and can be driven from an area where this is excessive (Geissmann et al., 

2000). 

The threats presented to bats in KHPNR are comparable to those reported for Huu Lien 

(Furey, 2002) and other limestone karst areas (e.g. Hill et al, 1997). Direct evidence of 

hunting at the few caves surveyed was present primarily in the form of abandoned, but 

recent, fires in or near cave entrances. Fires are used by hunters to guide the bats into one 


particular cave thereby facilitating the collection of large numbers with minimal effort 

(Pham Duc Tien, pers. comm). Hunting of bats is a relatively specialised activity for a 

minority of local people in Kim Hy commune. By way of illustration of the effects that 

subsistence hunting can have on bats, a cave in Cao Son commune reported by a local 

gold miner to contain a sizeable bat roost and which was a favoured cave for collecting 

bats for consumption was found to contain only a single roosting bat, perhaps an 

indication of the popularity of this cave with locals. The collection of guano (bat 

droppings) for fertiliser was also reported to be prevalent in the area, and as bats are 

sensitive to disturbance at roosting sites, even such indirect disruption may affect the 

feasibility of roosting sites for many species. 

In addition to these direct threats to the cave system in the limestone forest, there is also a 

case for addressing the problem of logging as both a cause of disturbance and a direct 

threat to the habitat of all mammals, which are rarely bold enough to emerge from the 

forest cover and upon which they depend for food and shelter. Many bat species depend 

on large forest trees for roosting and, of course, all bats rely upon tracts of forest for 

hunting and foraging. Such activities, coupled with the low turnover typical of all bat 

species (a result of small litter sizes and short breeding seasons), indicate that the bat 

populations of Kim Hy proposed Nature reserve may be under considerable threat. The 

loss of habitat through both timber extraction and land clearance probably remains the 

most pernicious threat faced by the mammals on the fringes of Kim Hy’s forest. 

9.5. Discussion and conclusions 

The presence of the three focal large mammal species (Hylobates concolor cf. hainanus 

(Nomascus cf. concolor), Moschus berezoskii and Naemorhedus sumatraensis) was 

confirmed, albeit to varying degrees of confidence. The conservation status of all three 

species is listed as: “Endangered” (IUCN, 2000) and “Vulnerable” (RDBV); “Lower 

Risk” (IUCN, 2000) and “Endangered” (RDBV); “Vulnerable” (IUCN, 2000 and RDBV) 

respectively. Of the remaining 36 species recorded, 16 are listed either regionally or 

nationally as being either “Lower Risk”, “Vulnerable” or “Endangered”. 

Of the 18 species of bat recorded in the current survey only two, Ia io and Rhinolophus 

paradoxolophus, are listed in both the IUCN Red List (2000) and the RDBV and can, 

therefore be said to be of particular conservation interest. Further research on the 

Chiroptera of Kim Hy may yet yield more species occurring at lower densities, notably 

species of fruit bat (Megachiroptera). Of particular conservation significance is the series 

of caves visited during the last satellite camp of the expedition. Although the survey 

effort was intensive over the course of the six days spent here by the survey team, it is 

likely that other species are present there which were not caught on this expedition. The 

situation of this cave system in Cao Son commune, outside the original proposal area for 

the Nature Reserve, is significant in supporting a revision of the Reserve boundaries. 


Beyond the need for further fieldwork, the mitigation of anthropocentric activities that 

are deemed detrimental to the continued survival of local mammal populations requires 

the urgent attention of forest protection authorities. Interviews with hunters make it clear 

that populations of many of the larger mammal species are dwindling, and little is known 

of the population status of certain bat species at Kim Hy. Although hunting is now illegal 

in Special Use Forest, both active trap-lines and hunters armed with rifles, were seen by 

members of the survey team throughout the area during both expeditions. 

Two factors may have worked in the favour of the mammal fauna at Kim Hy. Firstly, the 

inaccessibility of the forest has meant that hunting has, for the most part, been restricted 

to the forest edges and secondly, the dependence of hunters upon guns, and the increasing 

difficulty of locating favoured species in the forest has resulted in a decrease in hunting. 

This last point, although obviously indicating a serious depletion of animal numbers, may 

yet save certain species (such as the gibbon) from complete extirpation from the forest. 

This should not, however, detract from the need to increase policing efforts in the area 

aimed at ending hunting in the forest completely. The recovery of small populations of 

mammals should ideally be monitored by forest protection authorities, and strict 

enforcement of anti-poaching laws through an increased FPD presence in the forest area 

is an essential priority for the increase in financial and staff resources accompanying the 

upgrading of Kim Hy to a Nature Reserve. 


Chapter 5: Socio-economic features 

5.1 Introduction 

Vietnam contains 54 ethnic groups, including the majority kinh population; the remaining 

minorities comprise approximately 13.1% of the total population and are generally 

situated in mountainous areas whilst the kinh dominate the urban centres and delta 

regions. This means that issues regarding ethnicity and rural poverty have been highly 

integrated in the government’s development agenda. The total population of the country 

in 1999 was 76,327,919 (50.8% female), of which 76.5% are classed as rural-dwelling. 

The average life expectancy was 67.25 years . 

The national Poverty Alleviation and Hunger Eradication (PAHE) programme begun in 

1998 is reported to be reducing the number of households classed as ‘poor’ by 4-5% each 

year, and during the five years previous to its inception, the poverty levels in the country 

fell by an average of 20% (58% to 37% by World Bank standards, 30% to 10% by 

Vietnamese government standards). However, these figures do not reveal the expanding 

gap in many livelihood indicators between the rural poor in the mountains and the urban 

communities. For example, in the poorest rural group, over 34% of people are illiterate 

and 30% of pupils lack textbooks for school, whilst in the wealthiest group the respective 

rates are 94% and 97%. Of the 1,878 communes involved in the PAHE programme, 289 

lack vehicle access, 1,301 lack electricity, 310 lack schools, 416 lack local health centres 

and 1,299 lack clean freshwater supplies. In May 2001, Resolution 05/2001/NQ-CP 

provided tax exemption for all households in the ‘poor’ bracket in the country who are 

occupied in farming. 

Rice production and export has become the most important agricultural industry in 

Vietnam since the ‘Doi Moi’ era began, but most farming by ethnic minorities in 

mountainous areas is subsistence only, and there are presently few non-agricultural 

alternatives. Whilst government sedentarisation programmes since the 1960s have 

successfully stabilised agricultural output and halted the environmental destruction being 

caused by shifting cultivation, they have also highlighted the increasing problem of 

agricultural land shortage in a number of mountainous provinces. 


5.2 Methodology 

Socio-economic surveys were conducted by Frontier in Cao Son, Kim Hy and An Tinh 

communes over the course of the four months of fieldwork. They employed certain 

techniques described in Grandstaff et al, 1995 as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) 

such as village mapping and limited transect walking, but the survey as a whole did not 

comprise a PRA. Most of the information in this chapter was taken from semi-structured 

interviews with the chairmen of the commune Peoples’ Committees, the village leaders 

of three of the principal villages in each commune surveyed, and three households per 

village reflecting as much as possible the socio-economic profile of that community. 

During some interviews in Kim Hy and An Tinh communes, local police representatives 

were present. Statistics were taken from commune records, the district Departments of 

Statistics in Na Ri and Bach Thong and the investment plan by FIPI of 1997. FPD 

departments in Kim Hy, Con Minh, and Na Ri and Bac Kan urban centres provided 

interview and map information regarding forest management in the area unless stated 

otherwise. Interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and simultaneously translated 

through Frontier’s Liaison Officer. Frontier’s surveys concentrated upon those 

communities with less access to markets, lower land availability and closer proximity to 

the restricted forest area of zone 1. 

5.3 Results 

A total of 37 interviews were completed with local villagers and stakeholders from Kim 

Van, Ban Ven and Khuoi Hat in Kim Hy commune, Na Toan, Na Duong and Tham Mu 

in An Tinh commune, and Lung Ly and Thong Khoan in Cao Son commune, as well as 

the district and provincial capitals. 

The results of the Frontier surveys are discussed in the context of other studies in Bac 

Kan province in the sections that follow. 

Unless stated otherwise, the statistics and information used in this chapter have been 

taken from personal communication with commune Peoples’ Committees, village leaders 

and the district statistics office of the Peoples’ Committee. 


5.4 Demography and ethnicity 

5.4.1 Population 

5.4.1.1 Population growth and density 

Summary statistics of the population of Kim Hy PNR and the villages therein are 

provided in Appendix 7. The overall population of Kim Hy PNR was 6,179 in 1999, or 

17% of the total district population of 36,158. Population density was relatively low at 

33.3/km 2 (against 44/km 2 for Na Ri district in 2000) due to the nature of the natural 

terrain, but population is usually highly concentrated in small pockets of suitable 

agricultural land. Most of the area’s population is concentrated along Highway 279 near 

low-lying hills and paddy land in Luong Thuong and Lang San (see Map 3). The rate of 

population growth within the boundaries in 1997 was 2.2%, making the stability of living 

standards a matter of some concern to the local authorities (FIPI, 1997). The projected 

aim of the authorities was a growth rate reduced to 2% by the year 2002, and the 

establishment of a nuclear family model of 4-5 individuals, and although statistics for 

after 2000 were not available at the time of survey, population stabilisation policies 

appear to have met with some success with numbers decreasing or remaining stable in 

Kim Hy and An Tinh communes. Cao Son’s population growth rate of 1.7% has been 

reduced considerably by the family planning initiative started here in 1998, and the 

population density is only 11.4/km 2 .Vu Muon commune is more akin to the northern 

communes within the existing proposed boundary, with a population density of 40.6/km 2 , 

but has also been experiencing population decline from family planning since 1998. 

5.4.1.2 Family planning 

Family planning programmes were instigated in 1992 in Kim Hy commune and 1995 in 

An Tinh, which stipulated a maximum of two children for new families, regardless of 

ethnic group; those with public positions (such as village leader) were required to adhere 

as a matter of example. This programme involved a village-by-village education scheme 

and some small financial incentives (100-150,000 VND), and whilst some families still 

have more children (usually as a matter of tradition and a perceived economic necessity), 

there have been overall population decreases in both communes. Of the families surveyed 

by Frontier, the number of children in a household ranged from one to nine, with little 

pattern associated with wealth bracket, age or ethnicity in this small sample size. In Kim 

Hy commune the planning initiative was effected in response to a burgeoning population 

within the commune from 1,185 in 1989 to 1,668 in 1992 (an overall growth rate of 

11.5%). Since then, population has recently begun to decrease gradually. Despite the 2% 

growth rate goal having been achieved in An Tinh between 1995 and the present, and a 

population decrease there between 1997 and 1999, population pressure also looms for 

this commune. 


5.4.1.3 Population movement and distribution 

Immigration tends to be between villages within communes, and rarely from outside the 

district; such immigration patterns point to an increasing dissipation of local communities 

in the search for agricultural land. In 1992 alone, ten households immigrated into Kim Hy 

commune, followed by some smaller-scale immigration in the following year due to land 

shortages elsewhere, particularly Khuoi Cai, Cuoc Tem and Luong Cau villages (the 

latter being closely situated near the limestone forest). Whilst permission must be sought 

for immigration into a commune, only in serious circumstances will this be denied; 

however, commune Peoples’ Committees reported a desire to make such restrictions 

tighter in the future due to the shortage of land. Ban Ken’s (Kim Hy) population, for 

instance, is only stable out of necessity, as there would be no land available to 

newcomers (Ban Ken village leader, pers. comm.) – they would have to go to Na Mo 

village instead. The natural population increase within villages is dealt with within the 

village areas, as strong ties to villages means reluctance to live elsewhere unless it be 

through marital ties. One villager from the remote village of Kim Van reckoned upon 

80% of villagers suffering from a shortage of land; this village is situated in a small basin 

of wet rice cultivation and has very poor levels of market integration and infrastructural 

development, which compounds the issue. Khuoi Hat, meanwhile, has almost no wet rice 

land, and the H’mong, who moved there in 1997 and comprise much of its population, 

had to settle for the worst land there (all of it maize cultivation), resulting in a need to 

depend upon forest products to supplement income and diet. Even in the commune centre 

of Ban Ven, the largest village in the commune with 43 households, people are at a loss 

to know how to solve land problem; few have enough and nobody is selling. Immigration 

and emigration are also uncommon in Vu Muon and Cao Son communes, and again 

usually due to marriage, but the villages are once more fast running out of land with 

which to farm sustainably; four years ago, two households left for the ‘New Economic 

Zones’ in the south of the country, but strong village ties make this an unpopular (and 

uncertain) option. The principle problem facing this commune is its lack of infrastructure 

(section 5.5). 

Population distribution varies between communes and often depends upon topography 

and hydrology. Whilst Kim Hy is composed of scattered villages with smaller 

populations, those in An Tinh are fewer, and all along the alluvial valley fringing the 

limestone area. Na Duong (53 households) and Na Toan (130 households between the 

two divisions Cuoc Pe and Na Luong) are the main villages, with the Dao village of 

Tham Mu (18 households) near the scrub hills to the south. In Bach Thong district, the 

population patterns are more akin to those of Kim Hy than of An Tinh, with more 

scattered villages and low overall population density due to settlements being restricted 

by the natural topography. 


5.4.2 Ethnicity 

The proposed Nature Reserve is composed of five ethnic groups, although there are also 

individuals of other groups such as San Chay, who have moved there through marriage. 

The following figures are taken from the investment plan by FIPI (1997), as more up-todate 

figures were not available; they are, however, representative of the current 

circumstances (Kim Hy and An Tinh Peoples’ Committee, pers. comm.., Na Ri Statistics 

Dept., pers. comm.) . The total population of the four communes within the PNR area at 

this time was 5, 674 individuals. 

Tay: 67.38% of the population. The Tay tend to be the ancestral holders of wet rice land 

in Bac Kan province as a whole having been long-established in the area, and specialise 

in this type of agriculture; they generally have the larger wet rice areas, and tend to invest 

more in intensification of paddy rice agriculture. Tay tend to leave the parent’s household 

earlier than other groups such as Dao or Nung, as their usually larger share of the paddy 

land lends itself to division amongst autonomous descendants. Tay generally enjoy higher 

living standards relative to other groups (except Kinh) due to better agricultural 

technology, access to markets and agricultural diversification. The general land shortages 

described above are, however, having a ‘levelling effect’ where this is concerned, and 

ethnicity and landholding relationships are no longer straightforward. Nevertheless, Tay 

comprise the main proportion of the labour force in the Kim Hy area, and hold most 

positions of administrative authority. 

Dao: 11.86% of the population. The Dao have traditionally practised shifting cultivation 

in Bac Kan, with previously little interaction with the Tay people due to their lifestyle 

differences. Since the sedentarisation programmes starting in the 1960s, their permanent 

settlements have been situated close to their cultivated hillsides in order to reduce crop 

destruction by grazing buffalo, sometimes meaning their villages are more remote than 

those of Tay. Whilst they do farm wet rice, their paddy land tends to be somewhat poorer 

quality and smaller than that of Tay people, who reclaimed the best ancestral rice land in 

the province during the 1990s. Dao households thus often comprise a few generations 

because the lowland paddies owned by them are sometimes not sufficient for division 

through inheritance. 

Nung: 10.73% of the population. The traditional Nung lifestyle is similar to that of the 

Dao, and they often live alongside each other. Nung mainly reside in Lang San 

commune, and to a lesser extent Kim Hy and Luong Thuong. 

H’mong: 7.81% of the population. H’mong moved to this province from north-western 

provinces in the 1970s, and the main communities are in Na An and Khuoi Hat villages 

(Kim Hy) and Khuoi Loc village (Luong Thuong); they have similar, if not worse, land 

and access problems to the Dao communities. 

Kinh: 2.22% of the population, mainly in Luong Thuong and Lang San communes; they 

are proportionally more involved in non-farming activities such as small scale business 

than the other groups. 

Outside the original PNR boundaries, the populations of Cao Son and Vu Muon are 

predominantly Nung and Dao. The Nung were re-settled in Cao Son in 1966 from Cao 

Bang province. Both share a tradition of hill cultivation and have similar living standards. 


5.5 Infrastructure and access 

In rural areas such as at Kim Hy, difficulty of access leads to slow communications and 

subsequent lack of understanding about market developments, new initiatives from the 

state and NGO development projects, and opportunities in non-agricultural employment. 

Infrastructural development also influences migration and immigration and inhibits 

health and education services. Roads, despite in some cases leading to increased 

deforestation if routed through forest directly, can also open opportunities, originally in 

construction and transport, and subsequently in a number of other fields linked to 

business and services involving other settlements, including district and provincial towns 

(Leisz, et al, 2001, pp85-123). Access allows for transport of inputs for agricultural 

intensification, and the flow of agricultural outputs to markets. Whilst making migration 

more feasible, they may also make it less necessary if population growth is concurrently 

stabilised. Such improvement of the local market economy in agriculture, business and 

services, if coupled with an increased environmental awareness (see section 5.7) of the 

local population, helps to remove pressure from the natural environment, especially 

natural forest exploitation and hunting. If private initiative is encouraged appropriately, 

labour time is redirected more efficiently and profitably for individual households than it 

is through the ad hoc collection of forest products and hunting of wild animals: this is 

only feasible, however, with the necessary infrastructure. 

In 2002, $110 million of World Bank loans were issued to six northern mountainous 

provinces including Bac Kan, designed to realise the conditions mentioned above. Now, 

industry and construction comprise 11% of the provincial GDP, and services 31%; the 

main beneficiaries of construction are the urban population - only 14% of the total 

provincial population (Castella et al, 2002, pp1-18). 

Eighteen kilometres of Highway 279 runs through the PNR, making the transport of 

goods and forest products easy to Bac Kan’s provincial centre, and to Thai Nguyen or 

across Khao Pi to Ngan Son district. Two poor quality roads in Kim Hy and An Tinh are 

currently completing upgrade, started in early 2001 in Kim Hy and mid-2001 in An Tinh 

by a company contracted from Son Tay province; although the company is external, some 

local labour is used for laying the bedding stones. Presently, both are 10km long, with the 

ultimate objective of linking Con Minh to Luong Thuong and Kim Hy through An Tinh’s 

valley. However, roads to many villages (especially in Kim Hy) are only accessible by 

4WD vehicles, and in some cases do not lead all the way to the village: Kim Van is one 

example of this. The government infrastructure project, Programme 135 (Decision 

No.135/1998/QD-TTg, begun in 1998 with a timescale of eight years), is providing funds 

to remedy this situation in the future. The road access for the communes in Bach Thong, 

meanwhile, is worse, with one road leading through Vu Muon into Cao Son which is both 

long and very difficult to use in places. Certain stretches are undergoing surfacing, but 

there is much work to do before the villages of these communes will be able to benefit 

from the resources and wider opportunities mentioned above. This has been a severe 

problem for agricultural development in Cao Son commune (see section 5.8). At the time 


of survey, the Peoples’ Committee chairman of Cao Son reported that he had applied for 

funding from Programme 135, but was waiting for a response. 

In addition to roads, other recent improvements for the communities in the area include 

overhead lines to provide the village network at Kim Hy’s centre with electricity 

(although power cuts are frequent), and World Bank funds have installed an electricity 

network in An Tinh in February 2002. Some households in Ban Ven and the nearby 

villages now have a television and radio. In Cao Son there is no electricity but fresh water 

supplies were provided in 1998 for four of the villages including Lung Ly. The 

investment plan recognised the continuing need for improvements to infrastructure to 

safeguard the natural environment, including a 100m bridge over the Bac Giang river 

near the centre of Lang San commune. Water storage tanks to improve sanitation were 

also a priority perceived especially for more remote areas. Ten 20m 3 tanks would be 

installed over two years and would cost 180 million VND. 

If the areas in Bach Thong district are to be included in the Nature Reserve as this report 

recommends, the programme of infrastructural improvement will most likely be a major 

aspect of re-structuring and re-prioritising investment for this expensive aspect of the 

Nature Reserve’s establishment. This would have to be organised through close cooperation 

between the two Peoples’ Committee and Forest Protection Departments of 

Bach Thong and Na Ri. Preliminary recommendations are provided regarding this in 

Chapter 7. 

5.6 Health 

There are four health centres in the PNR area with 16 beds and 12 staff; these are largely 

the initiative of local government but have been built with funding from Programme 135. 

The treatment services tend to be limited to first aid, but they also provide vaccinations, 

distribute health education and family planning propaganda. Malaria is the most common 

health complaint in this area. The logistical problem of access between villages is also a 

problem for the distribution of supplies and patient transport. The investment plan 

proposes a 90 million VND spending programme as part of the Nature Reserve’s socioeconomic 

project to upgrade the existing centres to providing level 4 health care. 


5.7 Education 

5.7.1 Introduction to education and environmental awareness (EA) in Vietnam 

In the early 1980s an integrated education policy involving new textbooks, lesson content 

and teaching methods was introduced for grade 1 as part of the government’s plan to 

reform the education sector at all levels. This was continued until 1992, when the reforms 

had been completed through all grades (UNDP, 1995). Between 1987 and 1990 the four 

controlling bodies of education and training had been merged into the Ministry of 

Education and Training (MoET), which proceeded to develop a comprehensive national 

system from pre-school to post-graduate students (UNDP, 1995). The reforms have 

resulted in significant achievements: in 1999, 90.3% of the adult population was literate 

and 88.5% of primary school age children were enrolled (UNDP 2001). Government 

spending on public education expenditure per capita from 1991 to 1998 increased by 

almost 10% and as of 1998 public education expenditure as a percentage of total local 

government expenditure was 26% (UNDP 2001). 13% of the national budget for 2002 is 

spent on education, and this is to be increased to 25% in the near future (Tran Dinh 

Thuan, MoET. pers.comm 2002). Most if not all communes now have a primary school 

and the government is now committed to universal secondary education for all (WB 

2001). 

Despite these successes, educational development is lagging in Vietnam’s mountainous 

provinces and populations can rarely compete with those of delta regions and cities in 

non-agricultural job markets. Illiteracy has been much reduced, but improvements have 

been limited by lessons being taught in Vietnamese rather than local ethnic languages: 

consequently, literacy and enrolment rates are below the national average. Literacy is at 

85.5% in Bac Kan province compared with 90.3% national average (UNDP 2001). 

Insufficient teacher training is also a target for government funding in these areas, and 

because the needs and aspirations of people in mountainous areas are often different from 

city-dwellers, education methods and content also need to be tailored to suit this. 

The Government of Vietnam has recognised that “Education is critical for promoting 

sustainable development and improving the capacity of people to address environmental 

and development issues” (UNDP 1995, p66). The first National Plan for Environment 

and Sustainable Development 1991-2000 identified the long-term need to develop a 

formal EE curriculum, encompassing teacher training, postgraduate course development, 

textbook and lesson context development. In the short term, mass media campaigns could 

promote EA with the aid of foreign NGOs (NPESD, 1991). The Law on Protection of the 

Environment in 1993 stipulated that state input into environmental protection must 

include “educating, propagandising disseminating knowledge and legislation in 

environmental protection” (Gov. SRV, 1993, Article 37, part 8). The Third Reform of 

Education resulted in both primary and secondary schools including an environmental 

component in their existing curriculum, although after 1995, these were not compulsory 

if the teachers had not received the necessary training (UNDP, 1995). The Biodiversity 

Action Plan for Vietnam recommended that a “review is made of the success and impact 


of current courses” (Gov. SRV, 1995, p139). In 2001, MoET defined the implementation 

strategy for integrating EE into the classroom at primary and secondary level. In a twophase 

project begun in 1995 in conjunction with the UNDP, teacher training guidelines 

and pilot ‘greening projects’ were initiated. 

Education 

Level 

Primary 

Subject 

Understanding 

Nature and 

Society 

Elements of 

Environmental 

Knowledge 

Plants, Animals, 

Natural Resources, 

Hygiene 

Curriculum 

development 

Textbook 

development 

Teacher 

training 

1980 - 1984 1981 - 1985 1982 - 1986 

Lower 

Secondary 

Ethics 

Biology 

Love of Nature 

Vegetation, Animals, 

Components of 

Environment 1985 to 

1988 

1985 - 1988 1986 - 1989 1987 - 1990 

Geography 

Natural Resources, Man 

and the Environment, 

Environmental Issues 

Civics 

Education 

Citizens task of 

Environmental 

Education 

Figure 5.1: Environmental education within the current curriculum 

5.7.2 Education in Kim Hy PNR 

There are four schools in the PNR area, serving each commune; Frontier worked with 

those at Kim Hy and An Tinh communes during the 2001 survey. Kim Hy commune’s 

school was originally built in 1960, but underwent refurbishment and extension in 2000, 

with a budget for 2000-2001 set at 270 million VND from state education funds. The 

secondary and primary school buildings are combined at present, but this may change in 

the future. An Tinh school is smaller and has received less funding than Kim Hy; the 

budget for 2000-2001 was 18 million VND. The school was originally built in 1958 and 

was refurbished in 1995 and as a result of Programme 135. Construction on a new high 

school building will start in 2002. Over the years the number of classes and students has 

increased, as have the skills and quality of teachers and students. Summaries of 

composition of the two schools are provided overleaf. 


Commune 

Teachers Pupils Ethnicity 

Pre-school primary secondary Pre-school primary secondary 1 2 3 4 

Kim Hy 3 14 7 n/a 217 136 233 100 10 10 

An Tinh 18 8 8 33 122 150 248 24 - - 

Level Pre-school Primary grades 1-5 Secondary grades 6-9 

Subjects Maths, Vietnamese, Physical 

Education, Music and Drawing 

Maths, Vietnamese, Moral Education, 

Nature and Society, Technology, 

Singing, Fine Arts, Physical Education 

and Health Protection. 

Maths, Literature, Biology, 

Geography, Physics, History, Moral 

Education and Physical Training, 

plus Chemistry in years 8-9. Also 

one foreign language in An Tinh. 

Figure 5.2: summary statistics of school attendance at the time of Frontier surveys in Kim 

Hy and An Tinh communes, 2001. 

Both schools now enjoy 100% enrolment and graduation for both primary and secondary 

levels. Typically primary school students graduate to secondary school when they reach 

10 years of age and they finish secondary school when they about 16 years old. 97.5% of 

primary and 95.6% of secondary level students passed an exam enabling them to study in 

a more advanced class. Very few students pursue tertiary education, and only about 10% 

go on to gain college or vocational training. None go to University from this area. 

Although the school is based in a rural farming community there appear to be no seasonal 

variations in attendance, but some students have to travel over an hour to attend class. 

The school also has boarding facilities for such students, most of whom come from Kim 

Van village. Around 20 students board at the school, with the government meeting all 

costs. Programme 135 has enabled free schooling at both levels in Kim Hy commune, 

and the school offers a monthly scholarship to poor and disadvantaged students. There is 

also a subsidy on notebooks for primary level students. Head teachers at both schools 

estimated that the total yearly cost for parents of students (including schoolbooks, school 

contributions, insurance etc) was around 1 million VND per child. 

Language difficulties between ethnic groups are not considered a significant problem in 

the area; some H’mong children have difficulty with Vietnamese, but teachers are at least 

bilingual in Tay and Vietnamese and sometimes speak other minority languages. 

However, literacy statistics indicate that the language barriers and ethnic differences do 

require attention: 75% of the Tay are literate and this falls to 50% for Hmong and Dao 

minorities. As with all schools teachers must attend yearly training programmes to 

improve their teaching methodologies and skill base. The teachers themselves fund these, 

but the Na Ri education department gives the teachers an allowance, 900,000 VND for 

the head teacher and 5,000 VND per day for teachers. Adult education courses are 

available at both schools. Mature students can study courses on Vietnamese language, 

reproductive health for teenagers, plus health training and family planning. These are 

held every year after the main harvest, the courses lasting about 3 months. 


5.7.3 Frontier EA surveys at Kim Hy PNR 

5.7.3.1 Aims and methodology 

Education and awareness are seen as effective tools to change attitudes and behaviour, 

complementing laws and regulations in the management of any protected area (UNDP 

1995). Frontier-Vietnam has had experience in the development and implementation of 

EA and EE programmes throughout the northern provinces of Vietnam. These have in 

some cases followed periods of biological and socio-economic fieldwork, notably in Sa 

Pa, where an environmental awareness manual produced as a teaching aid evolved into an 

integrated environmental education programme. This is now a stand-alone curriculum, 

separate from the current taught courses, specific to the area and one of the firsts of its 

kind in Vietnam. Other projects aimed at raising EA through teacher training and the 

production of resource manuals for teachers at primary and secondary level have also 

occurred in Pu Hoat and Huu Lien Nature Reserves. Frontier’s survey in Kim Hy PNR 

was focused upon gathering preliminary data which might contribute to the development 

of such initiatives by the government or foreign NGOs in the future. 

The Frontier survey aimed to 

1) Gather information regarding attitudes and understanding towards the local 

environment from both pupils and head teachers. 

2) Assess whether there were any underlying trends in environmental awareness 

between two age groups of students. 

3) Evaluate environmental education within the proposed Nature Reserve. 

The Frontier EA survey was undertaken largely through semi-structured interviews with 

head teachers and students, using questionnaires developed from Frontier standard socioeconomic 

surveys. Teachers were asked about their own opinions towards EA within the 

context of the current management of the school curriculum, and any problems they 

could foresee as to its further development. In order to reach a preliminary understanding 

of environmental awareness with in school children the methodology used followed very 

closely to the UNDP run project in Na Hang. A Protected Areas Conservation Project 

(PARC) in 2000 used a multiple-choice paper to test the students understanding in 24 key 

environmental areas. These ‘key areas’ came about through consultation with stakeholder 

groups and were to form the basis of a curriculum for EE in Na Hang. Due to time 

limitations, the suitability of the questionnaire and the option to compare the two data 

sets, the PARC format was used in Kim Hy although a few alterations were made to 

make it more relevant to the area. Twenty pupils were chosen at random from secondary 

and primary schools in Kim Hy and An Tinh communes, with a male:female ratio of 

50:50. The questionnaires were answered under supervision to minimise copying and 

teachers were asked not to help the students who were allowed 30 minutes to answer the 

paper. 


5.7.3.2 Results: teacher interviews 

Environmental awareness forms facets of the curricula of various subjects as per figure 

5.1, but there are also extra-curricular activities which may play an important role in 

practically involving children in their local environment, and placing this in the context 

of global issues. In An Tinh, the school holds an annual ‘environment day’, whereby 

pupils are given leaflets from the government informing them about global problems, and 

they undertake tree planting in the local area. In Kim Hy the students also have meetings 

about environmental protection and its importance to human lives, plus ‘clean school’ 

days, and the school is planning on starting a similar planting scheme to An Tinh in the 

near future. 

The head teachers both felt that there was room for further development of an EA aspect 

to the existing curriculums, especially if they were to focus primarily upon issues 

surrounding the uses, benefits of and threats to local environmental resources as a 

priority. However, the development of EA would depend upon provision of an externally 

supervised training course for local teachers, along with relevant teaching materials and 

training as to how to use these materials effectively. Head teachers from both schools 

indicated that given sufficient training and environmental education for the teachers 

themselves, and given the leeway to integrate the environmental issues into the existing 

subjects further, a programme of EA could be well-received by pupils in the area. The 

district Department of Education and Training (DET) already run an environmental 

programme each year indicating that the administrative infrastructure would be in place 

to expand, but the intentions of the DET in this regard were not made clear during this 

survey. 

5.7.3.3 Results: pupil questionnaires 

Figures 5.3 and 5.4 below provide an overview of the results of the questionnaires in both 

schools surveyed. 

School and level Percentage of correct answers Overall 

Kim Hy Primary 44 

49 

An Tinh Primary 53 

Kim Hy Secondary 56 

59 

An Tinh Secondary 61 

Figure 5.3: EA Test results comparing commune schools 


Percentage of correct 

answers 

100 

75 

50 

25 

0 

primary 

secondary 

1 

4 

7 

10 

13 

16 

19 

Question number 

Figure 5.4: EA Test results comparing primary and secondary-level understanding 

Overall results indicate a relatively good grounding in environmental concepts, with a 

predictable improvement with age, although there were variations both between schools 

and between general subject areas. For example, whilst many pupils demonstrated a good 

understanding of biological life-processes in animals and plants (questions 15 and 21), 

there appeared to be less of an understanding of ecological processes and external (e.g. 

food web) relationships, which were the subject of questions 9, 11 and 14. There was also 

little knowledge demonstrated as to the importance of local or other provincial areas of 

conservation importance (or ‘natural beauty’) covered in question 17, suggesting a need 

in any EE programme in the area to include some local contextualisation of their 

academic understanding of biology. The generally strong appreciation of the value of 

forest to human communities (question 19) suggests that this may be well received by 

school children in the area. 

Question 22 was asked to assess how the students thought they could protect their local 

forest. Interestingly there was clear split between the two communes as to the best 

approach to go about protecting the forest in Kim Hy. Both age groups in Kim Hy 

commune think that telling the police is the best way (answer 3), and the majority of both 

age groups in An Tinh feel that talking to friends and family about what they have learnt 

is best. The PARC project in Na Hang suggested that willingness of children to talk to 

their families might be a means to transfer knowledge and modern attitudes to adults. 



In Kim Hy and An Tinh communes, government investment into school development has 

been fairly recent, and many facilities and resources are lacking. This has traditionally 

affected the quality of education the children have received here, and the problem of 

dissemination of new trends in education to remote mountainous communities affects the 

potential development of EE for Kim Hy PNR’s schools. Lack of infrastructure and 

material resources is one facet of this in that teachers are limited in their methods and 

students are limited in their opportunities to pursue their education further. These 

problems, alongside the issue of teacher training, are being addressed by government 

initiatives. 

The root causes of the problem may lie in recent aspects of government education policy. 

The most important resource available to a school is its teaching staff, and the age, 

experience, skills and attitudes of the staff are essential to applying an EE programme. 

The Government provides financial incentives to graduates from teacher training colleges 

to study in remote areas, but the young teachers are often reluctant to settle down in an 

area that is isolated and poor, leading to some instability in teaching practise through 

frequent staff changes. The government has also encouraged the early retirement of older 

experienced teachers, because the success of family planning in remote areas has caused 

class sizes to fall and the proportion of new graduate teachers to rise. A result of this is 

that schools may become over-staffed and priority is given to the young but 

inexperienced teachers. Younger teachers may be more open to new ideas in teaching, 

but also lack the experience to implement them. One interesting result of the Frontier 

survey was the difference of understanding exhibited by children between the two 

communes; both head teachers were experienced in their field, but An Tinh school 

appeared to have a more positive and optimistic approach to the adoption of 

environmental education and awareness raising activities for the local children. An ideal 

scenario would be to encourage local school-leavers to train as teachers, but until the 

broader socio-economic circumstances allow for the incentives and opportunities for 

students to pursue this, the problem of merging open attitudes with teaching experience 

and local knowledge is likely to remain. 

Frontier’s preliminary surveys identified gaps in the knowledge of schoolchildren in the 

two schools with regard to the local environmental situation, the relationships between 

man and the environment, and the domino effects that an ecosystem can experience from 

exploitation of certain components. However, a relatively sound grasp of the values of 

forest conservation indicate that if environmental education and awareness activities 

become more integrated, rounded and comprehensive (i.e. less fragmented between 

subjects) in local schools, then the gap between the schooling and the everyday life 

experience of Kim Hy PNR’s younger generations may be bridged to a greater extent, for 

the ultimate benefit of its natural environment. 


5.8 Agriculture and economy 


Agriculture of various types comprises 58% of Bac Kan’s provincial GDP (Castella et al, 

2002, pp1-18), and within the boundaries of Kim Hy PNR, 98.59% of the total labour 

force is engaged in some form of agriculture. Agriculture is determined by the two main 

seasons of the year, although the agricultural calendar featured in Figure 5.5 below may 

vary somewhat according to the individual circumstances of the farmer (e.g. the extent of 

their diversification and whether they are able to farm one- or two-cycle wet rice). Over 

92% of families in the province consume their entire rice production (paddy or upland). 

Paddy rice cultivation dominates the lowland basins and valley bottoms (2.6% of the 

provincial area and 1.49% of the PNR area) with hill crops surrounding the villages and 

to a lesser extent occupying the forest block interiors; these are principally maize 

(21,000ha in the province) and cassava (26,700ha in the province), the former being more 

prominent in the Kim Hy area. Commercial crops such as soy bean, sugarcane, peanuts 

and tobacco are farmed in the lowland areas of the province; they form a relatively small 

proportion of the land area and labour input of residents at Kim Hy, and although in other 

areas they provide a proportionally high income per unit area for farmers, these crops are 

not widely grown for sale in the more remote communities at Kim Hy. Livestock 

husbandry is common although it has declined in recent years due to conflicts arising 

from associated crop damage and resource use; in the province as a whole, government 

policy has encouraged (through subsidies from the Bank of Agriculture and Rural 

Development) cultivation of perennial timber and fruit trees at the expense of livestock, 

with mixed results. This policy has not yet had widespread effect in Kim Hy and its 

surrounding communes, partly due to the initial investment, training and market access 

required. Summary statistics for agricultural production in all communes within both the 

currently proposed boundaries and those proposed by FREC (except for Con Minh 

commune) are provided in Appendix 8 and discussed in more detail in the sections 

below. 

Lunar Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 

New Year Festival 

T 

Sugar Cane P H H 

Cassava P P H H 

Soya Bean P P H 

Spring Maize P P H H 

Spring Rice P P H 

Summer Rice P P H H 

Summer Maize P P H H 

Key: T = Tet, P = Planting, H = Harvest. 

Figure 5.5. Annual farming cycle within Kim Hy proposed Nature Reserve. 


5.8.2 Paddy rice systems 


Paddy land has been allocated by the government in a process instigated by the ‘Doi Moi’ 

reforms by the Land Law in 1993, whereby flatlands were allocated for a renewable 

period of 20 years, the rights to which could be bought, sold, transferred, exchanged and 

inherited. The allocations in Bac Kan province tended to confirm impromptu Tay 

acquisitions of ancestral lands, however, and were not fully accepted until the late 1990s 

(Castella et al, 2002, pp47-71). Some land may be rented directly from the government 

for c.115,000VND/ha/season (depending upon its quality), to supplement allocated rice 

land which, in Kim Hy and An Tinh communes, tends to be an average of approximately 

3,000m 2 /household. Given that montane 2-cycle paddy rice productivity is about eight 

times that of hill rice per unit area/year, paddy rice is the most important food crop in the 

area of Kim Hy (and indeed Vietnam as a whole); it is also the one with the highest rate 

of producer consumption. Nearly 90% of farmers in Bac Kan province farm wet rice, but 

only 13% sell their produce (Castella et al, 2002, pp175-196): in the Frontier surveys, 

only three interviewees reported selling rice (at the local market in Lang San) and all 

were from An Tinh commune, which has the best access to the main highway. Being a 

traditional high carbohydrate-base crop providing the highest security of yields (and, 

where possible, markets), paddy rice is thus intrinsic to the food security of Kim Hy’s 

rural populations, which in turn determines the interactions between upland and lowland 

systems and is the key factor in differentiating households. Paddy rice is generally the 

basic unit of production and income, based on its current market value, and in many cases 

loans are repaid in this kind. Tax is also levied in rice terms, depending upon soil grade; 

there are four grades in the PNR area, and levies range from 1.7kg/ha-2.8kg/ha of rice per 

season. The reference of 250kg/person/year of paddy rice is the minimum standard of 

food security set by the National Committee of Food Security in 1998, and although 

many farmers in the PNR have diversified, a significant minority of poorer households 

fail to reach this standard through their own farms. 

5.8.2.2 Land shortages 

The food security problem is primarily due to paddy land shortages as a result of 

population increase. In Bac Kan province, available paddy land fell by almost 20% from 

680m 2 to 560m 2 /person between 1991 and 2000, despite the fact that the area of rice land 

under cultivation as a whole has increased (Castella et al, 2002, pp175-196). In Kim Hy 

commune for example, there was 97.5ha of wet rice five years ago compared with 264ha 

at present, but village leaders feel that continued division of rice fields is unsustainable. 

Neither is this rice land distributed evenly by household. Due to historical circumstances 

of ancestral land reclamation, land allocation during the 1990s, traditional cultivation 

expertise and market integration, the Tay people tend to live in those settlements such as 

Na Toan and Na Duong in An Tinh, Ban Ven and the surrounding villages in Kim Hy 

and the more accessible areas of Lang San and Luong Thuong communes, which have 

larger areas of paddy land for cultivation, better irrigation systems, higher soil quality 

(due mainly to greater siltation in the lower reaches of the alluvial valleys) and higher 


incident sunlight. For example in An Tinh, where Programme 135 has been the principal 

source of development funding, the concrete irrigation channels made in 2000 which 

provide water from surrounding streams to enable two harvests per year have only been 

constructed in the two Tay villages of the northern area. Funds were exhausted before the 

project reached the Dao village of Tham Mu, which has comparatively less per capita 

paddy area at slightly higher elevations: holdings in Tham Mu fall below 1000m 2 , whilst 

those in Na Toan could be six times this amount. Consequently, those with little paddy 

land who depend upon the hillsides (often traditionally nomadic people such as Dao and 

Nung who have now been settled) are beginning to experience some foreboding problems 

relating to the fertility of their land due to population pressure. This leads to an annual 

rice deficit for these households which, whilst not necessarily resulting in months of 

hunger, points to a system in crisis. 

Ethnicity and ethnic tradition is no longer the determinant that it was perhaps 15 years 

ago, however, and Frontier’s surveys showed that even within ethnic groups there is a 

wide disparity in landholding within villages, ranging from 700 to 7000m 2 within Kim 

Hy commune (the smallest being in Kim Van village). In the absence of sufficient rice 

land, some villagers (whether Tay or Dao) may have to work for a wage on the fields of 

those with larger paddy areas, although these are a minority in this area, as farmers prefer 

to diversify and remain independent. 

In Cao Son and Vu Muon communes of Bach Thong district, the land shortage situation 

is similar. Vu Muon, whilst having significantly more land available for paddy-based 

cultivation than Cao Son (131.6ha in 2000 as opposed to only 30.8ha in Cao Son), also 

has twice the population – 1,525 people instead of 758 people in that year. Because new 

paddy land is all but exhausted in the area of Lung Ly village in Cao Son, hill cultivation 

is expanding little by little every year in areas close to the limestone forest which would 

be targeted for protection in the FREC proposal. Landholdings of paddy rice are 

generally much smaller here than in the communes of Na Ri district: an average of 800m 2 

was given by Lung Ly’s village leader, but some households have a mere 300m 2 . In more 

sparsely populated villages in Cao Son such as Thong Khoan village, holdings are 

somewhat higher with an average of 1,200m 2 recorded in Frontier’s surveys, the largest 

being 6,000m 2 . 

5.8.2.3 Current solutions to land shortages 

A real crisis of rice land shortage has, however, been stalled by five main positive 

factors: 

1) The increased amounts of labour and capital invested in wet rice production since 

the end of the co-operative era in the late 1980s. Previously, collective systems, whilst by 

no means homogenously applied, were generally plagued by beurocratic and technical 

inadequacies and distributive inefficiencies (of both inputs and outputs) which, coupled 

with the lack of private incentive and increasing populations through immigration and 

resettlement, meant hill cultivation actually overtook paddy rice in terms of both labour 

effort and market value in the area. This pattern has reversed as the means –and costs - of 


production have been essentially, if not actually, privatised, and wet rice now has 

approximately double the market value of maize, for example. For those communities 

with little rice land such as some villages in Cao Son commune, the trade-off between 

intensification of paddy land as opposed to hill land is less clear cut in the face of 

restrictions on resources. 

2) The introduction of new rice varieties. These vary across the communes in the PNR, 

but have all resulted in increased productivity. In Kim Hy, rice strains are diverse; the 

main strain used is Nep 352, but Khong Dam, Ai Lun, Kim Cuong and Luong Que are 

also used. An Tinh also has good access to new agricultural technology, and the Na Toan 

village leader had at the time of survey recently managed a trial of Hai Dong rice, which 

along with Tap Giao, yields significantly more than the previously used strain, Bao Thai 

(exact figures require confirmation but the difference quoted was over a ton/ha/season). 

These new strains in An Tinh are once more subsidised by Programme 135, and 

distributed by MARD. Once more, however, the communes surveyed in Bach Thong 

suffer from access problems in both the supply of new strains and the training to 

encourage people to use them. The new subsidised Ai32 and Ba Bao strains have been 

available as of 1996 and months of hunger have been generally eliminated, but they are 

not used by many simply out of habit; the older 203 strain is widely used instead, with 

consequences for the commune’s agricultural efficiency. By 2000, Vu Muon had reached 

a total rice productivity of 555.08 tons (well above the district average), with Cao Son 

lagging at only 106.76 tons (well below the average). Whilst total figures are partly 

explained by differences in rice land availability, the 9% increase in average rice 

productivity enjoyed by Vu Muon between 1998 and 2000 was only just over 6% in Cao 

Son. In 2000, Cao Son commune still had an average productivity of only 3,525kg/ha 

(contrasted with 4,217kg/ha in Vu Muon and 4,270kg/ha in An Tinh in the same season 

of that year). 

3) The improvement of chemical input distribution networks and mechanisation. 

Fertilisers and pesticides are subsidised by the government for those families falling 

within low wealth brackets, and are widely available from commune Peoples’ 

Committees; they are used for both paddy rice and upland cultivation. Fertiliser is 

primarily sourced from animal manure (especially from stabled animals) and compost, 

but because a widely-used integrated livestock-cultivation system has not yet been 

developed in these communes, collection may be time-consuming for villagers. Relative 

use of chemical and natural fertiliser also depends upon wealth and access of villages: In 

the Dao village of Tham Mu in An Tinh, chemical NPK fertiliser, Urea and natural 

fertiliser are used in ratios of approximately 5:1:100, whilst some cannot afford them at 

all. In Na Duong further up the valley, villagers typically spend between 400,000VND- 

800,000VND per year on chemical fertilisers for use three times per season. At the time 

of survey, nitrogenous fertiliser cost 800VND/kg and phosphate 1,700VND/kg 

(1,400VND/kg if subsidised), although a more expensive brand is subsidised at 

2,400VND/kg. There is extra aid for poorer families under the PAHE programme 

involving low interest credit schemes with a 2 ½ year re-payment period, but village 

leaders reported little need for this within Kim Hy or An Tinh communes. Meanwhile, 

the wealthier families of these communes often do not buy the fertilisers as, because they 


do not qualify for the subsidies, it is perceived as uneconomical; it is therefore possible 

that a review is needed in the subsidy threshold levels in order to increase rice 

productivity further, or at least for this issue to be discussed further at village meetings. 

Pesticides used within the PNR area include Ofatox (6,500VND/100ml) and Bazan 

(5,000VND/ml), and Vampatoz is also used; all are subsidised, but there are still some 

who are unable to afford them regularly. 

In villages such as Kim Van in Kim Hy commune and Tham Mu in An Tinh commune, 

access to the Peoples’ Committee to transport bulky deliveries of pesticide or fertiliser is 

a significant problem which also applies to the whole of Cao Son commune in Bach 

Thong. The supply of agricultural inputs is the factor in Cao Son’s agricultural systems 

most inhibited by poor access; fertilisers are delivered from Con Minh in the south (there 

is no direct road access), and pesticides have to be fetched from Bac Kan town in the 

province centre. Few can afford the cost of both the products and their transportation. 

Although loans to a maximum of 3 million VND (at 0.6% interest) are available from the 

Hunger Regulation and Poverty reduction Project, few are willing to risk the necessary 

debt that would supply the regular inputs to significantly improve their agricultural 

productivity, both because of the lack of confidence in the local economic climate and 

because of the lack of collateral owned by the villagers often needed to secure a loan. 

There is not a strong demand for pesticides in Cao Son as insects are apparently not a 

significant problem there. Nevertheless, the problem of low paddy rice productivity is 

resulting in pressure on hill land and forest there, and better access to fertiliser suppliers 

may ameliorate the problem. The forest degradation that would result from a direct 

vehicle route (as yet unplanned) being established to the closest market in Con Minh, 

however, presents a dilemma in the conservation of natural forest in that area. 

Use of machinery in the PNR area is largely limited to the wealthier villages in An Tinh 

commune (there are a few hand tractors and rice harvesters used in the Ban Ven area in 

Kim Hy also), and then only by the wealthier families due to the prices of purchase: a 

harvester costs 400,000VND, a rice shredder costs 1 million VND and a plough 8 million 

VND. The latter is hired out to other villagers for c. 200,000VND per season, other 

machinery being hired out at a per-minute rate. Machinery may be owned jointly to 

spread the costs, but it complements rather than replaces buffalo for draft, as buffalo are 

themselves an important capital store. Machinery is an expensive investment but the 

returns are great, not only from hire charges but also from the increased efficiency of 

production; they do not in themselves increase production as fertilisers may, but they 

make substantial labour savings, thus allowing for diversification elsewhere. If surplus 

production is enabled by this means, excess rice may be produced and wealthy families in 

Na Toan and Na Duong are able to get c.1.25 million VND/ton/year by this means, 

sometimes selling up to five tons in a year. Even without surplus, machinery mitigates the 

labour shortages caused by (and thus reducing the success of) family planning initiatives 

which reduce the amount of working hands in a household in the long term. However, the 

purchase of agricultural machinery is currently beyond the means of most villagers in the 

PNR 


4) The introduction of a second harvest in spring on a growing proportion of paddy 

fields, and the associated techniques in farming this crop. The annual production per unit 

area of paddy rice can vary by a factor of three depending largely upon the proportion of 

double-cropped area. In other studies in Bac Kan province, households growing 1-cycle 

rice averaged 4 tons/ha/year, whereas 2-cycle rice brought an average of 8.5 tons/ha/year. 

In An Tinh, the only commune of the three surveyed by Frontier to have concrete 

irrigation network channels installed, the village leader of Na Toan reported that yields of 

wet rice had almost doubled in the last five years as a direct result. In 2000, the main 

harvest here yielded 4,270kg/ha with an additional 2,950kg in the smaller second crop, 

thus totalling an average of 7220kg/ha for that year. The other communes in the PNR 

have received similar benefits from recent 2-cycle rice cultivation, although Kim Hy does 

not as yet have concrete irrigation. By way of contrast, Cao Son and Vu Muon, which 

both have only 1-cycle rice, averaged 3,525kg/ha and 4,217kg/ha respectively for that 

year. The Peoples’ Committee in Cao Son reported that they had applied for funds from 

Programme 135 but were awaiting the result. 2-Cycle rice is not necessarily the overriding 

concern of farmers in the area, however. Access to irrigation water between 

January and February to supply a summer crop determines how much paddy land can be 

double cropped, but the number of mouths to feed in a given household determines how 

much is double cropped; if the number is small and food security ensured, labour can be 

better spent in other activities which bring a higher income than rice (Castella et al, 2002, 

pp175-196). Neither does a two-season harvest always ensure food security. In Kim Hy 

commune where most are able to harvest over two seasons, four villagers out of nine 

interviewed reported ‘months of hunger’ where borrowing was necessary at various times 

between January and August (mainly May-August), despite using two cycles. Other 

factors (such as amount of paddy land, labour availability and capital) influence 

productivity, but 2-cycle rice and better irrigation is doubtless a highly desirable option 

for villagers facing the need to intensify their paddy cultivation across the PNR. 

5) Finally, agricultural training has provided villagers with greater technical knowledge 

in the context of their local environment, greater awareness of assistance available to 

stimulate production, and a somewhat better idea about how to market their produce 

where applicable. This training is open to all but it often only benefits those with good 

access to Peoples’ Committee buildings where most of the training takes place, and those 

with the means to act upon new technology and opportunities. For a number of villagers, 

especially (but not invariably) in remote areas, such means are lacking and other methods 

are essential in supplementing their rice production, primarily hill cultivation. 


5.8.3 Hillside cultivation 


Upland cultivation has been traditionally the chief source of blame for deforestation in 

mountainous areas in Vietnam. Inventories compiled by the government suggested that of 

the decline from 43% to 28% forest cover in the country between 1945 and 1993, 50% 

was a result of slash and burn agriculture - the rest being from fire, war, land reclamation 

etc (Castella et al 2002, pp149-173). It may be that the link is not as direct as this in 

actuality, but it has undeniably an important impact during times between the 1960s and 

early –mid 1990s when swidden agricultural expansion, although technically prohibited, 

was important for attaining food security when collective rice agriculture was 

inefficiently farmed under co-operatives, or the demands of war (with America, China 

and Cambodia) on the economy demanded a local, private ‘rush for the hills’. To this 

end, devices such as the ‘shifting cultivation index’ (which divides the area of fallow land 

in a given area by the area of slash and burn) have been developed to give a numerical 

value to measure the threat to forest resources: the higher the value, the higher the area of 

fallow land and the lower the risk from pioneer shifting cultivation (Castella et al, 2002). 

Pioneer cultivation (as opposed to short term rotational hill cultivation) generally 

involved planting a crop of hill rice followed by maize and/or cassava for 2-3 years, with 

regeneration allowed for 15-30 years; when population pressure in the mountains was 

more sparse this was not a significant environmental problem. In the Kim Hy PNR, 

pioneer cultivation has been curtailed: the H’mong groups are usually quoted as being 

those who were the last to stop this and other such traditional practices such as hunting, 

in the area. Now, with previously nomadic farmers almost entirely settled in this area, 

the issue is no longer merely local people being accountable for forest loss, but instead 

the growing hill land fertility crisis caused by restricted hill cultivation area, reduced 

fallow periods and lack of sufficient paddy land. The simple area of forest loss can 

therefore not be taken as the only index of degradation by which to determine policy: the 

soil/forest regeneration capacity, food security, volume of timber lost through clearance 

versus production per unit area, and minority traditions should also be factored in. 

Within Kim Hy PNR overall, the area of swidden agriculture has declined in recent years 

and once cleared land is now regenerating into class IC or IIA forest and bamboo forest. 

Long term cultivation near settled villages now typically involves 2-3 years of maize 

followed by restoration of fertility by a cycle of soy bean followed by cassava; all are 

suitable for soils of relatively poor quality, and which are usually either sold or fed to 

pigs. In Kim Hy and An Tinh communes, hill and garden cultivation is well diversified 

amongst villagers; maize is the dominant crop on the hills bordering the villages and 

leading into the (poor) limestone forest edge in Kim Hy, or into the surrounding nonlimestone 

hills in An Tinh, but cassava, hill rice, sweet potato, peanuts, soy bean, fruit 

(grapefruit, papaya, plum, orange, lemon, star fruit and guava) and vegetables (calabash, 

pumpkin, bamboo sprout, cabbage, tomato and bindweed) are also grown closer to the 

houses. 


5.8.3.2 Maize cultivation 

Maize is the main hill crop in the current PNR area, and paths into the limestone forest 

block from Kim Hy villages surrounding Ban Ven pass through extensive maize fields 

mixed with papaya and cinnamon trees as maize is easily grown on calcareous-derived 

soils. Maize cultivation is still expanding here, although not at the same pace as wet rice; 

in 1996 there was 40ha of maize in the commune, now there is 58ha. Much of the 

expansion reaches into denuded hills rather than clearing new forest, but nevertheless 

prevents forest regeneration. Two strains of maize are grown in both Kim Hy and An 

Tinh; one is a traditional strain used partly for human consumption to supplement rice, 

the other is the hybrid strain P888 (or Giang Ngo), developed by Bioseed Genetics in 

Hanoi, used primarily for livestock feed. Introduced to the area in 1996, the seed for the 

latter is readily available from the local Peoples’ Committee at 10,000VND/kg, and the 

new strain requires less fertiliser than traditional maize. This has aided the intensification 

of upland agriculture somewhat in Kim Hy and An Tinh as two cycles are now feasible 

given sufficient time and labour, and has encouraged further investment in livestock 

husbandry. Growing hill rice in these communes is now becoming rarer, and maize has 

entirely replaced hill rice in An Tinh’s villages of Na Duong and Na Toan. There, paddy 

landholdings are generally large enough to ensure food security and the raising of buffalo 

for draft and pigs for market sale has placed a higher demand for efficient P888 maize 

cultivation to provide (supplementary) animal feed. Although maize yields are relatively 

unprofitable given that labour time required is comparable to other hill crops, pig farming 

can offset the costs and even without owning pigs themselves, farmers can sell the maize 

crop to those families that do. This means that maize is also a profitable alternative for 

those households with little rice land in the valleys. However, increasing erosion caused 

primarily by the deforestation involved in creating hill fields can mean fertilisation of the 

sloping lands is difficult. In the areas of Cao Son commune, maize replaces hill rice as 

the primary upland crop when there is sufficient paddy land for the village. The extent of 

land clearance for upland cultivation in this area (see Map 3) has meant that some of the 

fields are over 2km from the villages. 

5.8.3.3 Other hill cultivation systems 

Cassava is also an important crop, being easier to grow on degraded soil than either hill 

rice or maize, and yields c. 8 tons/ha/year. Hill rice yields only two tons/ha – less in years 

of crop failure - and a second crop yields even lower. In Cao Son commune, hill rice is 

still a major crop for those villages with shortages of paddy land, but because of its low 

yields is failing to enable food security for some households, especially as the spread of 

hill cultivation is restricted to protect natural forest (hill rice can demand extensive land 

clearance). Nung are apparently more successful in this cultivation, whether due to the 

need for efficiency because they own proportionately less paddy land here, or whether it 

is because of a higher traditional importance of this in their diets. Where possible, mixed 

systems are employed. Cinnamomum cassia is widely planted in the PNR area and also in 

Cao Son, either in mixed plantations under existing forest canopy cover or densely 

planted with hill rice and/or cassava, the latter providing shade for saplings. A 35 year 

old C. cassia tree can yield 30-40kg of bark, and by 1994 prices a ton of bark brought 


$2,000. Some villagers interviewed in Kim Hy stated that they also grow medicinal 

plants in these systems. Alternatives to hill rice in Cao Son will, however, become 

increasingly important, as hill rice requires a minimum three year fallow period and even 

if paddy rice is only one cycle, rice production from paddies is over 15 times that of hill 

rice per unit area; unsurprisingly, farmers prioritise their labour and fertiliser input for 

paddy rice, but when this is insufficient hill rice makes up the deficit. 

Hillsides are also variously used for growing bamboo and Livingstonia palms for house 

roofing; these also naturally occur and were managed collectively during the co-operative 

period just like many other crops. Fruit trees are a significant aspect of hill use as well. 

Apricot was not quoted as being cultivated in the Kim Hy PNR, although they have been 

a fashionable crop elsewhere in the province due to their high profitability/unit of labour 

(although not per land unit area). The reason is most likely that they require extensive 

clearance and land resources to be profitable and, given that they require several years to 

yield fruit and the market for fruit is declining, the investment is now often seen as 

unpredictable. Their harvest time also coincides with that of the main rice harvest, and 

their plantations compete with livestock grazing and thus have to be situated close to 

housing, further limiting their area and thus their profitability. Oranges, plums, lemons 

and the other fruit types grown in this area are somewhat surer investments with more 

constant local markets, and the government has promoted fruit trees as a sustainable 

upland alternative to rain-fed winter crops. Nevertheless, although a number of villagers 

have fruit and (more typically) Cinnamomum trees, the plantations tend to be small and 

close to housing in the hope of local sale – villagers are reluctant to risk investment in 

this, especially when their crops may be in danger of free-grazing livestock damage. 


5.8.4 Animal husbandry 


The investment plan for Kim Hy PNR proposes an investment of over 2,500 million 

VND for combined garden crop and animal husbandry development, with the 

management board overseeing the socio-economic programme to facilitate technical 

support and the distribution of strains/breeds. At present, the animal husbandry systems 

practised at Kim Hy PNR mirror those of much of Bac Kan province, with buffalo being 

both stabled and grazed freely in designated areas of the village area (and forest fringe) 

overseen usually by the youngest and oldest members of a family, and pigs bred by most 

households. Poultry is principally chickens but also ducks and geese. The figures used in 

this section regarding livestock populations and distributions in the PNR are largely taken 

from the investment plan (FIPI, 1997). Little information was obtained regarding 

livestock in the communes in Bach Thong included in the FREC proposal, but animal 

husbandry appears to be less developed in Cao Son commune than in the PNR area. Con 

Minh is the closest market and villagers are ‘beginning’ to sell pork there, but the pig 

population was almost annihilated in the disease epidemics of 1999. 

5.8.4.2 Ruminants 

Buffalo are an important long-term capital store for all ethnic minorities (although 

traditionally more so with nomadic groups such as the Dao, for whom they were the 

closest thing to ‘fixed assets’), but it is now the Tay who own proportionately more 

buffalo due to their greater specialisation in paddy agriculture for which buffalo provide 

plough draft. Bac Kan province as a whole experiences various problems with buffalo 

which at best limit and at worst prohibit the development of livestock marketing as an 

economic end in itself, such as mediocre reproductive performance, pre-weaning 

mortality and negative effects associated with the winter dry season (birth problems, 

scarce forage, low temperatures and more parasite infections). In 1999, a foot & mouth 

epidemic affected the Kim Hy area causing many buffalo casualties – many had to be 

culled. A government prevention scheme remedied the situation in more accessible 

villages such as Na Toan and Na Duong in An Tinh commune, but vaccines against 

livestock disease tend not to reach remote villages such as Kim Van in Kim Hy commune 

before the disease has taken its toll on the livestock population there. Neither are healthy 

buffalo as efficient as lowland breeds. One buffalo in Bac Kan province can plough an a 

surface area of approximately 400-500m 2 per working day, compared to 700m 2 in the 

Red River delta; the Murrah crossbreeds used throughout much of South-East Asia can 

plough as much as 1,000m 2 per day (Castella et al, 2002, pp220-247). 

Although the development of livestock markets is increasing in the province as a whole, 

it is still limited compared to other provinces, and the market is not developed 

competitively – many of the sales are of low-value animals. Dowries, gifts and 

inheritance are still the main form of animal exchange here, and such markets are very 

limited in the Kim Hy PNR area. It is most developed in An Tinh commune, with an 

average of 2.98 buffalo per household (the highest in the Kim Hy PNR area) and where 


some households own seven buffalo and have a ‘draft excess’. Because of the higher 

importance of paddy agriculture (and higher land unit area/household of paddy rice), over 

80% of the buffalo here are draft animals, the rest being for breeding. Lang San also has a 

relatively well-developed livestock economy (2.76 buffalo/household, 65% draft). 

Buffalo are, however, almost entirely used to meet family subsistence needs in most 

cases; some families with more rice land than is manageable with their own herds have a 

‘draft deficit’ and must hire help. In Kim Hy commune there is a stronger concentration 

of breeding animals (74%) in order to develop buffalo husbandry and recover from 

previous epidemics. Conflicts also determine the success of developing livestock 

industries, as it is usually the owners of free-grazing buffalo who are blamed for any hill 

crop damage that occurs. In Frontier’s surveys the villagers interviewed implied that such 

conflicts, if they had existed previously, were now largely remedied. 

Cow husbandry is a way of ameliorating the conflict issue, being easier to manage on the 

slopes due in part to their greater herding tendencies; they do not damage fences and 

crops to the same degree as buffalo. They also produce better quality meat (buffalo in the 

PNR are not raised for meat). Cows are more beneficial to those who must concentrate 

upon upland cultivation, and are required to diversify as a matter of subsistence (as 

opposed to speculation). Consequently cow farming is not significant in An Tinh, but is 

more established in Kim Hy commune which has an average of 0.43 cows/household 

(against 0.15 in Lang San, many of which are breeding animals), mainly for meat. 

5.8.4.3 Other domestic animals 

Pigs are an important cash income source for most families in the PNR, especially in Kim 

Hy commune, where the average number per household is 5.28 (An Tinh, with the next 

highest incidence of pig farming in the PNR has an average of 1.84 per household). 

Vilagers reported selling between 25kg and 200kg of pork per year, fetching 200,000-1.8 

million VND per year at local markets. Pig farming requires good market access and 

large amounts of feed – primarily maize, but also rice products – but they also require 

less land than ruminants. However, because pig feed is traditionally energy-intensive to 

prepare (a figure of 350kg of fuel wood per pig has been posited by Castella et al, 2002, 

pp220-247), this in turn puts indirect pressure upon forest resources. New, quickfattening 

hybrids introduced as of the 1990s has reduced the problem somewhat. Goatherding 

was also encouraged by the government in the 1980s as a way of paying back 

loans to invest in silviculture, as they provide quick and regular returns for minimal 

investment, and there is some small scale goat raising in Kim Hy and Luong Thuong 

communes. However, these animals have in many areas caused conflicts between farmers 

as they are highly destructive to most vegetation, including crops. 

Overall, the development of livestock husbandry in the area has potential to aid food 

security and market development, but depends upon 1) the existence of grassy hills for 

grazing to prevent conflicts between farming systems, 2) the relative profitability of 

arable agriculture as land use becomes more pressurised, and 3) the development of 

integrated crop-livestock management systems. Castella et al (2002) provide information 

on other trials done in Bac Kan province; for related recommendations, see Chapter 7. 



5.9 Forest land management and development 

5.9.1 Forest land allocation policy 

In the wider context of deforestation in northern Vietnam, contiguous forest blocks such 

as that found at Kim Hy are important in conserving the ecological integrity of Bac Kan 

province. Surrounding provinces have, since the 1950s, seen their forest land dwindle to 

minimal levels: Cao Bang, for example, has only 11.2% of its land cover classified as 

‘forest’, and the north-eastern area as a whole is second only to the north-west in having 

among the highest area of treeless land in the country (Hoa Binh, 1999). The final stages 

of sedentarisation of the lifestyles of mountainous populations which followed the land 

allocation process defined in Resolution 10 (1988) and the Forest Protection and 

Development Code (1991) were largely in place in Bac Kan by the mid-1990s. This 

process put a brake upon the clearance of new hillside areas for cultivation in Kim Hy, 

An Tinh, Luong Thuong and Lang San communes, but has been slower to take effect in 

the more remote communes in Bach Thong district such as Cao Son. During the 

collective era (from the late 1960s), which had also strived for a stable system of largely 

wet rice-based co-operative food security, large areas of forest fringe were cleared as 

private hill cultivation became the more profitable norm when rice production became 

cripplingly inefficient, again most evident in Cao Son commune due to a traditional 

reliance upon hillside cultivation by the Nung and Dao groups there. The loss of forest in 

this area has been inextricably linked, therefore, with changes in government forest land 

policy at the national scale, and the success of its implementation at the local level. 

Article 43 of the Land Law defines ‘forest land’ as all land identified as being destined 

for silviculture, natural forest regeneration, reforestation, timber, nurseries, forest 

research and experimentation (Gov. SRV, 1993), identifying three broad categories; 

1) Production Forest: for silviculture and agroforestry to supply local demand and 

for commerce, and to complement other forest types to protect the overall 

environment. 

2) Protection Forest: for watershed protection, prevention of erosion and other 

natural risks to human livelihoods and the broader environment. 

3) Special Use Forest: for the conservation of biodiversity, scientific research and 

protection of historic, cultural and tourist sites. 

The forest in Kim Hy PNR is broadly classed as ‘special use’ on FPD maps except for 

some areas in An Tinh commune which is classed as ‘protection forest’. The overall aim 

of the forest management in the area is therefore oriented towards natural forest 

conservation and rehabilitation, but the mosaic of land cover and economic needs of 

villagers demands different approaches towards combining rehabilitation and restoration 

with silviculture and agro-forestry. In reality, the categories above are not clear-cut and 

are adapted or combined according to the local situation. The FPD have thus contracted 

land in the non-limestone areas with guidelines for both cultivation of perennial trees and 

rehabilitation of natural forest, i.e. combining the aims of special use and production 

forest. Virtually no limestone forest has been included in the forest contracts. 


5.9.2 Special Use Forest stewardship 

Article 8 of Decree 02-CP (January 1994) states that Special Use Forests, defined in the 

1993 Land Law, are not to be allocated to households directly but are controlled by 

special management boards which may enter into contracts with people living locally to 

undertake protection and re-forestation activities at their own discretion, but advised by 

the board (Castella et al, 2002, pp198-220). These contracts are typically for a 50 year 

period. The allocation process begins with Peoples’ Committees developing an allocation 

plan and delineating forest types, then disseminating this to the commune authorities so 

that families desiring plots may apply through a request form. Once any differences have 

been resolved the FPD draw up a land map with each measured forest land plot for each 

household included. Information for An Tinh and Kim Hy communes is provided in Map 

4, but the process was not yet finished in these communes at the time of survey; in An 

Tinh, Na Duong’s allocations were ratified in 1999, but Na Toan had yet to receive forest 

land formally (they are likely to confirm the existing land use distribution). Certificates 

are then issued by the FPD, who hold a meeting with households to elucidate the terms of 

the contract so that stweards may use their land accordingly. The extent and location of 

these allocations depends upon the resources of the management board to protect the area 

themselves, but considering the low staffing levels, limited equipment and poor wages of 

the Forest Protection Departments at Kim Hy PNR, the method of forest contracts as a 

way of both encouraging collective public responsibility for natural forest and reducing 

strain on FPD branches is a popular, if time consuming, one. 

Stewards (usually village households) have rights to thinning products and dry fuel wood, 

and depending upon the stage of/capacity for forest regeneration, can practice limited 

agroforestry until the canopy of natural forest species has closed – at which point the 

contract begins for strict forest protection. For natural forest guardianship, 40-50,000 

VND/ha/year is paid to the steward for a maximum of 20ha of special use forest. Despite 

apparently offering money for little tie or input from the stewards, this scheme was 

initially unpopular due to misunderstandings regarding taxation and lack of interest in 

some areas; the government first has had to persuade more influential families to set an 

example. In some communes (such as Van Tung in Ngan Son district, north of Na Ri) 

villages decided to take on forest stewardship communally (Castella et al, 2002, pp198- 

220), although there was no evidence of this in the PNR. The FPD in Kim Hy and Con 

Minh arrange meetings with new stewards to elucidate forest law and the reasons behind 

the need for forest protection. Notes of pledge are also distributed to village households 

(stewards or not) to sign, which bind them to 

1) keeping to the land use boundaries in relation to other parties and the state 

2) not cultivating illegally on forest land 

3) preventing fire 

4) not exploiting or trading forest products illegally and not concealing those who do 

5) obeying all future strictures of the FPD. 


The success of the stewardship scheme in Bac Kan and in the Kim Hy PNR area has 

depended upon the following principle factors: 

1) The location and economic status of individual villages. For those villages in close 

proximity to natural forest with few agricultural alternatives (such as more remote 

villages in Kim Hy and An Tinh), the scheme has been popular as long as enough forest 

land is allocated to make it profitable. However, if the forest for which they take 

stewardship is remote or fragmented (increasing the time taken to inspect it), the hidden 

‘transaction cost’ (Adhikari & Lovett, unpublished) of time and effort which could be 

spent more profitably than the FPD remuneration can compensate for, has reduced the 

effectiveness of the scheme. This is a widespread problem in many protected areas, 

including well documented cases in Ba Be National Park, and could affect the scheme’s 

success at Kim Hy also, especially with regard to any future allocations within the 

difficult limestone forest area, where natural forest protection stewardship is most 

needed. The FPD in Con Minh have had to reclaim forest stewardship land from three 

households because it was not being maintained properly (the contract was not being 

honoured). Because the FPD in Con Minh and Kim Hy currently lack the resources to 

maintain the stewardship scheme in the limestone forest effectively, they have had to turn 

to an informant system to halt forest exploitation (especially regarding hunting). 

2) The equity of forest allocation between households. In the households interviewed by 

Frontier, forest land allocations varied massively depending upon the size, resources and 

needs of the families, and the perceived benefits of managing mature natural forest 

against rehabilitation forest (involving agro-forestry). Allocations were thus between 

1.7ha and 20.3ha in the households interviewed; most were between 3ha and 8ha. Some 

were fragmented and included forest at various stages of regeneration, others were large 

areas close to the village suitable for combining profitable agro-forestry with assisted 

rehabilitation. Overall, this heterogeneity in household preference presents a picture of 

communities experimenting with different forest land management methods: after the 

allocation stage each village may theoretically draw up its own forest management 

system applicable to local circumstances but in keeping with broader directives. In 

reality, however, the system may be heavily top-down, with little participatory planning 

of forest land allocation. Many households reported a desire to mange their forest land 

differently or have more land for their family, and that they were limited either because 

of the distance of the remaining forest land from the village or by the lack of remaining 

forest land left at all, since large tracts had been given to certain households already. 

Whether this was due to flaws and inequities in the original allocation process or because 

of households having realized since that they underestimated their own requirements in 

their original applications is not clear. Either way, it appears to be forest land with 

possibilities for production that is desired more than forest for environmental protection, 

because the perceived returns are greater. 


3) The perceived costs and returns of managing forest land. Under Programme 327, the 

re-plantation and recovery arm of the Land Law, shrub land has been allocated or 

contracted with a payment of 1,100,000VND/ha for the first year of investment in 

seedlings and planting, then 300,000VND/ha for the second and third years and 

47,000VND for the fourth to the eighth years (Castella et al, 2002). Species for planting 

are recommended before the contracts are signed. However, the amounts provided for the 

initial stages and gap-filling years do not generally cover the required costs, and because 

of the long-term choice involved in growing trees (as opposed to a more regular return 

from hill cultivation or livestock), the returns have not been sure or immediate enough to 

attract many households to forest land stewardship. Many villagers in Kim Hy and An 

Tinh have as yet been unable to invest in their forest land, despite aid from the PAHE 

Programme. One villager from Kim Van was interested in the potential market from a 

paper mill Bac Kan, but nobody has yet been able to instigate production. Indeed, most 

stewards were less entrepreneurial, looking primarily to the Peoples’ Committee and FPD 

for direction, a common effect of the frequent policy changes which have accompanied 

the last ten years. Rather than taking the risk of long term forest land development and 

rehabilitation, many villagers prefer (or are financially forced) to ‘sit back and watch the 

forest grow’ whilst enjoying the small but fixed financial benefits. As regards the more 

mature natural forest which merely requires quality checks, the amounts paid by the FPD 

are often not enough to encourage a real sense of responsibility in farmers for 

biodiversity protection. A number of villagers interviewed by Frontier said they 

regularly checked their forest areas, but some related that they attached little value to 

their special use forest because it was either too far away or they were unable to invest in 

it. 

4) The extent to which a sense of ownership and responsibility is created in forest land 

contracts. Because the stewardship scheme (and indeed all land allocation in Vietnam) 

does not actually transfer ownership to its custodians, who have in many cases 

traditionally viewed forest as an ‘open-access resource’ anyway, the above problems are 

compounded by a lack of willingness to speculate which accompanies private ownership. 

This is partly due to the limited institutional capability to carry out the allocation process 

effectively: because the General Departments of Land Registration are usually 

preoccupied with agricultural allocations, the FPD have taken over forest land allocation 

in the interim in the form of temporary land registration certificates (Castella et al, 2002, 

pp198-220). 

5) The clarity of forest land categorisation and options for land use. Throughout the 

Frontier survey, the few villagers who had allocations in or near limestone areas attached 

little worth to their plots because they are too distant and the terrain is not suitable for 

agro-forestry, yet it was more likely that these plots were intended for either strict 

protection stewardship or natural species regeneration. Con Minh FPD expressed a desire 

to work more closely with the district Department for Agriculture and Rural 

Development to zone agriculture more effectively, delimit forest land use more clearly 

and thus halt random planting in the limestone valleys which is preventing natural 

regeneration. A fundamental problem in marrying socio-economic development with 

biodiversity conservation in Vietnam’s rural areas has been contradictory policy 


initiatives from higher-level government. Kim Hy PNR may experience similar problems 

to Ba Be National Park where forest land has been allocated for development despite also 

having been declared special use forest, and where forest protection and forest 

development policy have come to blows with varying effects on the communities inside 

the core zones and the buffer zones. Local solidarity is often stronger than rigid law 

enforcement and where centralised laws are strictly enforced, socio-economic 

marginalisation and environmental degradation form a vicious circle. 

The FPD are aware of these problems at Kim Hy PNR; they are rightly sensitive to the 

local socio-economic conditions, and if the land cover and associated contractual land use 

directives are more clearly delimited, the FPD’s dilemma of protection responsibility 

versus socio-economic responsibility may be eased because their protection role will 

become less ambiguous. With the evolution of Programme 327 into the 5 Million Hectare 

Programme (Decision 661/QD-TTg of July 1998 and inter circular no. 28/1999/TT-LT), 

the management board of a Nature Reserve here will be able to use the state budget to 

conclude output contracts with farmers for forest maintenance and plantation 

establishment. The FPD’s job will be facilitated if the establishment of a Nature Reserve 

at Kim Hy attracts funding from NGOs to complement existing rehabilitation 

programmes. 

5.9.3 Current and recent NGO forestry initiatives 

In 1999, the World Food Programme helped projects in some areas of the province to 

plant Mangletia sp., which by 2001 covered 2000ha. This was attractive to farmers with 

little rice land who responded to the long-term goal of profits from sap and timber, whilst 

receiving short term in-kind payment of 300kg of rice for the planting year and 100kg/ha 

in the subsequent two years (Castella et al, 2002). Although this met with some of the 

problems detailed above regarding training, risk and incentive, it was relatively 

successful in promoting better forest land management. This project was not referred to 

by interviewees in the Frontier survey, but Kim Hy PNR has received some nongovernmental 

aid in the context of broader goals for Bac Kan province. 

The principle foreign aid project operating in the PNR at the time of survey was the Cao 

Bang/Bac Kan Rural Development Project in partnership with the European Commission, 

which was operating in Lang San commune (EC, 2002). The forestry component’s 

overall objective has been to work “closely with the Project’s agriculture and 

infrastructure components to carry out integrated rural development activities in 

diversifying household incomes by sustainable use of natural resources”. Classroom and 

field courses, workshops and study tours to other provinces where similar programmes 

have run for several years contributed to building technical knowledge of farmers directly 

and through various district departments for forestry and rural development. Trials in 

agro-forestry and silviculture have concentrated on development of fruit (orange, litchi, 

mango, plum, sweet apple) and commercial tree species, and ultimately strive towards the 

development of locally managed nurseries to increase local capacity for further 

production. Meanwhile, around 4,000ha of degraded scrub in the province have received 

assisted regeneration; another 300ha of regeneration forest has been improved through 


enrichment planting to help meet the local fuel and timber needs. Information was not 

available as to how this programme has been progressing in Lang San commune at the 

time of survey, but it is likely that such schemes would benefit the communities in other 

communes in the PNR which lie peripheral to the limestone forest. 

5.9.4 Proposed forest management at Kim Hy PNR 

FIPI concluded on the basis of statistics available to them from previous studies, that the 

area of ‘forest land’ (however defined) had increased during the 1990s, indicating 

effective management and good natural conditions for regeneration. Of the various forest 

categories (including degraded forest on limestone), they reported that 84.4% was 

regenerating and that forest destruction had abated to an extent. Scrub is reported to have 

the most regeneration potential except in areas of repeated disturbance where soil quality 

is reduced. Regeneration of smaller (

Overall, intensive growth of forest trees to provide people with fuel wood, alongside low 

intensity cultivation of tea and medicinal plants, plus growing fruit trees alongside forest 

cover rehabilitation, are the main objectives of the investment plan forestry scheme. 


Chapter 6: Discussion 

The proposed Nature Reserve area at Kim Hy includes an ecosystem, forest on limestone, 

which represents 5% of the 467,365ha of remaining forest cover in the country. Forest on 

limestone is well-represented in the protected area system of Vietnam, which includes 

16.4%, or 17,501ha, of the remaining natural limestone forest (Wege et al, 1999). 

However, Kim Hy PNR is not included in the BAP for Vietnam as a priority for 

protection or survey, and the proposal to include it in the protected area system still, as 

far as the authors of this report are aware, awaits ratification. 

This situation does not do justice to the relative conservation importance of the area, as 

shown in the combination of past surveys undertaken by FIPI, Birdlife International 

(Tordorff et al, 2000), FFI and Frontier. Although certain faunal groups in Frontier’s 

surveys, such as lepidopterans and amphibians, demonstrated a relatively low diversity 

compared to surveys of other limestone areas such as Huu Lien Nature Reserve (Furey et 

al, 2002) and Ba Be National Park (Hill et al, 1997), the similarity of the habitat and 

indeed, the relative quality and ecological integrity of the forest ecosystem at Kim Hy 

would suggest that with further surveys, the diversity indices could be comparable. The 

surveys undertaken so far at Kim Hy ought to be viewed as the first of many which will 

confirm diversity, population sizes and viabilities and feed information into management 

decisions. 

It is perhaps the more ‘charismatic’ fauna which lends Kim Hy’s forest the most 

immediate international conservation concern. In comparison to four other sites in the 

north-eastern region Birdlife International (Tordorff et al, 2001) concluded that Kim Hy’s 

limestone forest was the only one of their study sites to contain viable populations of 

Chinese Forest Musk Deer, as the remnant populations at Thang Hen and Trung Khanh 

Nature Reserves (Cao Bang province) are likely to be eradicated in the near future. This 

has been confirmed by Frontier’s surveys, which have also confirmed the continued 

existence of the hainanus Black Gibbon. The latter is likely to only occur at low 

population densities, but even this population forms a substantial proportion of the total 

estimated number of individuals of this species (Geissman, 2000), and the Kim Hy 

populations are thought to be more viable in terms of both higher numbers and less 

likelihood of extermination than any remnant populations in Thang Hen or Trung Khanh 

(Tordorff et al, 2001; note that more recent FFI surveys in Cao Bang province have found 

more substantial numbers but reports were unpublished at the time of writing; Pham Duc 

Tien, pers. comm.). The confirmed continued existence of these species within this area 

lends the limestone forest high conservation significance in Vietnam. The continued 

existence of other species such as Francois’ Langur and Southern Serow thought likely to 

be present in the Frontier and Birdlife International surveys and confirmed in FFI surveys 

(La Quang Trung & Trinh Dinh Hoang, pers. comm.), along with a number of other 

primate species (some requiring confirmation) means that the megafauna at Kim Hy 

could have an important ‘umbrella effect’ for the ecosystem if strict bans on hunting of 

these species are immediately implemented, publicised and enforced, which would be 


facilitated through the authority given to the FPD by the establishment of a Nature 

Reserve here. 

Kim Hy PNR has a number of advantages to its amenability to successful forest 

management, some of which are a direct result of recent local action from government 

and security bodies. These include human factors such as population growth being 

effectively stabilised, extensive and cheap human resources, hill cultivation and 

associated forest clearance being contained, gold-mining being largely extirpated, and 

some important infrastructure projects being underway; additionally, illegal logging does 

not seem to be the same scale of problem as other special use forests in and around Bac 

Kan province. They also include natural factors such as relatively favourable conditions 

for natural or assisted regeneration in many areas, continuity rather than fragmentation of 

the medium limestone forest, and great scenic beauty which, alongside the cultural 

diversity of the area, would provide the area with considerable potential for eco-tourism 

once the necessary infrastructure (administrative and physical) is in place. Tourism to the 

area remains a long- or at least medium-term goal for the area, as such initiatives require 

some planning by the district FPD and Peoples’ Committees to engage them in a way 

which is sensitive not only to the environment but also to the people of the area. 

However, tourism development would be a beneficial trajectory for the Nature Reserve 

management board as it can both bring non-agricultural income alternatives to the 

communes and help to facilitate EA campaigns there. 

However, aside from its biological values and some promising developments in socioeconomic 

improvement for its surrounding human communities, the PNR area faces 

significant challenges. These are both in maintaining the current quality and extent of the 

medium limestone forest and other forested areas, and in formulating effective and 

sustained rehabilitation of degraded areas. These challenges derive for the most part from 

the dependence by local people upon the forest’s botanical resources – principally wood 

for fuel, fencing and housing materials. More enterprising use of forest resources for 

trade and sale, such as of ornamental plants and bush meat, further threaten the diversity 

of species in the forest, and cultivation and other forms of disturbance to the ecosystem 

results from the remaining gold mining operatives in the forest basins. These activities 

are largely a result of the area’s under-privileged socio-economic position, dominated as 

it is by subsistence agriculture and lacking sufficient market access and information to 

improve income either by agricultural or non-agricultural means. The process of forest 

land stewardship contracting operated through the FPD is ameliorating these problems in 

attempting to encourage private responsibility of common resources for the overall 

benefit of watershed protection (which is in turn important for agricultural systems in the 

river valleys) and environmental conservation, whilst also benefiting the stewards 

economically. The process, however, is as yet incomplete and an integrated management 

plan for local agriculture, hill cultivation and forest land is lacking in the absence of a 

Nature Reserve with a management board. 

Both the potential and the challenges described above are perhaps most pertinent in the 

areas currently outwith the existing proposal, especially Cao Son commune in Bach 


Thong district. Here, the population density is low, family planning has been successful, 

and the local authorities are very keen to see development in their commune. The severe 

lack of infrastructural development in the form of roads, electricity, irrigation and 

health/education facilities is proving highly detrimental to both the socio-economic 

development and the standards of forest protection despite the best efforts of the FPD and 

Peoples’ Committee. Because the area is relatively isolated from markets and information 

exchange, the prevailing attitudes of the local people towards agricultural intensification 

and extension are more often static than dynamic or entrepreneurial, resulting in slow but 

steady encroachment of forest area by hill cultivation, and relatively high dependence 

upon forest resources compared with most other communes. Levels of environmental 

awareness are not only likely to be lower here than Kim Hy or An Tinh for example, but 

will also most likely be more difficult to implement in the future. Unless immediate 

measures are taken to include and prioritise these extra communes in a revised 

investment plan to propose a newly defined protected area, places such as Cao Son will 

be seriously out of step with the sustained and integrated development of the Nature 

Reserve. 

Estimates of the remaining cover of ‘natural forest’ and ‘forest on limestone’ vary greatly 

at present between the original FIPI surveys and the surveys by the FREC division (see 

Chapter 2). As Map 3 shows, the Frontier surveys pointed to a more extensive area of 

‘medium limestone forest’ than was shown on maps by Birdlife International (Tordorff et 

al, 2001); on the Frontier surveys, forest was classed as ‘medium’ if the general structure 

was intact on the slopes and there was little sign of overt disturbance, even if the valleys 

were only in a regenerative state. However, the extent of forest cover in the PNR area as 

a whole appeared to be closer to those figures in the FREC survey than in the original 

investment plan, and although systematic land cover mapping was outside the remit of 

Frontier’s surveys, opportunistic random waypoint mapping supports the proposition that 

many areas of scrub habitat were classified as ‘forest’, causing a potentially misguided 

demarcation of the PNR boundaries. 

Adjusting the boundary of the Nature Reserve would be no small task, but would be 

highly beneficial in the long term. The main aim for the planning of the Nature Reserve 

zoning and demarcation will be to produce detailed revised maps regarding land cover 

distribution, and then decide the respective roles of the actual protected area and the 

buffer zone areas respectively. The current administrative and rehabilitation zones of the 

PNR actually perform the functions usually in the most part reserved for buffer zone 

management. It was not made clear in the original investment plan what the buffer zone 

management plan was to be by comparison to these two zones, and a clear demarcation of 

the buffer zone had not at the time been drawn up. The adjustment to the FREC-style 

proposal for demarcation of the Nature Reserve may require some re-structuring of the 

proposed management system, and clearer definition as to the specific roles of the 

internal zones as opposed to the buffer zone. For recommendations regarding this, see 

Chapter 7. 

Many of the challenges facing the establishment of a feasible protected area at Kim Hy 

are long term problems requiring long-term and far-sighted solutions. This is the case 


especially regarding infrastructure, population stabilisation, new avenues for alternative 

employment, environmental awareness and changes in attitude: indeed, only in the next 

generation of residents will these changes be felt significantly. Change will occur more 

quickly and effectively however, with immediate but far-sighted planning in co-operation 

with surrounding communities, not only in different communes, but also in different 

districts. Much can be learned also by consultation with other protected areas which have 

faced similar challenges but have had more experience and input from both government 

and NGO development schemes, so that a broader scope of possibilities for the area may 

be recognised. 

Nevertheless, the most important resource in the area which will determine the success of 

the Nature Reserve is the local communities. The government ought in future to be a 

facilitator rather than prescriber of forest land development, and if the local people are to 

be made to support a Nature Reserve, they must be integral to its planning and 

investment. Neither must the Nature Reserve be seen as an ideal of primary interest to 

foreign organisations or distant government offices, but rather as a locally guided 

initiative which also has local benefits in mind. In many ways, the pattern of both 

agricultural and forest land development in mountainous regions has been more or less 

dictated by government policy of a ‘top-down’ nature, but as FPD offices are increasingly 

encouraged to move towards more participatory planning involving village stakeholders 

in the decision making process, internal village factors can ideally be expected to play an 

ever-increasing role in land-use dynamics. Villages are in many ways the basic unit in 

determining forest land allocation/contracts for example. Both within and between 

communes, village forest land use should be complementary and guided towards 

common socio-economic goals, but at the same time the specific conditions of the village 

must be factored into its land management system. 

One key to ensuring that local support for the Nature Reserve is more than mere lip 

service is to provide tangible local benefits, preferably sooner rather than later. Unless 

legal protection and enforcement is accompanied by well-publicised benefits, the 

establishment of a Nature Reserve will be viewed as a negative or restrictive new 

imposition on their livelihood development. These benefits are social, such as the 

reduction of gold mining in the area and associated ‘social evils’ (real or perceived), and 

economic, such as better infrastructure (a highly ‘visible’ investment) and greater hill 

agriculture efficiency. In the short term, there will be little extra employment created by 

the establishment of a Nature Reserve per se, but the accompanying investment may 

facilitate non-agricultural employment in the future. 

There is still some work to be done, however, in promoting a Nature Reserve in this area, 

especially with regard to informing the local people. People were informed of the PNR in 

Na Ri district in 1999 through the monthly meeting of household heads, but Bach Thong 

district apparently have no knowledge of the PNR, and no copies of the FIPI investment 

plan. It will be essential for local authorities to raise awareness in local communities 

about restrictions and penalties, and opportunities and aid, firmly in the context of the 

Nature Reserve’s existence so that the connection can be made between environmental 

protection and better standards of living in everyday village life. 


7. Recommendations 

These recommendations are suggestive only and should be adjusted to fit with new 

developments in policy or local circumstance of which the authors may not be aware. The 

basic form of the recommendations follows a three-stage process which could overlap in 

timescale and should be further developed by the FPD offices in conjunction with other 

relevant departments. These are 

1) Develop and revise the institutional capacity of the FPD’s authority and technical 

capability. 

2) Disseminate knowledge regarding the existence, importance and relevance of the 

Nature Reserve to local people, including how it will involve them in terms of 

both restrictions and opportunities. 

3) Consolidate the integrated protection and development regime practically, across 

administrative borders. 

Some of, or some aspects of, the recommendations below may not be feasible with 

current FPD time and resources, but serve to provide an ideal trajectory for the PNR’s 

development. Throughout, it is important that it is clear who has the authority to make 

management decisions, especially regarding buffer zone activities. 

1: Institutional capacity-building 

• The boundaries of the PNR should be adjusted to exclude large areas of scrub, 

agricultural land and settlement in the sub-regions 164/76, 164/75,174/82 in 

Luong Thuong commune, 164/75, 178/85 and 177/75 in Lang San commune, and 

in eastern areas of 184/87 in Lang San commune and 188/94, 194/94 in An Tinh 

commune. This is consistent with the revised proposal by FREC in 1997 but not 

with the proposal submitted by the FPD in 1998. Areas in Cao Son and Vu Muon 

communes in Bach Thong district and Con Minh commune in Na Ri district 

should be included in the PNR boundary as suggested in the FREC proposal. 

However, the western borders suggested by FREC could be extended to include 

areas of limestone and non-limestone forest at the fringe of the medium limestone 

forest block. 

• It would also be prudent for the northern boundaries of the FREC proposal to 

be reduced to exclude large tracts of scrubland with scattered trees and patchy 

degraded forest (see Map 3) in subregions 171/78, 172/77, 165/76, 173/81 in Kim 

Hy commune, and also the populated agricultural areas of Cao Son commune. 

The nature reserve area would then be primarily comprised of, and have similar 

aims to, Zone 1 (restricted) in the original FIPI proposal of 1997, only having a 

small fringe area of degraded forest/scrub, and leaving outlying areas within the 

buffer zone. This would facilitate a clearer demarcation of Nature Reserve and 

buffer zone management strategies would make the Nature Reserve and buffer 

zone somewhat smaller and more manageable, as well as making forest protection 

enforcement activities less ambiguous. Birdlife International (Tordorff et al) 

suggest an actual Nature Reserve area of approximately 10,000ha. Buffer zone 

management will require participatory village-based processes (see below), whilst 


the strict Nature Reserve area would not, if it were demarcated in this way. 

Regardless of this possibility, the current proposal includes land use and 

development strategies in the PNR which may be too heterogeneous for the term 

‘Nature Reserve’ to have enough meaning for local people. 

• The provincial FPD and national FREC offices should arrive at a consensus 

regarding land cover and land use within the communes included in both the 

original and revised proposals for the Nature Reserve. The significant 

discrepancies between land cover statistics arrived at by the different FIPI 

divisions in 1997 undermine the integrity of the proposal to make Kim Hy a 

Nature Reserve, and will confuse management issues further in the future. If time 

and resources allow, this consensus would be arrived at after a detailed land 

survey, preferably involving remote sensing techniques (such as those described 

in the ‘Methodology’ section of Leisz et al, 2001, pp111-115) but regardless, a 

systematic ground truthing effort. This survey would preferably use existing 

categories used in the original FIPI proposal in 1997 (see Figure 3.5, Chapter 3), 

which would be clearly defined and elaborated (preferably on the ground by 

demonstration) in consultation with FREC so as to avoid further confusion. Those 

undertaking the survey, preferably including the local FPD divisions, should 

receive training sufficient to maximise objectivity in the survey. If such surveys 

are not possible, it would be preferable to use existing land cover maps of the area 

provided in this report and by Birdlife International to facilitate a revised proposal 

sooner rather than later. 

• A revised proposal for the Kim Hy Nature Reserve should be drawn up by the 

provincial FPD of Bac Kan in consultation with Bach Thong and Na Ri district 

FPD branches and the FREC division of FIPI. The central aspect of the proposal 

will be the document replacing that of FIPI’s investment plan of 1997. This 

should be written with reference to the Technical Annex of the document 

“Guidelines for Feasibility Studies and Investment Plans for the Designation of 

Special-Use Forests” (FIPI, Birdlife International/EU, 2000). This should include 

revised estimates regarding land-cover, revised investment estimates for 

protection and development in the new PNR and buffer zone accompanying redefinition 

of the proposed borders, and a more detailed proposal regarding the 

extent of the buffer zone (see below). Exact management strategies regarding land 

use in the buffer zone will require participatory methods, but this level of detail 

need not be included in the investment plan, as it will take longer to finalise. 

• Kim Hy should be decreed a Nature Reserve within Vietnam’s system of 

special-use forests. This is consistent with the recommendation made by the FPD 

in Bac Kan province in 1998, supported by FIPI’ s report and surveys of 1997, in 

the context of further recommendations made by FREC in 1997 and Birdlife 

International in 2001. With no Nature Reserve there is no management board, 

limited funds for protection or development, little environmental awareness, an 

obsolete management plan and little inter-community dialogue. Because the total 

investment for the proposed Nature Reserve currently stands at less than 15 


illion VND (FIPI, 1997; see Appendix 10), the proposal does not require 

ratification from the MPI or central government and once a revised proposal has 

been received, ratification by MARD should be swift so as to empower the 

authorities and institutions to realise the PNR’s goals. A management board for 

the Reserve should include administrative, protection, scientific and conservation 

divisions with clearly defined roles, and ideally a representative from each buffer 

zone commune who can act as a liaison officer for development/conservation 

activities there. 

• Inter-district dialogue between Na Ri and Bach Thong authorities should 

become more regular or systematised regarding protection and development 

strategies across borders. This would be facilitated if a forum were to be created 

in the Nature Reserve management board, or at least in reviews of the district 

development plans at the Peoples’ Committee offices. Management plans should 

be integrated across the Nature Reserve, and they should strive for equal 

standards of protection across the Reserve so that there are no ‘weak points’ to 

compromise the protection regime especially regarding hunting of bush meat, 

removal of NTFPs and hill cultivation expansion. Cao Son should receive special 

attention in order to bring the socio-economic situation there in line with other 

settlements in the area. 

• Where possible, other areas in and outside the province should be consulted 

and communicated with regarding management issues, especially those with 

experience of NGO assistance such as Cho Don and Ba Be districts, which have 

various inputs into SAM agricultural extension schemes and forest protection and 

monitoring techniques. Links with scientific institutes and organisations which 

may provide advice and technical expertise to the Nature Reserve’s scientific staff 

should be sought or strengthened. 

• The Nature Reserve authority should also utilise national community 

organisations such as the Women’s Union, Union of Farmers, Youth Union and 

Union of Veterans to facilitate discussion and application of the socio-economic 

programme of the Nature Reserve, especially regarding technical issues of 

agricultural extension/intensification, family planning and environmental 

awareness. 

• Training should be provided to forest protection staff so that they have a full 

understanding of forest protection laws and can implement forest extension and 

monitoring activities. 


2: Information dissemination regarding the Nature Reserve 

• The existing programme of environmental education (EE) within local schools 

should be expanded to raise awareness of key aspects (flora, fauna, ecological 

relationships) and fragility (threats and solutions) of the local environment. This 

should be contextualised with the wider environmental issues in Vietnam and 

other protected areas in the region of Bac Kan, and co-ordinated with the 

VI/98/018 coded project on EE of the government of Vietnam. As far as possible, 

this should be integrated into the existing curriculum of Biology and Geography 

for secondary pupils and Ethics/Nature and Society for primary pupils. It may not 

be necessary to involve EE in all levels of schooling, but instead to concentrate 

upon only one or two key age grades which will catch students as they move up 

through the school. The management board of the Nature Reserve and local 

school heads should together consult the DET regarding the timescale of this 

extension, appropriate methods of teaching and teaching aids required. If 

necessary, provision should be made in the budget of the Nature Reserve for 

teaching resources. Reference should be made to the Vietnam Biodiversity 

Awareness Programme 2000-2010 (Decision No. 26/2002/QD-BKHCNMT, 

MoSTE, 2002) for guidance, and to other protected areas which have involved 

EE/EA in their management strategies such as Pu Hoat NR, Huu Lien NR, Hoang 

Lien NR and Bai Tu Long Bay NP, which have all received assistance from 

Frontier-Vietnam in developing EE/EA. Field visits, presentations by the local 

FPD at schools, visual aids and local school based projects should form part of the 

programme. More remote areas should be specially targeted and may require 

more basic and formative EE projects before a full system is adopted; access to 

education for children in these communes will be a priority for attention by the 

catchment schools. 

• Awareness of the (proposed) Nature Reserve’s existence should be increased 

in communities in Bach Thong district through the district and commune 

authorities, who at the time of survey apparently knew nothing of the proposal. 

This would first require a discussion of cross boundary management plans as 

mentioned above, and then the adoption of similar meetings of households which 

have so far been carried out in the existing PNR area. 

• Across the PNR (but especially in remote areas), general awareness of the 

Nature Reserve’s implications for locals’ every-day life – both restrictions and 

opportunities – should be increased and the positive aspects promoted on a 

consistent and regular basis. One meeting is not enough to encourage a sense of 

responsibility or fully expand on the implications to the local communities. 

Meetings regarding the Nature Reserve should be discursive, providing villagers 

with opportunities to give feedback to the FPD and Peoples’ Committee about the 

Nature Reserve. They should also be clear and specific as to restrictions (on 

hunting, timber felling and NTFP collection) and the penalties for disregarding 

these restrictions. The Nature Reserve should be justified and contextualised in 

any EA campaigns. 


3: Forest management practice 

The following recommendations fall within the remits of the protection, science and 

conservation divisions respectively, which typically comprise management boards of 

protected areas. 

• Forest protection should be prioritised both according to area and threat type: 

1) The most pertinent threat to the conservation importance of the PNR seen in the 

Frontier surveys was hunting (primarily for bush meat to supplement everyday 

diets) of large mammals within the limestone forest area. Those animals most at 

risk are the small populations of gibbon Hylobates concolor hainanus which now 

suffer serious disruption to their breeding behaviour (calls are rarely heard in the 

forest anymore by either locals or survey teams) and risk immediate threat to their 

population viability as shown by the killing of one female individual during the 

Frontier survey. The immediate threat to population viability is likely to extend to 

Chinese Forest Musk Deer Moschus berezoskii, other rare primates such as 

Francois’ Leaf Monkey Semnopithecus francoisi, and remaining large carnivore 

populations. Other populations of more common mammals and birds (see relevant 

chapters) may also become similarly critical if (usually local) collection for pets, 

medicine or meat is not immediately curtailed through publicised bans and 

penalties, and increased FPD presence in the forest areas. 

2) The next most significant threat to the ecological integrity of the limestone forest 

block and the capability of its degraded areas for regeneration was identified as 

illicit forest-dwellers principally involved in gold-mining. The FPD should work 

closely with the security forces in the area to halt this activity as soon as possible 

so that the limestone forest can become a strict protection area. Those having 

come from other districts/provinces ought to be re-located to their respective 

homes. Those whose families live locally should be informed of opportunities in 

non-agricultural employment (such as those in local infrastructure projects) and 

government assistance initiatives in agriculture or forestry as appropriate, so as to 

attack the root of the problem and prevent any recourse to gold mining. Penalties 

for such activities should be thereupon strictly enforced, and well publicised. 

3) Other threats should be prioritised at the discretion of the local FPD. Illegal 

logging both for local use and export from the area requires continued monitoring, 

especially regarding those timber species which have already suffered population 

declines (see Chapters 3 and 6). The extraction of plants for medicine, ornament 

and food from the forest block requires increased levels of monitoring using both 

informant systems and forest patrols, which should be randomised rather than 

predictable in their timing. A number of these plants may be cultivated within the 

remit of the PNR’s garden cultivation funds. 


4) The current system of involving local people in fire protection should be 

maintained. 

5) The FPD at the district level should help to facilitate increased co-operation with 

security forces at the local level to quantify, qualify and ameliorate the social 

security problems identified in the area which have inspired the police to provide 

the local populace with firearms. The public’s use and ownership of firearms 

should be a priority concern in this co-operation. 

• Scientific survey and monitoring programmes should be also be integrated with 

monitoring of the socio-economic situation of the PNR and its buffer zones. It 

should include: 

1) Further baseline biodiversity surveys to confirm the various species not identified 

on Frontier or other recent surveys, but which appear on the species lists of the 

investment plan, so as to confirm their continued existence there. This particularly 

includes bird, amphibian and insect groups, and reptile surveys could also be 

undertaken as threats to reptile populations (such as collection of geckos from 

forest trees) were observed on numerous occasions during Frontier’s survey. 

2) Disturbance to bat populations should be monitored within the reserve at the 

known roosting sites such as the large caves in Cao Son and An Tinh communes. 

Monitoring should also be a sustained aspect of large mammal conservation in the 

reserve, with population studies being of the highest priority. Training regarding 

basic methodologies should be given to FPD staff as appropriate, and specific 

surveys from outside organisations encouraged in the area to assist the FPD in this 

task. 

3) Monitoring of forest cover and regeneration should be the subject of regular and 

systematised ground truthing surveys where possible, which should feed into 

periodical reviews of management policies. Species composition should be 

integrated into this with particular attention paid to threatened (including locally 

threatened) plant species. The management strategy outlined in the investment 

plan should be flexible enough to accommodate these periodical reviews. 

• Conservation activities should focus upon community development in the 

context of the Nature Reserve, principally in forest stewardship, agricultural 

extension, rehabilitation schemes and EA. However, local community 

development schemes must never lose sight of the ultimate aims of the Nature 

Reserve, i.e. biodiversity/watershed protection, and care must be taken not to 

divert too many funds away from protection/research activities, or lead socioeconomic 

development into confrontation with environmental policies. A number 

of other funding bodies are able to contribute to this programme, especially 

considering the management board has fewer jurisdictions over the buffer zone 

than the protected area. 


1) A buffer zone for the Nature Reserve should be demarcated as part of the new 

investment plan. The boundaries of the Nature Reserve area should be delimited 

by bio-physical features, whilst the buffer zone boundaries should be de-limited 

by existing administrative (commune) borders. The document on ‘Buffer Zone 

Management in Vietnam’ (Gilmour & Nguyen Van San, IUCN/FPD, 1999), 

which includes case studies, should be consulted as a guide to buffer zone 

management at Kim Hy. The buffer zone boundary should be the outer borders of 

Kim Hy, An Tinh, Con Minh, Lang San, Luong Thuong communes in Na Ri 

district, and Cao Son and Vu Muon communes, Bach Thong district. 

2) All buffer zone development projects should be instigated through participatory 

planning, involving household meetings in villages where locals can identify their 

specific needs and problems, and forest land management can be organised at the 

village level. Introduction of new seeds or cropping systems by the government 

are unlikely to be successful if villagers are not consulted as to their technical, 

financial and temporal ability to engage them. The local environment of each 

village (soil quality/type, vegetation cover/type/distribution, regeneration 

potential vs. economic potential, local values and traditions etc) must be 

considered if local people are expected to compromise and comply. Castella et al 

(2002, pp ) suggest a new intermediary body could be set up to liaise between 

villagers and a management board/local authority, but this could just as well be 

done through village leaders. Meanwhile, ‘notes of promise’ regarding villagers 

responsibility should concurrently be used, as they are at present. 

3) Current education, health and population management plans of FIPI’s original 

investment plan and activities of the local authorities should be maintained. 

4) Infrastructural development as funded through the investment into the Nature 

Reserve’s socio-economic programme should be re-prioritised. The road currently 

being resurfaced (Highway 279 and that leading through An Tinh commune) 

should be completed and complemented by similar investments into Bach 

Thong’s transport routes, particularly the road through Vu Muon, but also better 

market access to Con Minh commune. This latter development must however be 

sensitive to forest management policy in the area. Upgrading the irrigation 

systems by provision of concrete channels should also be a funding priority for 

remote areas of Cao Son and Vu Muon communes, neither of which at the time of 

survey farmed two-cycle rice, the former suffering food security and related forest 

encroachment problems. These projects should come before others listed in the 

original plan such as a bridge to be built over the Bac Giang River. Other 

proposals in the investment plan such as water sanitation should be continued. 

The status of the area as a Nature Reserve should be used to promote these 

developments to outside funding bodies (government programmes and 

international aid if possible). 


5) Agricultural initiatives must be co-ordinated with silvicultural/agro-forestry 

schemes, with complementary rather than conflicting demands upon paddies and 

hillsides. The most important aspect of agricultural stability and development, 

after ensuring year-long food security by household, is providing market access 

and information. The first will be facilitated by well-guided infrastructure projects 

in part funded by the Nature Reserve, the second through household/Union 

meetings with the local Peoples’ Committees and extension services. 

The following should be of key importance: 

- Continue intensification of paddy rice and work towards increased market 

integration of more remote communities such as Kim Van (Kim Hy), 

Lung Ly (Cao Son) and Tham Mu (An Tinh). The current situation 

regarding application of new rice strains, 2-cycle rice etc is promising in 

the communes of the original PNR, but less so in the communes of Bach 

Thong district, which deserve special attention in terms of technical 

training and encouragement for farmers to modernise in order to curtail 

hill cultivation expansion. If 2-cycle rice is not a possibility for these 

villages in the near future, other forms of paddy intensification such as the 

cultivation of cold-resistant winter fodder crops, which have shown 

promising results in trials elsewhere in the province so far, could help 

maximise paddy output for those farmers who lack rice land but have 

diversified into livestock as a capital source. Castella et al (2002, in 

Vietnamese) provide some useful insights into such options. 

- Hill cultivation/livestock systems should especially take note of local 

village circumstances, regardless of communes, especially in those 

villages (such as Khuoi Hat, Kim Hy) with no paddy rice. Sustainable 

alternatives to subsistence hill rice cultivation should be sought especially 

for Cao Son; its low yield/unit area means it requires more extensive forest 

clearance. In areas where hill rice must make up the deficit in paddy rice 

(few can afford to buy rice in villages like Lung Ly), alternative strategies 

should be promoted. For example, cow/pig farming could increase 

villagers’ capital reserves to enable rice purchase either locally or from 

Con Minh, replacing hill rice with maize (for pig feed), managed grazing 

land (for cattle) and rehabilitation/agro-forestry (to supply fuel wood for 

pig feed preparation and other needs). If 2-4 years of forage production 

could be part of the fallow system, this would provide feed for ruminants 

and restore soil fertility at the plot level. The conservation division of the 

management board should keep abreast of trials elsewhere in Bac Kan 

which use fodder plants which improve soil quality. Maize could also be 

sold to other villages such as Thong Khoan where little maize is grown; it 

requires less land clearance, can be grown rotationally with other crops 

(cassava, Cinnamomum etc), is relatively easy to grow near limestone, and 

has higher yields/unit area (especially with new strains double cropped). 

Multiple-function hedges could protect fields from overgrazing, ensure 


sustainable rates of fertility extraction, provide additional fodder and 

fertility restoration from prunings. Castella et al (2002) provide further 

examples of recent trial schemes in Bac Kan province. 

- Many systems would depend to an extent upon fertiliser availability, and 

new strains requiring less chemical fertiliser should receive priority 

attention, partly due to the cost involved in buying fertiliser, and partly 

due to the potential but as yet unmonitored effect of fertiliser (and 

pesticide) run-off into surrounding streams and rivers with increasing 

erosion from forest loss. The subsidy thresholds applied to fertilisers may 

require review if both poor and ‘average’ households (who do not qualify 

for subsidies) are to be able to use this to complement their natural 

fertiliser and ensure food security. 

- Natural fertiliser use should be promoted through improving manure 

quality and collection regimes, to ameliorate problems of cost associated 

with chemical fertilisers. Higher quality manure leads to higher soil 

quality, better forage quality and once more higher quality manure, which 

becomes important when the rotational fields are used for food crop 

cultivation. Adaptive techniques for storage of straw fodder as described 

in Castella et al (2002, pp198-220), such as treatment of rice straw with 3- 

4% urea solution and storage in anaerobic conditions (e.g. plastic bags) 

beneath the soil, should be promoted to increase the nutritional qualities 

and digestibility of fodder, whilst preserving it from pests and fungi. 

Improving composting techniques in storage and nutrient enrichment 

would also improve natural fertiliser quality from stabled animals. 

- However farming systems are managed, widespread uptake of the schemes 

should be encouraged, at least within the individual villages, if forest areas 

and pastures are to regenerate and hill cultivation/husbandry is to become 

a sustainable and profitable exercise for farmers, without taking labour 

away from the paddies. The promotion of integrated farming and forest 

management systems may be expected to take a number of years, as it will 

often require a change in local farming perspectives; programmes should 

be planned with timescales closer to 10 years than 3 years, so that success 

can be monitored and markets developed (Gilmour & Nguyen van San, 

1999). It is not enough to merely provide seed and some funding; training 

and market provision should accompany such projects, and they must be 

promoted as integrated schemes of the Nature Reserve programme. 

6) The present process of forest land stewardship contracts should be continued in all 

communes in the buffer zone, first concentrating upon the remaining nonlimestone 

forest land in order to promote assisted regeneration/rehabilitation 


schemes as outlined in the original FIPI investment plan. If these are carried out 

successfully, villagers will perceive benefits from the forest contract scheme and 

attention will be drawn from the limestone forest products as socio-economic 

conditions are improved. Once contracts have been finalised in the buffer zone, 

forest protection stewardship may be implemented in the limestone forest when 

the Nature Reserve infrastructure is in place. Villagers’ interest in limestone forest 

stewardship is somewhat dependant upon these improved socio-economic 

conditions, as the transaction costs (especially travel time) involved in protection 

forest stewardship may be high and payment returns small. Other factors to 

consider in the forest stewardship scheme are: 

- Forest replantation/rehabilitation should proceed according to the 5 

Million Hectare Programme. Locally managed nurseries established in the 

area will facilitate progress in the future. Technical information regarding 

this should be sought from other areas in Bac Kan and Cao Bang 

provinces which have established nurseries such as that in Trung Khanh 

district, Cao Bang (EC, 2002). 

- Use of participatory planning at the village level to understand 

requirements. This is essential in order to be more equitable in forest 

allocation, to advise villagers as to development regimes and demands of 

the FPD, and to realistically inform participants about opportunities and 

markets after having done feasibility studies. Such studies should again 

draw upon the experience of other districts in Bac Kan. The biggest 

constraint upon local investment is lack of information about markets; 

competition, niches, trends (long and short term, especially regarding fruit 

markets) and subsidiary industries such as the food processing plant in 

Van Tung (Ngan Son district) should be explored and related to villagers 

through the agricultural extension forum. The villagers’ demands from 

forest land are likely to be multifarious, including needs for fuel, pole and 

fencing wood, managed pasture, agro-forestry and silviculture, but it may 

be that all villagers are not able to have forest allocated with all of these 

benefits. For example, it may be that participatory planning results in 

villagers deciding to manage assisted regeneration collectively so that fuel 

and pole wood can be an ‘open access resource’. This arrangement would 

perhaps be more desirable than fragmenting household forest land 

allocations across different land use areas. Arrangements will, however, be 

highly specific to each village. 

- Forest replanting schemes should follow the investment plan by FIPI, 

which recommended a mixture of local timber trees and economic species 

in assisting forest regeneration, according to the soil quality, extent of 

existing vegetation and location. However, the funding made available for 


these schemes may require review, and funds may be required from other 

sources (including suitable loan arrangements from BARD) to encourage 

an entrepreneurial spirit on the forest lands. For example, in replanting 

944ha of scrub land, the investment plan allows 1,616.5 million VND 

(approximately 1.7 million VND/ha) for replanting over a three year 

period. However it is likely that investment by villagers will be greater 

than this in that the process is likely to take longer than three years. 

Previous projects by the World Food Programme in Bac Kan province 

provided 1.9 million VND/ha for a period of eight years, and this only 

covered approximately half of the costs of planting (Castella et al, 2002). 

If funding is a problem in the regeneration programme, it may be that the 

area for replanting has to be initially scaled down somewhat whilst other 

expensive initial investments such as infrastructure projects are completed. 

It would be preferable to produce effectively on smaller forest land areas 

than to produce ineffectively on large areas so that villagers become 

disillusioned with such schemes in the future. 


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Family 

APPENDIX 1: LIST OF PLANT FAMILIES AND GENERA 

RECORDED AT KIM HY PNR BY FRONTIER IN 2001 

Genus 

Polypodiophyta 

Adiantaceae 

Adiantum 

Aspleniaceae 

Asplenium 

Polypodiaceae Polypodium 1 

Poloypodiaceae Polypodium 2 



Polypodiaceae 

Colysis 

Polypodiaceae 

Drynaria 


sp1 


sp2 


sp3 

Pteridaceae 

Pteris 

Schizeaceae 

Lygodium 

Thelypteridaceae 

Colysis 

Thelypteriaceae 

Cyclosorus 

Thelypteriaceae 

Thelypteris 

Magnoliophyta: Magnoliopsida 

Acanthaceae 

Acanthaceae 

Acanthaceae 

Acanthaceae 

Aceraceae 

Anacardiaceae 

Anacardiaceae 

Anacardiaceae 

Anacardiaceae 

Annonaceae 

Annonaceae 

Annonaceae 

Apocynaceae 

Apocynaceae 

Apocynaceae 

Chroestes 

Staurogyne 

Stobilanthes 

Thunbergia 

Acer 

Choerospondias 

Rhus 

Semecarpus 

Spondias 

Desmos 

Fissitigma 

Xylopia 

Melodinus 

Tabernaemontana 

Wrightia 


Araliaceae 

Araliaceae 

Asclepidiaceae 

Asclepediaceae 

Asclepidiaceae 

Balsalminaceae 

Begoniaceae 

Bignoniaceae 

Caricaceae 

Chloranthaceae 

Clusiaceae 

Cucurbitaceae 

Cucurbitaceae 

Dilleniaceae 

Dipterocarpaceae 

Dipterocarpaceae 

Ebenaceae 

Elaeocarpaceae 

Euphorbiaceae 

Euphorbiaceae 

Euphorbiaceae 

Euphorbiaceae 

Euphorbiaceae 

Euphorbiaceae 

Euphorbiaceae 

Euphorbiaceae 

Euphorbiaceae 

Fabaceae 

Fabaceae 

Fabaceae 

Fabaceae 

Hedera 

Schefflera 

Asclepias 

Hoya 

Tylophora 

Impatiens 

Begonia 

Markhamia 

Carica 

Chloranthus 

Garcinia 

Trichosanthes 

sp 

Dillenia 

Dipterocarpus 

Hopea 

Diospyros 

Elaeocarpus 

Antidesma 

Bischofia 

Breynia 

Bridelia 

Glochidion 

Macaranga 

Mallotus 

Phyllanthus 

Strophioblachia 

Adenanthera 

Archidendron 

Bauhinia 

Dalbergia 


Fabaceae 

Fabaceae 

Fagaceae 

Fagaceae 

Geraniaceae 

Gesneraceae 

Gesneriaceae 

Illiaceae 

Junglandaceae 

Lamiaceae 

Lauraceae 

Lauraceae 

Lauraceae 

Lauraceae 

Lauraceae 

Leeaceae 

Loganiaceae 

Loganiaceae 

Lythraceae 

Magnoliaceae 

Melastomaceae 

Melastomaceae 

Melastomaceae 

Melastomaceae 

Melastomaceae 

Meliaceae 

Meliaceae 

Meliaceae 

Menispermaceae 

Moraceae 

Moraceae 

Moraceae 

Entada 

Pithecellobium 

Castanopsis 

Lithocarpus 

Geranium 

sp 

Gesnerium 

Illicium 

sp 

Rhabdosia 

Actinodaphne 

Cinnamomum 

Litsea 

Machilus 

Phoebe 

Leea 

Fagraea 

Strychnos 

Lagerstroemia 

Michelia 

Blastus 

Medinilla 

Medinilla sp2 

Oxyspora 

Sonerila 

Aglaia 

Chisocheton 

Swietenia 

sp. 

Artocarpus 

Ficus 

Streblus 


Myristicaceae 

Myrsinaceae 

Myrtaceae 

Oleaceae 

Piperaceae 

Primulaceae 

Ranuncunaceae 

Rhamnaceae 

Rosaceae 

Rubiaceae 

Rubiaceae 

Rubiaceae 

Rubiaceae 

Rubiaceae 

Rutaceae 

Rutaceae 

Rutaceae 

Sapindaceae 

Sapindaceae 

Sapindaceae 

Sapotaceae 

Simarubiaceae 

Sonneratiaceae 

Sterculiaceae 

Sterculiaceae 

Styracaceae 

Symplocaceae 

Theaceae 

Tiliaceae 

Tiliaceae 

Ulmaceae 

Knema 

Ardisia 

Syzigium 

Jasminium 

Peperomia 

Primnula 

Clematis 

Zizyphus 

Rubus 

Hedyotis 

Ixora 

Mussaenda 

Psychotria 

Wendlandia 

Atalantia 

Murraya 

Zanthoxylum 

Litchi 

Pometia 

Sapindus 

Xantolis 

Sp. 

Sonneratia 

Pterospermum 

Sterculia 

Alniphyllum 

Symplocos 

Camellia 

Colona 

Excentiodendron 

Celtis 


Urticaceae 

Urticaceae 

Urticaceae 

Urticaceae 

Urticaceae 

Urticaceae 

Verbenaceae 

Verbenaceae 

Verbenaceae 

Verbenaceae 

Vitaceae 

Vitaceae 

Vitaceae 

Liliopsida 

Araceae 

Araceae 

Araceae 

Araceae 

Araceae 

Araceae 

Araceae 

Araceae 

Arecaceae 

Dioscoreaceae 

Commeliaceae 

Convallariaceae 

Orchidaceae 

Orchidaceae 

Orchidaceae 

Orchidaceae 

Orchidaceae 

Poaceae 

Smilacaceae 

Zingiberaceae 

Dendrocride 

Elatostema 

Laportea 

Laportea sp2 

Urtica 

Villebrunea 

Callicarpa 

Clerodendrum 

Vitex 

sp. 

Ampelocissus 

Vitus 

Vitis sp2 

Aglaonema 

Amorphophallus 

Arisaema 

Colocasia 

Epipremnum 

Homalomena 

Pothos 

Raphidophora 

Caryota 

Dioscorea 

Commelina 

Ophiopogon 

Bulbophyllum 

Calanthe 

Cymbidium 

Dendrobium 

Liparis 

Arundinaria 

Smilax 

Curcuma 


APPENDIX 2: VEGETATION DATA COLLECTED BY FRONTIER AT 

KIM HY PROPOSED NATURE RESERVE, 2001 

FPA: 

No. Family No. 

Genera 

No. 

Stems 

Basal Area 

(m 2 ha -1 ) 

Basal Area 

(% of total) 

Mean 

DBH 

1 Tiliaceae 1 17 25.72 53.85 44.95 

2 Dipterocarpaceae 1 4 3.70 7.76 39.75 

3 Clusiaceae 1 14 3.48 7.29 21.90 

4 Euphorbiaceae 2 15 2.67 5.59 19.35 

5 Magnoliaceae 1 4 2.57 5.39 34.50 

6 Meliaceae 2 3 2.28 4.77 34.67 

7 Sapindaceae 1 3 1.97 4.12 40.80 

8 Elaeocarpaceae 1 3 1.25 2.61 28.53 

9 Fagaceae 1 18 1.16 2.43 13.31 

10 Lauraceae 2 8 1.12 2.35 15.60 

11 Moraceae 1 4 0.99 2.09 25.60 

12 Apocynaceae 1 2 0.27 0.57 19.05 

13 Rubiaceae 1 7 0.26 0.55 10.69 

14 Theaceae 1 2 0.16 0.34 15.40 

15 Dilleniaceae 1 1 0.15 0.31 21.6 

TOTAL 18 121 47.76 100 25.71 

FPB: 


Genera 

No. 

Stems 

Basal Area 

(m 2 ha -1 ) 

Basal Area 

(% of total) 

Mean 

DBH 

1 Moraceae 1 57 25.64 52.77 16.73 

2 Tiliaceae 1 26 7.44 15.31 21.66 

3 Fagaceae 1 31 5.30 10.91 15.47 

4 Sapindaceae 1 8 2.86 5.89 26.18 

5 Clusiaceae 1 19 2.73 5.62 16.35 

6 Fabaceae 2 11 1.97 4.05 19.70 


8 Lauraceae 1 3 0.64 1.32 19.17 


10 Meliaceae 2 4 0.40 0.82 17.25 

11 Dipterocarpaceae 2 5 0.19 0.39 10.10 

12 Magnoliaceae 1 2 0.10 0.21 12.25 

13 Lythraceae 1 2 0.05 0.10 9.05 

TOTAL 16 184 48.59 100 17.29 


FPC: 


Genera 

No. 

Stems 

Basal Area 

(m 2 ha -1 ) 

Basal Area 

(% of total) 

Mean 

DBH 

1 Tiliaceae 1 19 11.44 29.79 30.87 

2 Clusiaceae 1 16 9.47 24.65 35.33 

3 Anacardiaceae 2 10 7.02 18.27 42.03 


5 Sapindaceae 1 32 3.11 8.11 15.08 

6 Moraceae 1 35 1.24 3.22 9.81 

7 Meliaceae 1 8 0.61 1.59 13.50 

8 Sterculiaceae 1 10 0.42 1.08 11.00 

9 Simarubiaceae 1 1 0.37 0.96 34.20 

10 Ebenaceae 1 4 0.20 0.53 12.25 

11 Bignoniaceae 1 1 0.16 0.43 22.90 

12 Verbenaceae 1 1 0.15 0.38 21.60 

13 Dilleniaceae 1 1 0.11 0.29 19.00 

14 Fagaceae 1 1 0.09 0.24 17.10 

15 Myrtaceae 1 2 0.06 0.16 9.85 

16 Rubiaceae 1 1 0.06 0.15 13.60 

TOTAL 19 174 38.41 100 19.18 

FPD: 


Genera 

No. 

Stems 

Basal Area 

(m 2 ha -1 ) 

Basal Area 

(% of total) 

Mean 

DBH 

1 Tiliaceae 2 16 14.20 56.58 30.31 


3 Meliaceae 1 14 0.90 3.58 13.01 

4 Urticaceae 1 5 0.79 3.15 21.94 

5 Clusiaceae 1 8 0.70 2.78 15.41 


7 Simplocaceae 1 4 0.60 2.40 29.50 

8 Ebenaceae 1 8 0.60 2.38 13.00 

9 Arecaceae 1 1 0.43 1.71 37.00 

10 Araliaceae 1 2 0.35 1.39 22.10 

11 Aceraceae 1 3 0.31 1.23 15.83 

12 Fagaceae 1 1 0.22 0.88 26.50 

13 Dilleniaceae 1 3 0.22 0.86 15.00 

14 Sapindaceae 1 3 0.21 0.85 12.56 

15 Lauraceae 1 2 0.19 0.74 16.20 


17 Verbenaceae 1 3 0.17 0.66 8.55 

18 Myristicaceae 1 1 0.14 0.55 21.00 

19 Rubiaceae 1 2 0.12 0.49 12.60 

20 Lythraceae 1 1 0.11 0.43 18.50 

21 Magnoliaceae 1 1 0.11 0.42 18.30 

22 Fabaceae 1 1 0.10 0.38 17.50 

23 Rutaceae 1 3 0.07 0.29 8.67 

TOTAL 27 142 25.09 100 19.24 


FPE: 


Genera 

No. 

Stems 

Basal Area 

(m 2 ha -1 ) 

Basal Area 

(% of total) 

Mean 

DBH 

1 Tiliaceae 2 13 18.12 50.63 47.06 

2 Clusiaceae 1 8 5.48 15.31 43.06 


4 Magnoliaceae 1 2 2.94 8.21 62.45 

5 Loganiaceae 2 5 1.19 3.31 25.72 

6 Ebenaceae 1 3 1.07 2.98 26.20 

7 Bignoniaceae 1 1 0.75 2.11 49.00 

8 Meliaceae 1 13 0.68 1.89 11.77 

9 Rubiaceae 1 4 0.31 0.86 13.97 

10 Urticaceae 1 2 0.30 0.82 24.13 

11 Illiaceae 1 1 0.13 0.37 20.50 

12 Melastomaceae 1 2 0.07 0.21 8.70 

13 Sapindaceae 2 4 0.05 0.15 6.32 

FPF: 

TOTAL 18 123 35.79 100 20.35 


Genera 

No. 

Stems 

Basal Area 

(m 2 ha -1 ) 

Basal Area 

(% of total) 

Mean 

DBH 

1 Tiliaceae 2 22 17.71 44.86 41.39 

2 Clusiaceae 1 23 8.78 22.23 32.34 


4 Myrtaceae 1 9 2.02 5.11 19.66 

5 Aceraceae 1 2 1.83 4.63 50.80 

6 Sapindaceae 1 11 1.56 3.94 16.80 

7 Meliaceae 1 24 1.25 3.16 11.71 

8 Lauraceae 1 7 0.82 2.07 17.80 

9 Fabaceae 2 7 0.55 1.38 15.09 

10 Loganiaceae 1 3 0.30 0.75 16.26 

11 Rubiaceae 1 10 0.21 0.54 7.67 


13 Moraceae 2 5 0.10 0.26 7.23 

14 Melastomaceae 1 2 0.03 0.07 6.75 

15 Junglandaceae 1 1 0.02 0.05 7.50 


17 Verbenaceae 1 1 0.01 0.03 6.20 

TOTAL 21 180 39.51 100 19.94 


FPG: 


Genera 

No. 

Stems 

Basal Area 

(m 2 ha -1 ) 

Basal Area 

(% of total) 

Mean 

DBH 

1 Tiliaceae 1 39 20.86 49.74 30.50 

2 Clusiaceae 1 20 6.48 15.45 24.58 

3 Sapindaceae 1 13 5.49 13.09 26.73 

4 Fagaceae 2 41 3.77 8.99 14.35 


6 Meliaceae 1 16 0.81 1.93 10.17 

7 Araliaceae 1 1 0.62 1.49 44.50 


9 Lythraceae 1 3 0.09 0.22 9.70 

10 Magnoliaceae 1 3 0.07 0.16 8.12 

11 Rubiaceae 1 3 0.05 0.12 9.66 

12 Annonaceae 1 1 0.04 0.10 11.40 

13 Rhamnaceae 1 2 0.03 0.07 7.00 

14 Lauraceae 1 1 0.01 0.02 6.40 

TOTAL 15 176 41.94 100 19.07 

FPH: 


Genera 

No. 

Stems 

Basal Area 

(m 2 ha -1 ) 

Basal Area 

(% of total) 

Mean 

DBH 

1 Tiliaceae 1 10 15.13 29.34 45.50 

2 Fagaceae 2 34 9.07 17.58 19.45 


4 Sapindaceae 1 8 7.19 13.93 40.15 

5 Clusiaceae 1 8 4.62 8.95 38.05 


7 Rubiaceae 1 3 1.67 3.23 24.70 

8 Meliaceae 1 16 0.61 1.18 10.31 

9 Styracaceae 1 3 0.50 0.97 20.60 

10 Magnoliaceae 1 3 0.25 0.48 13.80 

11 Annonaceae 1 2 0.10 0.20 12.10 

12 Rhamnaceae 1 1 0.09 0.17 16.70 

13 Bignoniaceae 1 2 0.07 0.14 10.40 

14 Moraceae 1 1 0.04 0.08 11.70 

15 Araliaceae 1 1 0.02 0.04 7.90 

TOTAL 16 159 51.59 100 21.28 


FPI: 


Genera 

No. 

Stems 

Basal Area 

(m 2 ha -1 ) 

Basal Area 

(% of total) 

Mean 

DBH 

1 Tiliaceae 1 68 18.86 54.78 26.95 

2 Fagaceae 1 37 4.23 12.30 16.79 


4 Clusiaceae 1 35 1.93 5.61 12.29 

5 Magnoliaceae 1 15 1.84 5.33 17.76 

6 Moraceae 1 5 1.40 4.06 26.64 

7 Meliaceae 2 10 1.00 2.91 16.34 

8 Sapindaceae 1 11 0.79 2.29 14.25 


10 Ulmaceae 1 6 0.51 1.47 14.30 

11 Aceraceae 1 2 0.39 1.14 25.00 

12 Araliaceae 1 3 0.14 0.42 12.23 

TOTAL 15 214 34.42 100 19.47 


APPENDIX 3: LIST OF BUTTERFLY SPECIS RECORDED AT 

KIM HY PROPOSED NATURE RESERVE BY FRONTIER-VIETNAM, 2001 

Global Range: 1= Endemic; 2= Mainland S.E. Asia; 3= Entire Indo-Malayan region; 4= Entire 

Indo-Malayan and Australasian region, Palearctic; 5= Old-world tropics 

Habitat section: 1, 2 = Frontier work phases 1 (July-Sept.), 2 (Oct.- Dec.) in 2001. 

No. Species Global Habitat 

Range 

Limestone 

forest 400- 

700m 

Limestone 

forest 

>700m 

Scrub 

100-550m 

Papilionidae 

1 Atrophaneura aidoneus 2 1 

2 Pachliopta aristolochia 3 1 

3 Papilio dialis doddsi 1 1 

4 Papilio helenus 4 1+2 1 

5 Papilio protenor 2 1 1 1 

6 Papilio memnon 3 1 1+2 

7 Papilio nephelus 3 1 1+2 

8 Papilio castor 1 1 1 

9 Papilio polytes 3 1 

10 Papilio bianor 2 1 

11 Lamproptera curius 3 1+2 

Pieridae 

12 Delias pasithoe 2 1+2 1+2 

13 Pryoneris thestylis 2 2 2 

14 Pieris canidia 3 1 

15 Cepora nadina 3 1+2 

16 Cepora nerissa 3 1+2 2 1+2 

17 Appias albina 3 2 2 

18 Appias lyncida 3 1 

19 Ixias pyrene 3 1+2 1 

20 Hebomoia glaucippe 3 1+2 1 1+2 

21 Eurema hecabe 4 1+2 

22 Eurema andersoni 3 1+2 

23 Eurema blanda 3 1+2 

Danaidae 

24 Danaus genutia 4 1 

25 Tirumala septentrionis 4 1 

26 Ideopsis similis 3 1 1+2 

27 Ideopsis vulgaris n/i 1 

28 Euploea eunice 3 1+2 

29 Euploea mulciber 3 1+2 

30 Parantea aglea n/i 1+2 

Satyridae 

31 Melanitis leda 5 1+2 

32 Melanitis phedima 3 1 

33 Ethoipe noirei 1 2 

34 Orsotriaena medus 3 2 1+2 


35 Lethe philemon 2 2 

36 Neope muirheadi 1 2 

37 Ragedia crisilda 2 2 2 

38 Penthema michallati 1 1 1 

39 Mycalesis malsara n/i 1 

40 Mycalesis mineus 3 1 

41 Mycalesis gotama 3 1 2 

42 Mycalesis perseoides 2 2 

43 Ypthima baldus 3 1+2 

Amathusiidae 

44 Faunis eumeus 2 2 

45 Faunis canens 2 2 

46 Stichophthalma fruhstorferi 1 1 1 

47 Thaumantis diores 1 1 

Nymphalidae 

48 Cethosia cyane 2 1+2 1+2 

49 Athyma selenophora 3 1 

50 Argyreus hyperbius 5 1 2 

51 Vindula erota 3 1+2 2 

52 Symbrenthia lilaea 3 1+2 1+2 

53 Hestina nama 3 2 

54 Junonia almana 3 1 1+2 

55 Junonia atlites 3 1+2 

56 Cyrestis thyodamas 3 2 

57 Neptis cartica n/i 1 

58 Neptis sappho 2 1 

59 Neptis clinia 3 1+2 

60 Neptis hylas 4 1 1+2 

61 Phaedyma columella 4 1 1 

62 Pantoporia hordonia 3 1 1+2 

63 Lexias pardalis 3 2 

64 Tanaecia julii 3 2 2 

65 Euthalia phemius 3 2 

66 Euthalia eriphyle 3 2 2 

67 Rohana tonkiniana 2 2 

68 Bhagadatta austenia n/i 2 

69 Tanaecia julii 3 2 2 

70 Stibochiona nicea 2 2 1 2 

71 Polyura athamas 3 2 2 


Acraeidae 

72 Acraea issoria 3 1+2 

Lycaenidae 

73 Caleta roxus n/i 1 

74 Pithecops corvus 3 2 1 

75 Acytolepis puspa n/i 1 1 

76 Miletus mallus n/i 1 

77 Celastrina argiolus n/i 1 

78 Prosotas nora 4 1 

79 Prosotas sp. n/i 1 

80 Euchrysops cnejus n/i 2 

81 Zizeeria maha n/i 2 

82 Tongeia potanini n/i 2 

83 Jamides alecto 3 1+2 2 

84 Heliophorus kohimensis n/i 1 

85 Heliophorus ila 3 1 

86 Arhopala pseudocentaurus 3 1 

87 Hypolycaena othona n/i 2 

88 Hypolycaena amasa 3 1+2 1 

Hesperidae 

89 Choaspes benjaminii n/i 1 

90 Celaenorrhinus patula n/i 1 

91 Ochus subvittatus n/i 1 

92 Baoris penicillata n/i 1 1 

93 Parnara apostata n/i 1 


APPENDIX 4: SPECIES LIST FOR KIM HY PROPOSED NATURE RESERVE, 

JUL-DEC, 2001: 

Hawkmoths (Sphingidae) 

Key: NL = Not listed in Kitching and Spitzer (1995). 

AYR = All year round 

All records listed are preliminary identifications only. 

No. Species Month 

Adult Notes 

Jul-Sept Oct-Dec period 

1 Acherontia lachesis (Fabricius) Almost 

AYR 

2 Meganoton rufescens thielei (Huwe) April NL 

3 Psilogramma increta (Walker) Almost 

AYR 

4 Amplypterus panopus panopus (Cramer) Almost 

AYR 

5 Ambulyx sericeipennis agana (Jordan) Feb-Oct 

6 A. liturata (Butler) Sept.-Dec. 

7 A. substrigilis substrigilis (Westwood) AYR 

8 A. Pryeri (Distant) AYR 

9 A. moorei (Moore) Jul-Sept 

10 Clanis titan (Rothschild & Jordan) Mar.-Sept. NL 

11 Daphnusa ocellaris (Walker) AYR 

12 Polyptychus trilineatus undatus (Rothschild & Jordan) AYR 

13 Marimba cristata cristata (Rothschild) Mar.-Nov. 

14 M. spectabilis (Butler) Mar-Sept 

15 Marumba dyras dyras (Walker) Mar.-Nov. 

16 Marumba juvencus (Rothschild & Jordan) Jul.-Sept. 

17 Parum colligate (Walker) Mar-Oct 

18 Craspedortha porphyria p. (Butler) Mar-Nov 

19 Calambulyx rubricosa rubricosa (Walker) AYR 

20 C. poecilus p. (Rothschild) Feb-Oct 

21 Daphnis nerii (Linneus) May-Jun/ 

Sept-Feb 

22 D. hypothous hypothous (Cramer) AYR 

23 Ampelophaga dolichoides (Felder) Feb-Nov 

24 Elibia dolichus (Westwood) Almost 

AYR 

25 Acosmeryx shervillii (Boisduval) (= pseudonaga (Butler)) Almost 

AYR 

26 Acosmeryx anceus subdentata (Rothschild & Jordan) AYR 

27 Acosmeryx sericeus (Walker) Feb.-Dec. 

28 Eupanacra variolosa (Walker) Jan, Mar- 

Dec 

29 Enpinanga assamensis (Walker) AYR 

30 

31 

32 Pergesa acteus (Cramer) Mar.-Dec. 

33 Theretra silhetensis silhetensis (Walker) AYR 

34 Theretra nessus (Drury) AYR 

35 Theretra boisduvalii (Bugnion) AYR 

36 Theretra latreillii lucasii (Walker) AYR 


37 Theretra clotho clotho (Drury) AYR 

38 Theretra suffusa (Walker) Mar, May, 

Jul-Oct. 

39 Rhagastis hayesi (Diehl) Oct. NL 

40 Cechenena aegrota (Walker) Apr-Dec 

41 Cechenena helops helops (Walker) AYR 

42 Cechenena minor (Butler) Mar.-Oct. 

43 C. lineosa (Walker) Almost 

AYR 


APPENDIX 5: LIST OF BIRD SPECIES RECORDED AT KIM HY PROPOSED 

NATURE RESERVE, JULY-DECEMBER 2001 

KEY: 

Habitat: AG = Agriculture. Abundance: Rare = 1 - 2 records. 

SC = Scrub & Forest edge. Occasional = 3 - 8 records. 

FO = Forest. Common = 9 + records. 

WT = Waterside habitat. 

Notes: AR = Altitude reduction from that stated in Robson (2000). 

D, C = Identified from specimen observed dead or captured. 

RE = Range extension from that stated in Robson (2000). 

Status: res = Resident in East Tonkin. }VN = endemic to Vietnam 

M = Migrant. 2 = CITES appendix 2 listed 

WV = Winter visitor 

SPECIES Habitat Status Abundance Notes 

AG SC FO WT 

Phasianidae: Pheasants 

Silver pheasant (Lophura nycthemera) * Res R 

Grey peacock pheasant (Polyplectron bicalaratum) - - * - Res C 

Picidae : Typical Woodpeckers 

White-browed piculet (Sasia ochracea) * Res R 

Bay woodpecker (Blythipicus pyrrhotis) * Res R 

Lesser yellownape (Picus chlorolophus) * Res O 

Megalaimidae: Barbets 

Great barbet (megalaima virens) * Res O 

Green eared barbet (Megalaima faiostricta ) * Res O 

Trogonidae : Trogons 

Red-headed Trogon (Harpactes erythrocephalus) * Res O 

Alcedinidae : Smaller Kingfishers 

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) * * Res R 

Cuculidae : Old World Cuckoos 

Large hawk cuckoo (Hierococcyx sparveroides) * * Res R 

Green-billed Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus tristis) * Res R 

Centropodidae : Coucals 

Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis) * * Res C 

Apodidae : Swifts 

Fork-tailed Swift (Apus pacificus) * Res O 

Strigidae : Typical Owls 

Asian barred owlet (Glaucidium cuculoides) * Res R 

Accipitridae : Hawks, Eagles 

Common buzzard (Buteo buteo) * * Res R 

Ardeidae : Egrets, herons, bitterns 

Chinese Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus) * * Res O 

Little Heron (Butorides striatus) * Res R 

Cinnamon Bittern (Ixobrychus cinnamomeus) * * * Res O 

Pittidae: Pittas 

Eared pitta (Pitta phayrei) * Res R D 

Eurylaimidae: Broadbills 

Silver-breated broadbill (Serilophus lunatus) * Res O 

Irenidae: Leafbirds 

Blue-winged leafbird (Chloropsis cochinchinensis) * WV/Res O 

Laniidae : Shrikes 

Long-tailed shrike (Lanius schach schach) * * Res O 


Corvidae : Magpies, Minivets, Drongos 

Subfamily Corvinae 

Tribe Corvini; Jays, Magpies, Crows 

White-winged Magpie (Urocissa whiteheadi) * Res R 

Common green magpie (Cissa chinensis) * res O 

Tribe Oriolini: Orioles, Cuckooshrikes, Minivets 

Maroon Oriole (Oriolus traillii) * Res O 

Scarlet Minivet (Pericrocotus flammeus) * Res O 

Subfamily Dicrurinae 

Tribe Rhiphidurini: Fantials 

White throated fantail (Rhiphidura albicollis) * Res O 

Tribe Dicrurini: Drongos 

Ashy Drongo (Dicrurus leucophaeus) * Res R 

Crow-billed Drongo (Dicrurus annectans) * WV O 

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicurus paradiseus) * Res O 

Muscicapidae: Thrushes 

Subfamily Turdinae: Thrushes 

Blue whistling thrush (Myophoneus caeruleus) * Res R 

Black breasted thrush (Turdus dissimilis) * WV R 

Japanese thrush (Turdus cardis) * WV R 

Subfamily Muscicapinae: Flycatchers 

Fujian niltava (Niltava davidi) * WV R 

Verditer flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina) * Res R 

Grey- headed canary flycatcher (Culicicapa 

* * Res R 

ceylonensis) 

Asian-Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) * WV/M R 

Tribe saxicolini: Robins, Chats 

Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis) * * Res C 

White tailed robin (Myiomela leucura) * Res R 

Sturnidae : Starlings, Mynas 

Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa) * Res R 

Paridae : Tits 

Great Tit (Parus major) * Res R 

Sultan Tit (Melanochlora sultanea) * Res O 

Pycnonotidae : Bulbuls 

Black-crested Bulbul (Pycnonotus melanicterus) * * Res O 

Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus) * * Res C 

Brown breasted bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthoribous) * Res O 

Puff-throated Bulbul (Alophoixus pallidus) * * Res C 

Chesnut bulbul (Hemixos castanonotus) * Res/WV O 

Ochraceous bulbul (Criniger ochraceus) * Res O 

Ashy bulbul ( Hemixos flavala) * Res O 

Black bulbul (Hypsipetes madagascariensis) * Res/WV R 

Sylviidae : Tailorbirds, Babblers, Warblers, 

laughingthrushes 

Subfamily Atrocephalinae: Warblers 

Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) * Res C 

Dark-necked Tailorbird (Orthotomus atrogularis) * Res R 

White tailed leaf warbler (Phlloscopus davisoni) * * Res O 

Asian stubtail (Urosphena sqameiceps) * WV O 

Subfamily Garrulacinae: Laughingthrushes 

Black throated laughingthrush (Garrulax chinensis) * * Res O 

Lesser necklaced laughingthrush (Garrulax 

* Res R 

leucolophus) 

Subfamily Sylvinae: Babblers 

Streaked wren babbler (Napothera brevicaudata) * Res O 

Rufous-capped Babbler (Stachyris ruficeps) * * Res O 

Grey throated babbler (stachyris nigriceps) * Res R 


Striped Tit Babbler (Macronous gularis) * * Res O 

White-bellied Yuhina (Yuhina zantholeuca) * Res C 

Nectariniidae : Sunbirds, Spiderhunters 

Olive-backed Sunbird (Nectarinia jugularis) * Res R 

Fork-tailed Sunbird (Aethopyga christinae) * Res R 

Purple sunbird (Nectarinia asiatica) * Res R RE 

Purple-naped sunbird (Hypogramma 

* Res R 

hypogrammicum) 

Passeridae : Wagtails, Weavers, Munias 

Subfamily Motacilidae: Wagtails 

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) * * Res/WV/ O 

M 

Subfamily Estrildinae: Waxbills 

White rumped munia (Lonchura striata ) * Res O 


Key: 

APPENDIX 6: List of mammal species recorded at Kim Hy proposed Nature 

Reserve, Jul-Dec 2001. 

Record: S - Specimen taken in mist net or harp trap. Status: IUCN Red List (Hilton-Taylor): 

H - Identified in the hand. 

LR/ nt - Low Risk / near threat’d 

VU – Vulnerable 

EN - Endangered 

O - Observed in the wild. Vietnam RDB (RDB, 2000): 

C - Captive specimen. 

(E) – Endangered. 

T - Spoor present (tracks, faeces etc). 

(R) – Rare. 

Notes: 

overleaf in 

Numbers refer to locations of records. Geo-coordinates and locality data are provided 

Appendix 9. Numbers in bold indicate sites of specimen collection. 

No. Order/Family/Species S I O C T Status 

Chiroptera 

Pteropodidae 

1 Cynopterus sphinx • 

Rhinolophidae 

2 Big-eared horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus cf. macrotis) • 

3 Pearson’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus pearsoni) • 

4 Least horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus pusillus) • 

5 Thomas’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus cf. thomasi) • LR / nt 

6 Rhinolophus affinis • 

7 Rhinolophus lepidus • 

8 Bourett’s horshoe bat (Rhinolophus 

• VU (R) 

paradoxolophus) 

Hipposideridae 

9 Hipposideros fulvus • 

10 Himalayan leaf-nosed bat (Hipposideros armiger) • 

11 Intermediate roundleaf bat (Hipposideros larvatus) • 

12 Stoliczka’s trident bat (Ascelliscus stoliczkanus) • 

Vespertilionidae 

13 Round-eared tube-nosed bat (Murina cyclotis) • 

14 Scully’s tube nosed bat (Murina tubinaris) • 

15 Great evening bat (Ia io) • VU (R) 

16 Myotis sp.1 • 

17 Myotis sp.2 • 

18 Miniopteris sp. • 

Philodota 

Manidae 

East Asian porcupine( Manis pentadactyla) • LR (V) 

Insectivora 

Soricidae 

Asian white toothed shrew (Crocidura fulinginosa) • 

Tupaidae 

Tree shrew (Tupaia belageri) 

• 

Primates 

Cercopithecidae 

Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) • LR/nt 


Assamese macaque (M. assamensis) • • VU(V) 

Bear macaque (M. arctoides) • VU (V) 

Pig tailed macaque (M. nemestrina) • VU (V) 

Francois’ langur (Semnopithecus franscoisi) • EN (V) 

Hylobatidae 

Eastern black crested gibbon (Hylobates 

• • EN 

(Nomascus) concolor) 

Loridae 

Slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) • VU (V) 

Pygmy loris (N. pygmaeus) • VU (V) 

Carnivora 

Ursidae 

Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) • V (En) 

Mustelidae 

Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) • VU (V) 

Hog badger (Arctonyx collaris) 

• 

Yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula) 

• 

Viverridae 

Large Indian civet (Viverra zibetha) 

• 

Small Indian civet (Viverricula indica) 

• 

Common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) 

• 

Felidae 

Clouded leopard (Pardofelis nebulosa) • VU (V) 

Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) 

• 

Artiodactyla 

Suidae 

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) • • 

Moschidae 

Chinese forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) • • EN (En) 

Cervidae 

Common muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac) • • 

Sambar (Cervus unicolor) 

• 

Bovidae 

Souhtern serow (Capricornis ( naemorhedus) 

• • VU (V) 

sumatraensis) 

Rodentia 

Sciuridae 

Pallas’ squirrel (Callosciurus erythraeus) 

• 

Grey bellied squirrel (C. inornatus) 

• 

Giant black squirrel (Ratufa bicolour) 

• 

Tamiops sp. 

• 

Muiridae 

Rhizomys pruinosus 

• 

Ryukyu mouse (Mus caroli) 

• 

Niniventus sp.1 

• 

Niniventus sp. 2 

• 

East Asian porcupine (Hystrix brachyuran) 

• 


APPENDIX 7: POPULATION STATISTICS FOR KIM HY PNR 

Na Ri district population growth 1991-2000 

population 

39000 

38000 

37000 

36000 

35000 

34000 

33000 

32000 

31000 

30000 

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1999 2000 

Year 

Source: Na Ri Peoples’ Committee statistics dept., pers. comm.2001 

COMMUNE VILLAGE HOUSEHOLDS POPULATION 

2001 

POPULATION 

1997 

KIM HY BAN VEN 43 216 

BAN KEN 29 138 

NA MO 36 158 

BAN VIN 30 140 

KIM VAN 40 180 

KHOUI HAT 24 109 

N/I 

CUOC TEM 32 166 

LUONG CAU 30 182 

NA NAC 30 165 

TOTAL 

KHUOI CAI 17 81 

10 311 1539 1492 


2001 

POPULATION 

1997 

AN TINH NA TOAN 130 612 

NA DUONG 53 284 

N/I 

THAM MU 18 93 

TOTAL 3 201 989 1003 



2001 

POPULATION 

1997 

LANG SAN BAN KEN 

LANG SAN 

KHAU LA 

NA CHAP 

BAN SANG 

TAN AN 

NA CA 

NAM CA 

N/I N/I N/I 

TOTAL 

NA DIET 

9 N/I N/I 1502 


2001 

LUONG LAN VAN 

THUONG VANG KHIT 

PAN SA 

NA CHUONG 

NA LANG 

HANG CAU 

POPULATION 

1997 

N/I N/I N/I 

TOTAL 7 N/I N/I 1677 


2001 

POPULATION 

1998 

CAO SON THAM PHU 30 143 

KHAU CA 22 110 

THONG 

27 185 

KHOAN 

LUNG 

9 58 

N/I 

CHUONG 

LUNG CHAU 6 34 

LUNG LY 30 150 

TOTAL 

CA CAY 15 59 

8 140 739 769 


2000 

POPULATION 

1998 

VU MUON N/I N/I N/I 

TOTAL N/I N/I 1462 1497 


Kim Hy commune: ethnicity, 2001 

5 

An Tinh commune: ethnicity, 1997 

23 

46 

89 

501 

964 

Tay Dao Hmong Nung Kinh 

914 

Tay Dao 

Luong Thuong commune: ethnicity, 1997 

Lang san commune: ethnicity, 1997 

45 

365 

81 

118 

0 

8 

54 

1169 

524 

815 

Tay Nung Dao H'mong Kinh 

Tay Nung Dao H'mong Kinh 

Cao Son commune: ethnicity, 2001 

Vu Muon commune: no information 

60 

80 

Source: FIPI, 1997/ Kim Hy, 

Cao Son Peoples’ Committees pers. 

comm.., 2001 

Dao Nung 


APPENDIX 8: AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT IN THE COMMUNITIES 

OF KIM HY PNR 1997-2001 

Where information is not shown on the graphs for a given commune in certain years, information 

was not available. 

Agricultural output of main rice crop by selected communes in the 

area of Kim Hy PNR, 1997-2000 

700 

4500 

Total (tons) 

600 

500 

400 

300 

200 

4000 

3500 

3000 

2500 

2000 

1500 

1000 

Average (kg/ha) 

100 

0 

Bars denote total productivity, lines denote average productivity. 

1997 1998 1999 2000 

Year 

500 

0 

Bars denote An Tinhtotal productivity, lines Lang denote San average productivity. Kim Hy Luong Thuong 

Source: 

Cao 

Commune 

Son 

Peoples’ Committees, 

Vu Muon 

pers. comm., 

An 

2001, 

Tinh 

Na Ri Peoples’ 

Lang 

Committee 

San 

Statistics Kim Dept, Hy pers. comm., FIPI, Luong 1997. Thuong Cao Son Vu Muon 


Agricultural output of second rice crop by selected communes in the 

Kim Hy PNR area, 1998-2001 

250 

6000 

200 

5000 

4000 

Total (tons) 

150 

100 

3000 


2000 

50 

1000 

0 

1998 1999 2000 2001 

Year 

0 

An Tinh Lang San Kim Hy Luong Thuong 


Cao Son Vu Muon An Tinh Lang San 

Source: Commune Peoples’ Committees, pers. comm., 2001, Na Ri Peoples’ Committee 

Statistics Dept, Kim pers. Hy comm., FIPI, 1997. Luong Thuong Cao Son Vu Muon 


Maize production (two seasons) by selected communes in the area 

of Kim Hy PNR, 997-2000 

300 

4500 

250 

4000 

3500 

Total (tons) 

200 

150 

100 

3000 

2500 

2000 

1500 


50 

1000 

500 

0 

1997 1998 1999 2000 

Year 

0 

An Tinh Lang San Kim Hy Luong Thuong 

Cao Son Vu Muon An Tinh Lang San 

Kim Hy Luong Thuong Cao Son Vu Muon 


Source: Commune Peoples’ Committees, pers. comm., 2001, Na Ri Peoples’ Committee Statistics Dept, 

pers. comm., FIPI, 1997.

Kim Hy Proposed Nature Reserve - Frontier-publications.co.uk

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