The Conservation Status of Gibbons in Vietnam - Gibbon Research ...

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Introductionexperienced conservation practitioners or political will to sufficiently halt the on-going decline ofgibbons (and other biodiversity) in most locations.This timely status review of gibbons in Vietnam takes off from where Geissmann et al. (2000) leftus in 2000 and collates and draws from the significant body of work on gibbons carried out bybiologists and conservationists during the past ten years. Similar parallel efforts have beenoccurring regionally, which are relevant to this status review, as no gibbon species is entirelyendemic to Vietnam. In 2005, a status review of Cambodia’s gibbons was conducted andillustrated the importance of the country for conservation of Nomascus gabriellae and,retrospectively, N. annamensis which at that time had not been described (Traeholt et al. 2005). In2008, a status review of gibbons in Laos (Duckworth 2008) acknowledged the internationalsignificance of the country for long-term conservation of all four species of Nomascus found there,especially for N. leucogenys and N. siki. In 2011, as a follow-up to that status review, a GibbonConservation Action Plan for Lao PDR was approved by the Lao government (MAF 2011). InYunnan Province, China, a conservation action plan is being prepared by the Provincial ForestryBureau for the western black gibbon N. concolor. Most of the global population of western blackgibbons are found in Yunnan Province, which also holds the majority of China’s gibbons. Theseefforts along with this status review for Vietnam cover most of the global range of crestedgibbons. This status review draws on knowledge of the conservation status of crested gibbonsoutside Vietnam in order to give a regional and therefore global context.Overall for gibbons in Vietnam, as with much wildlife in the region, the situation is bleak, but thereremain signs of hope. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the conservation status of gibbons inVietnam and outlines the main threats. In doing so, it also proposes revised categories for eachgibbon species in the Vietnam Red Data Book. The six subsequent chapters focus on the status ofeach species in Vietnam and include site-by-site accounts of known gibbon records, populationtrends and priority conservation needs. Overall for most species there appear to have beenpopulation declines in Vietnam. Nevertheless for each species there remain sites with populationsthat are large enough to be viable for their long-term survival. The loss of any gibbon species inVietnam is not necessarily inevitable.The description of a new species, the northern yellow-cheeked gibbon Nomascus annamensis byVan Ngoc Thinh et al. (2010c) reflects greater scientific attention to gibbons during the pastdecade and improved understanding of the taxonomy of crested gibbons. In 2000, the gibbonstatus review highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the taxonomy of gibbons in the area ofcentral Vietnam where N. annamensis has subsequently been described from. Chapter 9 includesa review of the latest taxonomic understanding for crested gibbons and is followed by a chapteron the ecology of crested gibbons.This report collates records of gibbons from all sites in Vietnam known to have them and whereinformation can be assessed to be reliable. Inevitably some sites will have been missed.Additionally, every year during the past decade newly-discovered populations of highlythreatened primates have been brought to the attention of the conservation community inVietnam. With so much more work carried out on gibbons during the past ten years, this reportprovides a clearer snapshot of the status of gibbons in Vietnam than was possible a decade ago.We have not attempted to analyse in detail the drivers behind threats to gibbons, nor do weproscribe detailed and comprehensive recommendations for gibbon conservation in Vietnam.This would be more appropriately carried out as part of a multi-stakeholder conservation actionplanning process and by collecting other detailed data sets, such as forest cover change, recordsof hunting violations and wildlife trade. Nevertheless, conclusions about the main threats togibbons can be made and some initial recommendations for gibbon conservation are given, mostof which apply to the challenge of biodiversity conservation in Vietnam in general.In addition to collecting and referencing available literature, the data in this report have beensupplemented by field surveys conducted at various locations in Vietnam, which were prioritisedas representing important gaps in current knowledge. Preparations began in late 2009 during atwo-day workshop of national experts spent assessing the status of each gibbon species andidentifying sources of and gaps in information for sites across Vietnam. This led to a list of priority4
The Conservation Status of Gibbons in Vietnamareas for gibbon surveys. Subsequently, Fauna & Flora International and ConservationInternational released a call for proposals for grants for gibbon surveys which were selected basedon these priorities. In April 2010, representatives and field staff of selected grant recipientsattended a three day training workshop in Cat Tien National Park on gibbon survey techniqueswhich resulted in appropriate survey methods designed for each selected site. Locations ofsubsequent surveys are shown in Table 1.Table 1. Gibbon populations surveyed during 2010-11 as part of this status reviewSpecies Location ReferencesNomascus nasutus*Nomascus concolor**Than Sa-Phuong Hoang NR, ThaiNguyen ProvinceMu Cang Chai SHCA, Yen Bai Province &Muong La District, Son La ProvinceLuu Tuong Bach & Nguyen VanTruong (2011a)Le Trong Dat & Le Minh Phong(2010)Nomascus leucogenys Muong Nhe NR, Lai Chau Province Nguyen Manh Ha et al. (2010a)Nomascus leucogenys* Long Luong Commune, Son La Province Luu Tuong Bach & Nguyen VanTruong (2011b)Nomascus leucogenys Pu Mat NP, Nghe An Province Luu Tuong Bach & Rawson(2011)Nomascus sikiKe Go NR, Ha Tinh Province & Khe Net Van Ngoc Thinh et al. (2010a)NR, Quang Binh ProvinceNomascus annamensis Kon Ka Kinh NR, Gia Lai Province Ha Thang Long et al. (2011)Nomascus annamensis Kon Cha Rang NR, Gia Lai Province Luu Quang Vinh et al. (2010)Nomascus gabriellae Dong Nai NR, Dong Nai Province Nguyen Manh Ha et al. (2010b)Nomascus gabriellae Ta Dung NR, Dak Nong Province Hoang Minh Duc et al. (2010a)Most of these survey reports can be downloaded from www.fauna-flora.org* Short surveys conducted to follow up on reports to FFI from local forestry officials** Conducted as part of ongoing monitoring.A limiting factor identified during the compilation of this status review was the differentapproaches used to survey gibbons and the general lack of reliable density and populationestimates from any site in Vietnam, despite considerable survey effort. In an attempt to addressthis concern, a software package and associated guidelines for surveying gibbons weredeveloped in order to allow comparisons between sites and populations (Vu Tien Thinh & Rawson2011). This package was used on several of the surveys mentioned in Table 1 and helped providesite-wide estimates of gibbon populations. It can be downloaded from www.fauna-flora.org.In December 2010, a further workshop was held to discuss the status of N. annamensis and N.gabriellae which are most widespread in Vietnam, and therefore, on the merit of their betterconservation status, less simple to assess. This workshop included most of the authors of thisstatus review and other biologists with a wide knowledge of the status of gibbons in Vietnam.This status review was prepared with individuals taking the lead on authorship for chapters asfollows: Western black gibbon Nomascus concolor, Simon Mahood and Paul Insua-Cao; Easternblack gibbon Nomascus nasutus, Paul Insua-Cao; Northern white-cheeked gibbon Nomascusleucogenys: Ben Rawson and Nguyen Manh Ha; Southern white-cheeked gibbon Nomascus siki,Nguyen Manh Ha and Ben Rawson; Northern yellow-cheeked gibbon Nomascus annamensis, VanNgoc Thinh; Southern yellow-cheeked gibbon Nomascus gabriellae, Ben Rawson; Classificationand distribution of crested gibbons, Christian Roos and Thomas Geissmann; Ecology andbehaviour of crested gibbons, Ben Rawson. The above co-authors and Hoang Minh Duc alsoprepared separate individual site records.5
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Page 12 and 13: Abbreviations and Acronymsa.s.l. ab
Page 14 and 15: carried out in 2000 and 2001. At Ho
Page 16 and 17: ConclusionsWhile gibbons are afford
Page 18 and 19: IntroductionChapter 1IntroductionFe
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Page 36 and 37: Nomascus nasutusChapter 3Eastern bl
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Nomascus sikiChapter 6Southern whit
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Nomascus siki6 Southern White-cheek
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Nomascus siki6.2.5 Priority Conserv
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Nomascus sikithese vagaries, the pa
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Nomascus sikifield records (Le Manh
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Nomascus annamensisChapter 7Norther
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Nomascus annamensis7 Northern Yello
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Nomascus annamensisStatusThis site
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Nomascus annamensisThreats and Cons
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Nomascus annamensisDate of most rec
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Nomascus annamensisgroups) and 148
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Nomascus gabriellaeChapter 8Souther
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Nomascus gabriellae8 Southern Yello
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Nomascus gabriellae8.2.4 Ongoing Co
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Nomascus gabriellae8.3.4 Chu Yang S
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Nomascus gabriellaeThreats and Cons
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Nomascus gabriellaeDate of most rec
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Nomascus gabriellaepark-wide census
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Nomascus gabriellaeStatusThis reser
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Classification & Distribution of Cr
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Ecology & Behaviour of Crested Gibb
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References11 ReferencesAbramov, A.
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ReferencesDang Ngoc Can, Pham Duc T
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ReferencesGeissmann, T., Nguyen Man
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ReferencesLa Quang Trung, and Trinh
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ReferencesLuong Van Hao, and Le Van
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ReferencesNguyen Quang Hoa Anh, Tha
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ReferencesSrikosamatara, S., and S.
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AnnexesAnnex 1. Summary of Gibbon R
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AnnexesSiteProvinceArea(ha)Minimum
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Annexesd) number of locations or su
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Annexesc) area, extent or quality o
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