Bach Ma National Park in central Thue Thien-Hue province has organised aseries of activities to protect its biological diversity.

The park has boosted its research and international cooperation inconserving and developing gene pools, successfully duplicating the tworare plant species Cephalotaxaceae and Cunninghamia.

To serve scientific research, the national park has been expandingits forestry area since 2014, including planting an additional 28hectares of trees for ecological restoration, and collecting 153specimens from 53 floral species.

It has alsoworked with several institutes to undertake research on insects and thepreservation of endangered plants species including medicinal herbs.

These studies have provided substantial scientific information for biological diversity research and conservation.

According to the park’s Director Huynh Van Keo, the national park hasuncovered 30 violations of the Law of Forestry Management andProtection; an illegal logging case in Huong Phu commune in Nam Dongdistrict was brought to court.

Last year, noforest fires were recorded in the park, owing to its efforts toestablish forest area frontiers and ensure fire prevention compliance,he said.

Last year, the park welcomed over13,000 tourists to Bach Ma Mountain and around 100,000 travellers toThuy Dien waterfall and Truoi Lake.

It alsohelped improve the livelihoods of locals by involving them in forestmanagement and protection together with raising their awareness ofenvironmental issues.

In 2015, the National Parkplans to continue focusing on forest protection with increased effortsto prevent illegal animal hunting and logging.

About 60 kilometres to the south of Hue City, Bach Ma National Parkcovers an area of 375 square kilometres. It is home to more than 2,373floral and 1,715 fauna species, including the endangered Tram Huong(Aquilaria crassna) and Soi Lua (Cuon alpinus).-VNA