Thua Thien – Hue (VNA) – The central province ofThua Thien-Hue has recently launched a project to preserve wildlife in thecentral area of Truong Son Mountain Range using non-refundable aid from theWorld Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Vietnam.

The provincial Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment was assigned to carry out the project in the buffer zones of BachMa National Park and Saola Nature Reserve in Nam Dong and A Luoi districtsbetween now and 2022.

Costing over 6.8 billion VND (299,000 USD), the project aimsto enhance the capacity of social organisations and local communities inbuilding policies and giving feedback on natural resources management andbiodiversity via training courses. It will also help improve livelihoods ofresidents living on forests, thereby easing pressure on natural resources.

Over the past years, the province has actively preservedbiodiversity in central Truong Son Mountain Range, including surveying wildlifein nature reserves to prevent deforestation and forest degradation in theborder areas between southern Laos and central Vietnam, especially in Bach MaNational Park and Saola Nature Reserve.

The survey results have mitigated threat to saola and other endangeredspecies, thus keeping landscapes of central Truong Son Mountain intact. At thesame time, technical solutions to supervision and management of biodiversitypreservation have been enhanced and local livelihoods have improved.

The province is collecting studies to propose new measuresto preserve wildlife and use techniques that do not impact landscapes forresearch.-VNA