A project to protect Cao Vit gibbons (Nomascus nasutus), one of the
rarest primate species in the world, in Trung Khanh district of the
northern mountainous province of Cao Bang has not only achieved its
ultimate goal but also raised people’s awareness in forest development
and the efficiency of agro-forestry production.
In
2002, Fauna Flora International (FFI) discovered 26 Cao Vit
gibbons on a limestone mountain that spreads across Phong Nam, Ngoc
Khe and Ngoc Con communes of Trung Khanh district.
Immediately after the discovery, FFI coordinated with forest rangers and
local authorities to carry out measures to eliminate threats to the
gibbon community.
Community-based preservation
groups were promptly established, and all local households were
encouraged to sign commitments to protect the species.
A project to preserve Cao Vit gibbons was set up in 2004. Its aim was
to restore and expand the habitat for the primates in an area close to
the Vietnam-China border.
In 2007, FFI helped found
the Cao Vit Gibbon Conservation Area, which covers 1,657 hectares in the
three aforementioned communes. Two years later, the organisation worked
with the Forestry Bureau of China’s Guangxi province to set up a
protective area in a 6,530 hectare adjoining forest in its Zhengxi
district.
The Cao Vit gibbon conservation project
started in March 2004. It has organised training courses to raise
people’s awareness in protecting the species and established community
patrol groups to oversee the habitat and biodiversity.
The project has also helped local residents acquire sustainable
methods and effective ways in improving their livelihood and eradicating
poverty, thus protecting the conservation area.
To
reduce people’s dependence on forest resources, the project formed three
livestock interest groups in the communes. Member households were
provided with loans worth a total of 150 million VND. Additionally, more
than 430 households in the localities have also been trained in
cultivation and breeding techniques since 2007.
In
particular, the reduction of the use of wood as fuel is considered one
of the project’s main activities. Local residents have received
assistance in building hundreds of fuel-efficient stoves and 22 biogas
tanks which produced gas for fuel from animal waste. Fuel-wood
plantations have been formed using local tree species to provide an
alternative source of wood that can be used as fuel.
To control livestock grazing in forests, the project has helped local
people expand fodder crops to nearly three hectares and provided
facilities for livestock breeding households around the conservation
area.
The project has given financial support to
construct local cultural centres and coordinated with Trung Khanh
district’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and its
agriculture promotion office to teach rice and corn growing methods to
local people.
Thanks to these efforts, the
population of Cao Vit gibbons has risen to 24 troops with 129
individuals, a recent FFI survey shows.-VNA