National parks are increasingly recognized as playing an important role in the development of nature-based tourism destinations that promote effective management of natural resources and socioeconomic development. The paper was designed to evaluate the tourism attractiveness and performance of national parks in Vietnam. The tourism performance of 30 Vietnamese national parks was evaluated using multiple criteria decision analysis with the stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA) and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) method; thirteen national park attributes were used to determine tourism attractiveness, measured by an exponential weighted acceptability index. It was found that the Phong Nha – Ke Bang, Cuc Phuong, and Ba Be National Parks were most attractive for more than 95% of all possible preference structures. In addition, 12 non-dominated national parks were identified, and for an average supporter of most non-dominated protected areas, the trail criterion appears to be the most important. A statistically significant correlation was found between tourism attractiveness and the number of tourists who visited national parks. Our findings offer potentially useful information for decision makers in developing effective tourism marketing and management strategies for national parks in Vietnam.

The national parks in Vietnam are protected areas in the national system of special-use forests created to protect natural resources and biodiversity. In order to improve the effectiveness of management of national parks, the study assesses some current aspects of conservation and management of natural resources with respect to management plans, financial sources, staff, cooperative activities, causes of limited management capacity and threats to natural resources. Out of the total of 30 national parks, six are under the responsibility of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) and 24 national parks are managed by provincial authorities. It was found that most of the national parks have updated their management plans. Financial sources of funding for national parks mainly originated from the central and provincial budgets, with an average of 51% and 76% respectively. Fifty percent of national parks spent 40-60% of their total funding on conservation activities. About 85% of national parks' staff had academic degrees, typically in the fields of forestry, agriculture and fisheries. Biodiversity conservation was considered a priority cooperative action in national parks with scientific institutes. Major causes of a limited management capacity of national parks included human population growth and pressure associated with resources use, lack of funding, limited human and institutional capacity and land use conflict/land grab. Illegal hunting, trapping, poaching and fishing, the illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging and firewood collecting appeared to be the most serious threats to the conservation and management of natural resources. In addition to RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journalLe Thanh An et al. / Nature Conservation 25: 1-30 (2018) 2 these results, significant differences were found between the VNFOREST and provincial parks in terms of financial sources, staff and the threat of illegal logging and firewood collecting. The authors' findings offer useful information for national park planners and managers, as well as policy makers and researchers in seeking solutions for the sustainable management of natural resources in national parks.

The national parks in Vietnam are protected areas in the national system of special-use forests created to protect natural resources and biodiversity. In order to improve the effectiveness of management of national parks, the study assesses some current aspects of conservation and management of natural resources with respect to management plans, financial sources, staff, cooperative activities, causes of limited management capacity and threats to natural resources. Out of the total of 30 national parks, six are under the responsibility of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) and 24 national parks are managed by provincial authorities. It was found that most of the national parks have updated their management plans. Financial sources of funding for national parks mainly originated from the central and provincial budgets, with an average of 51% and 76% respectively. Fifty percent of national parks spent 40-60% of their total funding on conservation activities. About 85% of national parks' staff had academic degrees, typically in the fields of forestry, agriculture and fisheries. Biodiversity conservation was considered a priority cooperative action in national parks with scientific institutes. Major causes of a limited management capacity of national parks included human population growth and pressure associated with resources use, lack of funding, limited human and institutional capacity and land use conflict/land grab. Illegal hunting, trapping, poaching and fishing, the illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging and firewood collecting appeared to be the most serious threats to the conservation and management of natural resources. In addition to RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journalLe Thanh An et al. / Nature Conservation 25: 1-30 (2018) 2 these results, significant differences were found between the VNFOREST and provincial parks in terms of financial sources, staff and the threat of illegal logging and firewood collecting. The authors' findings offer useful information for national park planners and managers, as well as policy makers and researchers in seeking solutions for the sustainable management of natural resources in national parks.

No abstract

Successful biodiversity conservation is closely linked to the support received from society. Therefore, a better understanding of public preferences for conservation activities facilitates successful conservation efforts. The objective of the study is to determine the preferences of tourists and local residents regarding the proposed conservation program of the northern yellow-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus annamensis) and its economic value in the Bach Ma National Park, as well as to examine the factors that determine their willingness to pay (WTP) for the gibbon conservation. The WTP was estimated with the dichotomous choice contingent valuation method, and data were collected using face-to-face interviews with 710 participations, including 352 Vietnamese tourists and 358 local residents. The logistic regression model was applied to predict the probability of WTP for the program. A number of factors were found to be significant predictors of WTP that included bid level, visit, awareness, knowledge, distance, family size, and education. The mean WTP amount was estimated at about $US3.81/tourist and $US 2.93/household for one-time support of the gibbon conservation program. A significant difference was also found between the tourists and local residents in terms of the estimated WTP. Our findings suggest that there is a strong public support within Vietnamese society for the conservation of gibbons, which should be considered in the design of social policies for biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. Keywords tourists, local residents, willingness to pay, contingent valuation method, the northern yellow-cheeked gibbon,

Extending protected areas has enabled global species and habitat protection, especially for endangered species. In addition, understanding social preferences for species protection is essential to contribute to the biodiversity conservation efforts of protected areas. The main purpose of the study was to investigate the preferences of international tourists towards the protection of the northern yellow-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus annamensis) through a proposed wildlife conservation program in Bach Ma National Park, Central Vietnam. Data for the study was collected from a face-to-face survey of 361 randomly selected foreign tourists visiting Bach Ma National Park. By using the dichotomous choice contingent valuation approach, we estimate international tourists' willingness to pay (WTP) for the proposed conservation program of gibbons and identify elements that influence their WTP for the conservation program. We found that international tourists strongly support conserving gibbon populations in the Bach Ma. The findings from the logistic regression model in the study reveal that the respondents' bid level, education, knowledge, biodiversity conservation, climate change, and revisit variables were all significantly predictive of WTP. The estimated mean WTP amount for one-time funding of the species conservation program was US$7.83 per international tourist. The obtained results of this study suggest that policy-makers and managers of national parks should consider the significance of international visitors' support for gibbon conservation efforts when designing and developing their social strategies, programs, and policies for protecting nature and preserving biodiversity, particularly with regard to tourism segmentation in protected areas.

Shrimp farmers in Vietnam respond passively to market risks, such as input and output price shocks. This study provides a better understanding of market risks, risk management strategies adopted by shrimp farmers, the factors driving their choice of strategies, and how such strategies affect farm performance. Random sampling was used to collect information from a sample of 246 shrimp farmers. Several analytical methods were combined, including descriptive analysis, coefficient of variance estimation for market risks, and a logistic regression model to uncover factors behind farmers’ decisions to adopt risk management strategies. To cope with market risks, shrimp farmers frequently adopt two risk management strategies: changes in farming technology and practices, and agricultural input contracts. Overall, 54.9% of shrimp farmers only used a single strategy, whereas the others used combined risk management strategies. Age, farm size, membership in a farmers association, participation in training, gender, price of output, price of seed, price of fertilizer, distance from farm to the market center, and shrimp type were identified as factors driving the probability of using combined risk management strategies.

Farmers have a long history of adjusting their production practices in response to changing production conditions. Using a multinomial endogenous treatment effects model that accounts for observable and unobservable heterogeneity, this study investigates the adoption and welfare impacts of climate‐resilient practices on Vietnamese rice‐cultivating households. We found evidence of clear and positive welfare impacts from the adoption of canal irrigation (CI) and the joint adoption of agricultural conservation practices (CP) and CI as the main adaptation strategies to increase water stress. More importantly, although farmers with access to CI systems obtained the highest returns, the joint adoption of multiple practices still had substantially high adoption rates and significantly positive effects on rice yield, rice revenue and household income. Our findings indicate that farms' and farmers' characteristics, market information and climatic conditions are generally the main factors driving rice farmers' decisions to adopt climate‐resilient technologies, both individually and jointly. Follow‐up policy interventions should focus on improving CI systems and promoting the joint adoption of climate‐resilient technologies to improve rice farmers' well‐being and enhance their resilience capacity to cope with incoming climatic uncertainty.