The comparative analyses of selected aspects of conservation and management of Vietnam’s national parks

Abstract

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.

An evaluation of destination attractiveness for nature-based tourism: Recommendations for the management of national parks in Vietnam

“…The present study on tourism attractiveness was part of a series of surveys intended for the collection of data related to the management of national parks in Vietnam (cf. An et al 2018). A survey method was used, with a structured questionnaire being sent to the management boards directly responsible for protected area management in 30 Vietnamese NPs (Figure 1).…”

“…The issues are similar to those identified by the PARC Project (2006), which found that more than 60% of the state budget of the Vietnamese Government for protected areas went to infrastructure development. On the other hand, most NPs spent about half of their funds on conservation activities, and financial allocations for protected area management could also change over time (An et al 2018). In this context, considering the allocation of financial sources and investment in tourism, particularly in tourism infrastructure, would be an effective contribution to the management of tourism in NPs.…”

“…The increasing number of NPs supports the conservation and sustainable development of natural resources in the SUFs (GoV 2014). Several ministries and agencies are involved in the governance of the protected areas; for example, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Provincial People's Committee (PPCs) have the responsibility for managing national parks (see An et al 2018). In particular, together with MARD, the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism guides and examines PPCs in the management of eco-tourist activities and promotes NPs as tourism destinations in the development of the tourism sector at a national level.…”

“…An area with special potential to acquire financial sources of funding for natural resource management in Vietnam is the use of NBT in NPs (An et al 2018), which has been found to create alternative livelihoods for local people and support local socioeconomic development (Rugendyke andSon 2005, MONRE 2014). Effective protected area management encourages the expansion of benefits from NBT, particularly in the economic sphere (An et al 2018) and NPs are attractive destinations for recreation and tourism. The total number of tourists visiting 11 NPs increased by over 17% in a single year, reaching 629,961 in 2010 (MONRE 2011).…”

“…However, NBT is a competitive market and NPs have to offer high quality and unique environmental characteristics to succeed in tourism development. Many NPs suffer from a lack of any tourism development strategy in their management plans (An et al 2018), and tourism facilities and services of protected areas (e.g. information services) are also limited (ICEM 2003).…”