Renomination and Extension of “Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park”)
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ASIA / PACIFIC PHONG NHA – KE BANG NATIONAL PARK (Renomination and extension of “Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park”) VIET NAM View from paradise cave path - © IUCN Josephine Langley Viet Nam – Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park WORLD HERITAGE NOMINATION – IUCN TECHNICAL EVALUATION PHONG NHA-KE BANG NATIONAL PARK (VIET NAM) – ID No. 951 Rev IUCN RECOMMENDATION TO WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE: To approve the extension under natural criteria. Key paragraphs of Operational Guidelines: Paragraph 77: Nominated property meets World Heritage criteria. Paragraph 78: Nominated property meets integrity and protection and management requirements. Background note: The existing property Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (PNKB NP) was inscribed on the World Heritage List under criteria (viii) in 2003. At that time the Committee encouraged the State Party to review the boundaries and engage in dialogue with the People’s Republic of Lao (Lao PDR) regarding transboundary opportunities with respect to neighbouring Hin Namno National Conservation Area (Decision 27 COM 8C.8). A review of the State of Conservation was carried out in 2004 and 2005, and highlighted the need for Environmental Impact Assessments being conducted prior to the implementation of development activities. The property was renominated under criteria (viii) and (x) in 2010 and the renomination was referred by the Committee in 2011. The referral was made because the nomination did not meet conditions of integrity, protection and management, with specific concerns related to poor law enforcement and illegal harvest of timber and non-timber forest products (NTFP) including endangered wildlife and also that the proposed extension of the property had not yet happened (Decision 35COM 8B.12). The Committee’s attention is drawn to the earlier 2011 IUCN evaluation of PNKB NP (WHC11-35COM- INF.8B2). In July 2013, the national park was expanded to 126,236 ha, and this renomination is for an enlarged nominated area under additional biodiversity criteria (ix) and (x) and an extended buffer zone. 1. DOCUMENTATION March 2015. Worboys, G. (2012) Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, World Heritage Management a) Date nomination received by IUCN: 18 March Planning Requirements Mission Report. IUCN, 2014 Gland. Le Trong D., Do Tuoc, Dinh Huy Tri, Le Thuc Dinh and Dang Ngoc Kien (2009) Census of b) Additional information officially requested from Southern white-cheeked crested gibbons in U Bo and provided by the State Party: In September 2014 and adjacent buffer zone forests, Phong Nha-Ke following the evaluation mission, IUCN wrote to the Bang National Park, Bo Trach District, Quang Binh State Party seeking its response on measures to stop Province, Viet Nam. Fauna and Flora International poaching and to provide advice on the status and (FFI) – Viet Nam Primate Programme. Haus T., Vogt potential impact of a proposed cable car within the M., Forster B., Thanh Vu N., and Ziegler T. (2009) property. The State Party responded in December Distribution and Population Densities of Diurnal 2014. Primates in the Karst Forests of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh Province, Central Following the IUCN World Heritage Panel a further Viet Nam. International Journal of Primatology letter was sent to the State Party seeking an update on 30:301–312. Vu Dinh Thong et al. (2012) the cable car proposal and requesting documentary Biodiversity survey of bats in and around the evidence of the Environmental Impact Assessment for Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh, the development proposal as well as a map showing Viet Nam. Gebert, R (ed). (2012) Gender-Poverty- the route. The State Party provided further responses Ethnicity: the challenge of social inclusion on 29 January 2015. conservation planning for the PNKB. Hubner, A and Truong Si Hong Chau (editors). (2013) c) Additional literature consulted: Various sources, Sustainable Tourism. Johnson, I, and Nguyen Thi including references accessed at the time of the 2011 Ngoc Anh (eds). (2012) Green VDP: Participatory evaluation of PNKB. Other references including and conservation-oriented village development Moulds, T.A., Pham, D.S., Mouritz, R. (2010) planning process. Practical experience, challenges Preliminary Survey of Cave Fauna in the Phong and lessons learnt. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh (ed). Nha-Ke Bang World Heritage Site, Viet Nam. (2013) Livelihoods. Viet Nature (2013) Action plan Unpublished report to GTZ, May 2010, pp 34 for strengthening forest law enforcement and Golovatch S, Geoffroy JJ & Vandenspiegel D. (2013) wildlife management in Phong Nha-Ke Bang On several new species of the millipede family National Park Region and Quang Binh Province. Glomeridae from Viet Nam (Diplopoda : Wildlife Conservation Society (2013) Forest Law Glomerida). Arthropoda Selecta, 22(3): 201-206. Enforcement and Wildlife management status Clark, B. (2013) IUCN Conservation Outlook survey in PNKB Region and Quang Binh Province. Assessment, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park Korte, A at al. (2011) Buffer Zone Development Plan http://www.worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org. Accessed 2011-2020, visioning 2030. Hubner, A., Phong, L. T., IUCN Evaluation Report – April 2015 55 Viet Nam – Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park Chau, T. S. H. (2014) Good governance and tourism park is forested and 84% of this is primary forest. development in protected areas: The case of PNKB NP’s forest ecosystems, both karst and non- Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, central Viet karst, support a high diversity of plants and animals Nam. Koedoe, 56(2). including many karst specialist species, many endemic species, and a number of species that are globally d) Consultations: 19 desk reviews received. The threatened. mission also met with representatives from the PNKB NP Management Board (Directors and senior staff); The key features and attributes supporting criteria (ix) Quang Binh Peoples’ Committee; Vietnamese Border include the complex of submontane evergreen forest Army; British Cave Explorer Association; German KfW and tropical moist evergreen forest above 700m and Development Bank; Forest Inventory and Planning tropical rainforest associated with both limestone and Institute of Viet Nam; IUCN Viet Nam; TRAFFIC; and soil mountains. Perennial and ephemeral streams and the UNESCO National Committee Viet Nam. The a complex subsurface riverine system links surface to mission met with key staff from the property including underground ecosystems for dependant freshwater, ranger staff and staff from the Paradise Cave. bird, bat, invertebrate and fungi species. Cave dwelling Meetings were also held with private sector interests: habitats have yet to be fully identified and researched Oaxalis Company and Sun Spa Resort and with local though several species new to science have been community representatives. documented. The hydrological features, the soil habits and elevation provide a complex patchwork of riverine, e) Field Visit: Josephine Langley and Hag Young limestone forest and soil forest habitats and Heo, 11 to 18 August 2014 interactions. It is thought that there is a 30% overlap in species between the soil mountain habitats and f) Date of IUCN approval of this report: April 2015 limestone forests. Under criteria (x) the values proposed encompass 2. SUMMARY OF NATURAL VALUES endemism, globally threatened species and high levels of species richness for various taxonomic groups: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (PNKB NP) in vascular plants, mammals (primates, bats, small northern Central Viet Nam lies in the Quang Binh carnivores, rodents and fossil species), fish, birds, Province and borders Lao PDR in a roughly north- reptiles, and amphibians. A variety of arthropods have south axis. The renomination, if approved, would been observed but not fully inventoried such as extend the property from 85,754 ha to 123,326 ha and butterflies (20% of Viet Nam’s 270 species), would become contiguous on the western boundary dragonflies and spiders. New species of cave- with the Hin Namno Conservation Area in dependent species continue to be discovered during neighbouring Lao PDR. The legal recognition of the scientific studies. extension of the national park and its buffer zone arises from a Prime Ministerial Decision of July 2013. As noted in IUCN’s 2011 evaluation, PNKB NP is of particular importance for the conservation of primate The renomination also proposes an expansion of the species: of the 9 primate species that occur in the park buffer zone from 203,245 ha to 220,055 ha, which is (i.e. 43% of Viet Nam’s 21 primate species), 7 are outside the nominated property. The buffer zone globally threatened, and PNKB NP possibly has the consists of 13 communes that share their land largest protected viable populations of 3 of them boundaries with the existing and extension area. (Hatinh Langur (EN), Red-shanked Douc Langur (EN) According to the nomination the objectives and and Southern White-cheeked Gibbon (EN)). The other functions of the buffer zone are identified in the 2002 primate species are: Bengal Slow Loris (VU), Pygmy Investment Plan for PNKB NP and focus on reducing Slow Loris (VU), Stump-tailed Macaque (VU), Northern human impacts on the national park. Pig-tail Macaque (VU), Eastern Assamese Macaque and Rhesus Macaque. Other globally threatened The property was inscribed in 2003 for geological mammal species in PNKB NP include Owston's Civet values which recognise the limestone karst and (VU) and the property is home to 46 bat species (43% associated cave systems and features. Since of Viet Nam’s 107 bat species). inscription, additional caves have been surveyed and studied. For example, Son Doong cave discovered in Several larger carnivores and other large mammals 2009 is reported to contain the world’s largest cave historically found in the property have had no passage in terms of diameter and continuity, larger confirmed observations or documentation of presence than Mulu Caves World Heritage Site in Malaysia. In for many years (or decades in some cases); this addition, some of the new caves which have been includes tigers, leopards, elephants and bears.