International specialists highly appreciated the fauna - flora system of the Cat Tien National Park, but due to Vietnam’s sketchy preparation of the park profile, they asked Vietnam to complete the file or prepare a new file.
IUCN experts in the field survey at Cat Tien National Park.
After a week-long field trip, experts of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) took the preliminary assessments of the Cat Tien National Park.
Impressed with Cat Tien
The one-week field trip to evaluate the values of Cat Tien National Park, with a "mountain" of assignments did not make experts tired. On the contrary, they appeared to be quite interesting.
Dr. Tobias Garstecki, IUCN expert, said he saw large mammals, the rich fauna and flora systems, and especially many highly endangered species in the world, in the Cat Tien National Park. Many different areas with different characteristics make a colorful Cat Tien National Park, with tropical ecosystems and wetlands and flooded areas.
In recent years, Russian experts and his colleagues at the Cat Tien National Park have discovered more than 20 new species of reptiles, which show the diversity and potential of Cat Tien. "The Cat Tien National Park is really rich and abundant," Dr. Tobias assessed.
Another good impression of Cat Tien is its integrity, which is not affected much by outside influences.
"We saw quite a lot of animals in the core zone and buffer zone. There were no hunting signs, suggesting that Vietnam has managed the park very well," Dr. Tobias added.
Mr. Tran Van Mui, Director of the Dong Nai Culture – Nature Conservation Zone, said that to get this result, the Government of Vietnam and international organizations have implemented numerous projects to protect the forest.
IUCN experts said that Vietnam's efforts in maintaining the status quo and avoiding outside impacts on the Cat Tien National Park is remarkable and it should be put into the nomination file.
Inconsistent data
IUCN experts did not hesitate to point out the "flaws" in the nomination documentation of Vietnam.
For example, the profile indicates a monitoring program of the key species in the park but international experts could not find out information about the monitoring program during their survey trip.
In addition, the file could not point out the comparison subjects to prove Cat Tien’s global highlights.
Experts suggested that Vietnam should compare Cat Tien to three or four sites which have been recognized as world natural heritages and three or four sites where have the same conditions and natural characteristics but not yet been recognized.
Even the area and the scope of nominations are also inconsistent in terms of data. The 8,000ha core zone of the nominated area is too little compared with the 37,000ha of the buffer zone, but the core zone and buffer zone are in the core zone of the Cat Tien National Park.
Dr. Tobias suggested expanding the nominated area to show the diversity of biological properties.
Therefore, IUCN experts suggested two solutions for Vietnam: Adding supplementary documents to the nomination file or withdrawing it to compile a new one. Dr. Tobias said that with the latter choice, Vietnam will have more time to prepare for a complete profile.
International experts are compiling a questionnaire on unclear issues (the area of the nominated zone, the process to monitor key species, comparison to highlight the global values, etc.) and will give it to Vietnam.
According to the expected roadmap, these questions must be answered by Vietnam and sent to IUCN in December 2012.
On January 31, 2013, IUCN will discuss the profile of the Cat Tien National Park and the results of the survey and the file will be submitted to UNESCO in June 2013.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s officials are busy
The questions about the nomination file of the Cat Tien National Park that were raised by IUCN experts have not been fully explained. Even the consultant firm for the compilation of the nomination file does not have clear explanations or convincing evidences.
Meanwhile, an important component need that needed to be involved in the evaluation trip - the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the agency in charge of the Cat Tien National Park, was absent in the field trip.
In the dispatch in response to the invitation of Dong Nai province to participate in the survey trip, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that its officials were busy so they could not join IUCN experts in the field trip.
Therefore, the Ministry assigned the director of the Cat Tien National Park to attend the trip. However, the current director of the Cat Tien National Park is the newly elected one so he could not know everything about the park.
vietnamnet
IUCN experts in the field survey at Cat Tien National Park.
After a week-long field trip, experts of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) took the preliminary assessments of the Cat Tien National Park.
Impressed with Cat Tien
The one-week field trip to evaluate the values of Cat Tien National Park, with a "mountain" of assignments did not make experts tired. On the contrary, they appeared to be quite interesting.
Dr. Tobias Garstecki, IUCN expert, said he saw large mammals, the rich fauna and flora systems, and especially many highly endangered species in the world, in the Cat Tien National Park. Many different areas with different characteristics make a colorful Cat Tien National Park, with tropical ecosystems and wetlands and flooded areas.
In recent years, Russian experts and his colleagues at the Cat Tien National Park have discovered more than 20 new species of reptiles, which show the diversity and potential of Cat Tien. "The Cat Tien National Park is really rich and abundant," Dr. Tobias assessed.
Another good impression of Cat Tien is its integrity, which is not affected much by outside influences.
"We saw quite a lot of animals in the core zone and buffer zone. There were no hunting signs, suggesting that Vietnam has managed the park very well," Dr. Tobias added.
Mr. Tran Van Mui, Director of the Dong Nai Culture – Nature Conservation Zone, said that to get this result, the Government of Vietnam and international organizations have implemented numerous projects to protect the forest.
IUCN experts said that Vietnam's efforts in maintaining the status quo and avoiding outside impacts on the Cat Tien National Park is remarkable and it should be put into the nomination file.
Inconsistent data
IUCN experts did not hesitate to point out the "flaws" in the nomination documentation of Vietnam.
For example, the profile indicates a monitoring program of the key species in the park but international experts could not find out information about the monitoring program during their survey trip.
In addition, the file could not point out the comparison subjects to prove Cat Tien’s global highlights.
Experts suggested that Vietnam should compare Cat Tien to three or four sites which have been recognized as world natural heritages and three or four sites where have the same conditions and natural characteristics but not yet been recognized.
Even the area and the scope of nominations are also inconsistent in terms of data. The 8,000ha core zone of the nominated area is too little compared with the 37,000ha of the buffer zone, but the core zone and buffer zone are in the core zone of the Cat Tien National Park.
Dr. Tobias suggested expanding the nominated area to show the diversity of biological properties.
Therefore, IUCN experts suggested two solutions for Vietnam: Adding supplementary documents to the nomination file or withdrawing it to compile a new one. Dr. Tobias said that with the latter choice, Vietnam will have more time to prepare for a complete profile.
International experts are compiling a questionnaire on unclear issues (the area of the nominated zone, the process to monitor key species, comparison to highlight the global values, etc.) and will give it to Vietnam.
According to the expected roadmap, these questions must be answered by Vietnam and sent to IUCN in December 2012.
On January 31, 2013, IUCN will discuss the profile of the Cat Tien National Park and the results of the survey and the file will be submitted to UNESCO in June 2013.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s officials are busy
The questions about the nomination file of the Cat Tien National Park that were raised by IUCN experts have not been fully explained. Even the consultant firm for the compilation of the nomination file does not have clear explanations or convincing evidences.
Meanwhile, an important component need that needed to be involved in the evaluation trip - the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the agency in charge of the Cat Tien National Park, was absent in the field trip.
In the dispatch in response to the invitation of Dong Nai province to participate in the survey trip, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that its officials were busy so they could not join IUCN experts in the field trip.
Therefore, the Ministry assigned the director of the Cat Tien National Park to attend the trip. However, the current director of the Cat Tien National Park is the newly elected one so he could not know everything about the park.
vietnamnet
