Chapter 60 - Hang Son Doong and other caves of the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng karst, Quảng Bình Province, Vietnam

Threatened tree species across conservation zones in a nature reserve of North-Western Vietnam

Research highlights in study area, there are various small-scale landslide points occurred and located surround from major landslide point with already 42 field-investigated points. The core zone of study area has the gravity displacement coefficient (Kg) by 0.0006, the buffer zone has Kg by 0.0033, all of them are weak and relative stable. The core zone of the National Park has more than 60 landslide points with total area of 81.19 hectares, and total landslide soil volume is over 2.6 mil m3. The largest landslide volume in study area is about 2.4 mil m3, with added 14 large-scale lanslide volume from 1,000 to 65,000 m3. In particular, a number of slopes occurred consecutively during flood seasons in years of 2020 - 2021. Landslide activities strongly affecting the integrity and aesthetic value of Phong Nha – Ke Bang (PNKB) National Park with calculation results, for the largest landside point during rainny season in October, 2020, show that the sliding soil blocks have displaced more than 130 m, with low factor of safety (FS) by 0.32 and the total sliding soil volume is 2.1 million m3, also consistent with field monitoring data and analysis of remote sensing images (2.4 mil m3).

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.

In Asian Region, quite a few, only five countries had introduced National Parks and protected areas system before World War II including Japan, whose first National Parks, Kirishima, Setonaikai and Unzen were designated on March 16th 1934 as the first National Parks in Asian Region as well. Indonesia followed with the designation of Berbak National Park (Sumatra) in 1935, then India’s Corbett National Park (Uttar Pradesh) in 1936, Sri Lanka’s Ruhuna and Wilpattu National Parks in 1938, and Malaysia’s world famous Taman Negara National Park in 1939. These were all 14-18 years prior to gaining independent state-hold from former suzerain states of the Netherlands or the United Kingdom. The National Parks Act, enforced in 1933, prescribed that the Director of the Forestry Service would be appointed to the authority of National Parks management in the Philippines, and the Government of Japan nominally designated National Parks in Taiwan prior to and during the period of World War II, however according to the present official records the Philippines established five Natural (not National) Parks in 1996-97 and Taiwan designated its first park, Kenting National Park, in 1982 followed by its second park, Yushan National Park, in 1985. In terms of the first designation/establishment of National Parks, South-East Asian (ASEAN) countries can be divided into four groups excluding Singapore as a city-state: i.e. 1) prior to World War II; Indonesia and Malaysia, 2) in response to the 1st World Conference on National Parks in 1962; Thailand and Vietnam, 3) in response to the global trends of environmental issues during 1980s; Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines, and 4) still no designation/establishment; Lao PDR, with the exception of National Biodiversity Conservation Areas in response to the World Summit in Rio de Janeiro. In relation to the ASEAN member countries with their earliest designation/establishment of National Parks and protected areas, this article attempts to analyze mainly the present state and perspectives on National Parks and protected areas in this particular sub-region, putting special emphasis on tropical natural and remaining forests using data on natural forest areas from 1995, and annual deforestation rates from 1981-1990 and from 1990-1995 by IUCN, among others. Deforestation has continued steadily within ASEAN countries, except in Thailand. There might exist correlations among National Parks areas and all categories of Protected Areas in ASEAN countries. It should be pointed out that Thailand has remarkably high percentages of both National Parks area per natural forest area (47%), and of all categories of Protected Areas per natural forest area (76%). Particular emphasis on international cooperation should be considered and assistance should be given to Lao PDR and Myanmar (in quantity; establishment of protected areas), and Cambodia & Vietnam (in quality; management of protected areas).

Throughout this century, an unprecedented decline in biodiversity loss has been witnessed worldwide. Animal habitats have been increasingly encroached upon, transforming into urban landscapes and imperilling numerous wildlife. Therefore, preserving natural habitats is essential for maintaining critical feeding, breeding, and nesting grounds to curb species extinction. This has resulted in allocating land for environmental protection, such as buffer zones and national parks designated as protected areas. However, as climate change becomes a constant factor leading to changes in rainfall patterns, water sources that feed into protected areas and buffer zones are declining. Rivers that once fed into forest ecosystems are now the primary source of hydropower and irrigation projects. This shift raises concerns about the repercussions of water scarcity in natural habitats and the impact on the coexistence of humans and wildlife.To investigate the impact of water scarcity on natural habitats and human-wildlife coexistence, we utilize an agent-based model to investigate the interplay between water availability and coexistence within a buffer zone. Our study draws from empirical data gathered at Bardia National Park (BNP) and its buffer zone in Nepal. Covering an area of 968 sq km, the National Park houses 125 tigers and is complemented by a 507 sq km buffer zone. The buffer zone is distributed into 19 districts with a human population 116,000 living alongside the national park. A large portion of this population consists of farmers. The Karnali and Babai River, a pivotal water source for wildlife and surrounding communities, is a natural boundary between animals and local populations.The agent-based model illustrates the intricate temporal and spatial interactions between agents—tigers, rivers, and communities—mapping their migration patterns in response to fluctuating water levels resulting from altered rainfall patterns. This model is instrumental in:including a diversity of agents with specific characteristics and attributes, estimating long-term consequences of local interactions and behaviours, establishing emergent properties (such as territories and conflict) that arise from water scarcity and co-creating integrated water management approaches for increasing water availability for communities and animals.  Over the past decade, both rivers have experienced a decline in water discharge, resulting in a dried riverbed dissolving the natural barrier between humans and wildlife.  Declining rainfall has led to dwindling water sources for irrigation, forcing farmers to look for alternative sources of sustenance. People venture into forests for fodder and natural reeds; meanwhile, lack of water forces wildlife into communities for prey and water. Prey march into grazing fields inside communities, and tigers follow their prey. As the water availability changes, the tigers shift their territories, often venturing into farms.Increasing overlapping of territories over a shared space and resource increases human-wildlife conflicts. The river acts not merely as a boundary but as a vital resource that maintains a spatial equilibrium, keeping these two species in their spaces bound and preventing conflict. Our research addresses the following question: How to analyze the impact of water availability on human-wildlife coexistence effectively? 

Wildlife response to management regime and habitat loss in the Terai Arc Landscape of Nepal

Vegetation trends in a protected area of the Brazilian Atlantic forest

/ This review will trace the evolution of beyond boundary/buffer zone thinking and policy responses in the US National Park Service (NPS); address buffer zone science, benefits, and limitations; examine pertinent legal and social concerns; highlight some agency attempts to create buffer zone-like areas; and propose highlights of a protected area strategy, with buffer zones and corridors as one component. Some findings follow. The need to expand national parks to accommodate large ungulate movement began in the late 1800s, but the recognition that such land was also needed to thwart human impacts such as poaching surfaced in the 1930s. External park buffer zone recommendations by 1930s park scientists were not implemented, and other related adopted policy forgotten, supporting the belief that great insight can be discovered in forgotten institutional history. Buffer zones can remedy some impacts but not others, but their benefits are multiple and underappreciated. The science of buffer zones is very immature and deserves more attention. A present primary obstacle to creating park buffer zones and connecting corridors is a social climate opposing federal initiatives that may intrude on the rights of private landowners. Some proactive NPS bufferlike activity examples are reviewed, but there were none where permanent, complete, effective nonlegislated park buffer zones, derived from nonfederal property, circumscribed large natural area parks. The need for buffer zones and corridors may be a symptom of inadequate regional planning. Options to create buffer zones from private and federal land are outlined. A comprehensive, overall protected area strategy must include more than just buffer zones, with highlights provided. Because optimal regional planning for US national parks is now thwarted by land-use politics, American society must soon decide what is most crucial to future well-being. KEY WORDS: Buffer zone; Reserve; Boundary; Policy; Planning

The collection Syrphid Flies (Diptera, Syrphidae) is stored in the Podilski Tovtry National Nature Park, has more than 3,500 specimens and is replenished with new specimens every year. From 2019 to 2021 the collection is supplemented by 349 specimens. The annotated list of Syrphid Flies in the collection includes 183 species. It is based on the meeting of 2005-2013. Out of more than 3,500,000 specimens, 1,753 were collected on the territory of the Podilski Tovtry National Park. A feature of the national park is its location in one of the most densely populated regions of Ukraine. At the same time, the national park combines unique natural landscapes and anthropogenically transformed areas, which are mainly involved in agriculture. Collections of Syrphid Flies are carried out according to the standard method of entomological net in the main types of biotopes of the national nature park - forest habitats and edges, meadow-steppe habitats and shrub xerothermic areas, mesophytic meadows, cultivated biotopes. As of 2012, the list of Syrphid Flies of the Podilski Tovtry National Nature Park included 109 species from 28 genera. An updated Checklist of hover flies (Diptera, Syrphidae) for the «Podilski Tovtry» national nature park since 2012 is provided. At the end of 2021 the fauna of hover flies has 125 species from 41 genera. The most diverse in species composition are the genera Cheilosia – 29 species; Eristalis – 10 species; Eupeodes – 7 species; Chrysotoxum – 7 species, other genera include only up to 5 species. For the first time since 2012, 16 species have been identified for the Park: Brachypalpus laphriformis (Fallen, 1816); Ceriana conopsoides Linnaeus, 1758; Chalcosyrphus nemorum (Fabricius, 1805); Cheilosia urbana (Meigen), 1822; Cheilosia semifasciata Becker, 1894; Cheilosia vicina (Zetterstedt), 1849; Chrysotoxum verralli (Collin), 1940; Epistrophe ochrostoma (Zetterstedt), 1849; Meliscaeva cinctella (Zetterstedt), 1843; Merodon analis Meigen, 1822; Microdon analysis (Maquart, 1842); Pipiza lugubris Fabricius, 1775; Pipizella vidiata (Linnaeus), 1758; Platycheirus ambiguus (Fallen), 1817; Spilomyia saltuum (Fabricius), 1794; Temnostoma bombylans (Fabricius), 1805; Temnostoma meridionale Krivosheina & Mamayev, 1962 (RedBook, 2021); Volucella inflata (Fabricius, 1775); Xanthogramma stackelbergi Violovitsh, 1975. One of the identified species is listed in the RedBook Ukraine (2009/2021) – Temnostoma meridionale Krivosheina & Mamayev, 1962.

Assessment of wood provisioning in protected subtropical forest areas for sustainable management beyond the zone

The centipede species Scolopendra pinguis Pocock, 1891 is recorded from Vietnam (Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh Province) for the first time. The collected specimens are described and illustrated. An updated map of S. pinguis distribution in Southeast Asia is also proved.

Globally, Miombo woodlands store important quantities of carbon, with tree cover and carbon stocks strongly determined by human use. We assessed woodland cover and aboveground carbon (AGC) stocks of miombo along a utilisation gradient on three different land use types, that is, a national park, a buffer zone and a communal area. Woodland cover and carbon stock changes were assessed through mapping of AGC between 2007 and 2017 using Phased Array L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar observations (ALOS-PALSAR 1 and 2). Woodland cover was higher in the national park and the buffer zone than in the communal area for both 2007 and 2017. In 2007, mean AGC stock was not significantly different (p = 0.05) across all three land use types. However, in 2017, mean AGC was significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the buffer zone and communal area than in the national park. In all three land use types, Miombo woodland cover and mean AGC gains outweighed losses over the 10-year period. AGC gains were significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the national park than in both the buffer zone and the communal area. Results of the study indicate that woodland cover and aboveground carbon increased in all three land use types despite the observed human disturbance over the study period. Both variables recorded a lower increase with elevated utilisation. The study concluded that sustainable resource utilisation is possible without loss of such ecosystem services as carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation.

Living on the edge – The predicted impact of renewed hunting on moose in national parks in Poland

The Makalu-Barun National Park (MBNP) and its Buffer Zone (BZ) of eqastern Nepal shares is borders with Sagarmatha National Park on the west and with the Qomolongma Natural Preserve of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China on the North. The Park is rich in cultural diversity with many ethnic groups. Most of the households are economically poor and depend on subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry and diverse natural resources for livelihoods. Slash and burn cultivation on steep slopes, poaching, hunting, over grazing, high dependency on natural resources, poverty and food deficits are the main threats to biodiversity in MBNP and BZ area. The MBNP was established in 1991 while its BZ was declared in 1998. the basic underlying approach of protection and management of the Park and its BZ is biodiversity conservation through people participation, without relying on military force.&#x0D; &#x0D; This paper highlights the implementation of the biodiversity conservation and management approaches through people participation in the MBNP and its BZ, and also explores notable achievements and effectiveness of partnership of the Government of Nepal, the Mountain Institute (TMI) – an INGO and the local communities to sustain conservation efforts as well as to improve local livelihoods.&#x0D; &#x0D; Key words: Biodiversity; National Park; Buffer Zone; participation; culture; linkages&#x0D; &#x0D; Banko Janakari Vol.16(2) 2006 pp.37-44

State making through conservation: The case of post-conflict Nepal