Abstract
In the various protected areas such as nature reserves and national parks in Vietnam, ranger patrols are crucial for protecting forest resources against the increasing threats from fringe communities. Previous studies have investigated ranger patrol efforts (RPEs) in conservation areas using conventional measures in terms of illegal activities encountered, but there has been little research into indices related to RPEs in the field, both worldwide and particularly in Vietnam. This paper explores various indices of RPEs and other aspects of forest patrolling at a local level. The number of rangers and patrol-days strongly influences the distance walked and the number of patrol-hours. However, neither the rainy season nor the Lunar New Year festival had any significant effect on patrol efforts, nor was there any effect on the relative altitude covered or the speed of patrolling during the long Lunar New Year vacation. Management responsible for protecting forest areas needs to consider the full scope of rangers’ efforts and identify the qualities of motivated staff. Our findings suggested ways in which rangers’ capacity to promote conservation may be assessed in the future.
Highlights
IntroductionIn many protected areas (PAs) in tropical forests, biodiversity loss and forest depletion are a consequence of the illegal use of resources because of social demand [1,2,3]
There were several patrols along tracks through each sub-area forest plot which were conducted on foot by rangers (Figure 1)
This could be expected that there would be better patrol performance, since as the number of rangers increases, they can patrol over longer distances [31]
Summary
In many protected areas (PAs) in tropical forests, biodiversity loss and forest depletion are a consequence of the illegal use of resources because of social demand [1,2,3]. As other researchers have reported, timber harvesting, poaching, non-timber forest production harvesting and agricultural encroachment are the main threats to biodiversity conservation [4,5] causing significant declines in forest resources and diversity [2]. There is emphasis on the balance between conservation management in Pas and human requirements, and the importance of understanding how different activities impact forest protection [6,7]. People continue to pursue their economic goals despite human impact endangering the system [5,8], and adversely affecting protected areas [9]
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