 |
The Northern Pig-tailed Macaque, one of the rare animal species found in Ba Bể National Park. Photo: thiennhien.org |
In the past five years, Ba Bể National Park (Bac Kan) has increasingly been affected by human activities, putting the park’s ecosystem at risk of disruption and threatening many valuable forest products.
The primary cause of this situation is the growing population in the reservoir area, the increasing pressure from fishing activities and the search for forest products, particularly the rapid rise in the number of tourists visiting the park each year.
Currently, the park is home to over 450 households with more than 2,800 residents. In addition to daily living activities, the local residents operate nearly 100 motorboats continuously transporting tourists, significantly impacting the park’s natural ecological conditions.
Since 2002, Bac Kan province has invested over 46 billion VND to build a resettlement area linked with eco-tourism development and to facilitate the relocation of residents to new homes. However, the resettlement efforts face many challenges, primarily because residents prefer to stay within the “core” area of the park to “exploit” the valuable natural forest products.
Ba Bể National Park, located about 40 km from Bac Kan town, spans over 10,000 hectares. The park is home to 1,280 plant species belonging to nearly 140 families, including 25 species listed in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and many rare plant species listed in Vietnam’s Red Book.
The animal diversity here is also rich and varied, with over 600 species from 27 orders, including 66 rare and endemic species, many of which are listed in the World and Vietnam Red Books, such as the Great Argus, pheasants, and the Northern Pig-tailed Macaque.
At the end of 2004, Ba Bể National Park, along with three other national parks in Vietnam—Hoang Lien in Lao Cai, Chu Mom Ray in Kon Tum, and Kon Ka Kinh in Gia Lai—was recognized as an ASEAN Heritage Park.
