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The Two-Horned Rhinoceros – One of Vietnam’s Rare and Endangered Species |
Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the United Nations Development Programme announced that, according to research conducted by biologists, from 1996 to the present, Vietnam has 152 species of animals and plants that are at risk of extinction. Notably, these include the two-horned rhinoceros, the Sumatran orangutan, the otter, the spotted deer, the native carp, and the Indochinese crocodile, which are nearly extinct in the wild, with only a few individuals remaining.
One of the causes of this alarming situation is environmental pollution, deforestation, and an increasing severity of forest fires.
Currently, the country has 126 nature reserves, covering a total area of over 2.5 million hectares, including landscape protection forests, national parks, species and habitat reserves, and nature reserves, which is an increase of 28% in area compared to before Vietnam joined the International Convention on Biological Diversity in 1994.
However, according to environmental experts, although the investment rate for biodiversity conservation projects in Vietnam accounts for 20-30% of the funding in the environmental sector each year, the quality of conservation remains low.
To prevent the decline of biodiversity, especially to protect rare animal and plant species from the risk of extinction, it is essential to have strong regulatory agencies in the reserves to innovate management methods and maintain the core characteristics of biodiversity conservation areas.
