Van Long straddles seven communes (local Government administrative units) and is in the heartland of the populated centre of north-eastern Vietnam, 85km south of the capitol, Hanoi. All the 45,000 or so people who live in these seven communes in the buffer zone of Van Long are of the Kinh ethnic Vietnamese majority.
Van Long itself covers some 3,000 hectares and comprises two major geographic features. Firstly, Van Long is a large wetland and freshwater system. Secondly, the canals, lakes and streams wend through an island-like landscape of karst limestone mountains that harbour the only viable population of the Delacour’s Langur – one of the world’s most critically endangered species of primate (with c. 240 to 250 individuals remaining, globally).
The Government recognition and local involvement have made species conservation a success and an ideal tourist attraction. Van Long NR has been one of the most successful examples in Vietnam of a unique conservation model between community-based tourism development and species and habitat conservation. The Van Long Nature Reserve Management Board and local authorities need to continue to work together, share benefits from tourism activities and reinvest in protection efforts in order to have better management of the wetland and karst ecosystem and its unique biodiversity.
The successful recovery of Delacour’s langur population in Van Long NR is a great story in itself. It has inspired other Protected Areas, as it provides an effective PA-based conservation approach. With good management and protection, as well as better law enforcement, introduced by the establishment of the Nature Reserve, the karst and wetland ecosystems in the area were well maintained and rehabilitated. In the last 20 years, the limestone forest cover has rapidly increased by up to 30%. While habitats improved, the number of wintering waterbirds has significantly increased, making Van Long an interesting birdwatching site that is attracting significant bird-watchers every year. Local communities have new livelihoods from eco-tourism. Being aware of the benefits from conservation of the NR, many of the local people now actively participate in conservation work, such as patrolling and environmental education activities.