Cat Tien National Park - the unique ‘Amazon’ of Vietnam: Must make full use of the multi-use value

According to the Management Board of Cat Tien National Park, not only having spectacular scenery, Cat Tien National Park is also located in the transitional area of mountainous and plain climate, thus explaining its unique characteristics. Along with the terrain surrounded by rivers and streams, the old forest has been kept intact and has become the gathering place for most types of forests in the Southern Delta. This is the primeval forest representing the lowland tropical moist forest ecosystem.

Statistics from 2016 to 2020 show that Cat Tien National Park attracts millions of visitors every year, many of which are foreigners. The number of tourists increases by an average of 15% annually. After 2 years of slowing down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the national park is now open and the number of tourists to the park has reached the numbers before the pandemic.

“Despite being considered one of the national parks with good development of ecotourism activities, there are many weaknesses in ecotourism such as the low average expenditure of tourists, the impact of tourists on the environment, not creating many jobs and benefits for the surrounding local community, few sources of socialization investment in tourism development," said Mr. Pham Van Thinh, Director of Cat Tien National Park.

In order to bring into full play the multi-use value of forests, the Management Board of Cat Tien National Park has recently reached an agreement to sponsor the implementation of the project “Conservation and development of biodiversity resources of forest ecosystems in Cat Tien National Park” with the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO). The total budget is nearly USD 1.3 million, and this program is funded by the Government of South Korea.

The project will be implemented in the 2021 - 2025 period to improve the conservation and development of biodiversity resources and forest ecosystems in Cat Tien National Park in association with improving sustainable livelihoods for communities in the buffer zone.

To be more specific, the project will carry out activities with the following objectives: Improving knowledge, sharing information about the biodiversity value of forest ecosystems of Cat Tien National Park for managers and policymakers in localities; Assessing the impacts of climate change and society on the biodiversity of Cat Tien National Park, thereby proposing integrated management measures; Improve conservation management capacity and involve local communities in forest management and protection; Testing sustainable livelihood improvement models for people living in the buffer zone.

Sharing at the high-level seminar on sustainable orientations and financial solutions for NPs and protected areas hosted by Cat Tien National Park, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said, “We are implementing the government's scheme to promote multi-use values from forests. There will be seminars, activities and institutional adjustments that will allow more open doors for the forest, allowing more integration of multi-values. In order to accomplish the set objectives, we must improve the capacity of forest governance at the national level, better the management of the forestry sector as well as the national parks and nature reserves. Once we are up to the task of implementing the scheme, we can actively approach and call for resources from society and nature conservation funds worldwide to contribute to the development of national parks and nature reserves in the direction of multi-use”.

Vietnam's forest resources are extremely rich and unique, all of which bring new values, and new values create new vitality. Through the recent high-level seminar on sustainable financial orientations and solutions, It can be seen that national parks and nature reserves have timely grasped the views of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, gradually self-adjusting and approaching new mindset. At the same time, financial solutions have been proactively mobilized and applied to contribute to the development of national parks and protected areas, including Cat Tien National Park in a sustainable way.