Vietnam field notes: maps to protect critically endangered primates

The Van Long Nature Reserve is two hours south of the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi by car. A new highway runs along the east side of the reserve. From the highway, one can distinguish in the distance the craggy, almost vertical limestone mountains that make this region so distinctive.

Van Long is small, only about 2700-hectares, and is home to a critically endangered species of primate known as the Delacour’s langur. This species is only found in this northern region of Vietnam and lives in a unique habitat of limestone karst forest. Karst is a unique topography formed by the gradual dissolution of limestone. In Van Long, most of the karst mountains are covered in a dense vegetation of trees and smaller shrubs.

My colleague Kathrine Johnsen and I recently spent 10 days in Vietnam working on a project called “Protected Area Solutions”. The purpose of the project is to develop innovative spatial analysis and participatory mapping tools to support the management and planning of protected areas. We are now developing and testing solutions in Vietnam, which could eventually be replicated globally.

The Delacour’s langur is a small monkey with fur that is mostly black with patches of white. Its diet consists of foliage and they can grow over half a meter in length (excluding the tail). Although the number of langurs in Van Long has increased from approximately 45 individuals to 130 since 2000, its habitat is threatened and the long-term survival of the species depends on whether more of its habitat can be safeguarded.

Our local partners took us inside the Van Long Nature Reserve to a site where Delacour’s langurs where released a few years ago. These primates had GPS collars which allowed scientists to track and map their movements in the forest.

The langur’s limestone-rich environment attracts a lot of mining activity. If one looks at the Van Long landscape from space, the most visible direct threat to the primate and its habitat are cement factory quarries on the east side of the karst forests. New satellite imagery available every week shows how fast the karst peaks are being flattened by giant machinery. The scale of destruction was even more visible when we drove through the site. A layer of dust from the quarrying covers vegetation and houses close to the mines and we learned that many local people suffered from lung problems. A local expert explained that the noise from blasting in the quarries was another source of disturbance.

Quarries from the cement factories show up as white patches on the western edge of the Van Long karst forest landscape. Imagery: Sentinel 2 satellite picture from December 20th, 2017.

Quarrying activities from cement factories in Hà Nam, northwest of the established Van Long nature reserve.

Dust from the quarrying settles on vegetation and infrastructure around the quarries and cement factories.

The Van Long landscape stretches over three provinces but the nature reserve is only located in Ninh Bình, in the southern part of the karst forest. A feasibility study for the possible extension or establishment of a new nature reserve is planned in Hà Nam and will be carried out by Vietnam’s Forest Inventory and Planning Institute (FIPI). The possible extension would be in Hà Nam on the north and east sides, and in Hòa Bình on the west side to connect the Hà Nam region with the southern Nin Bình region. Much of the decision making regarding protected areas and zoning plans in Vietnam takes place at the provincial level and therefore their support is crucial for the extension of the protected area.

Map of three provincial boundaries. At this time, the Van Long nature reserve only covers karst forest and wetland areas in the Ninh Bình province. Extensions could be possible in Hòa Bình and Hà Nam.

In Vietnam, we used maps to interview local park managers and farmers living inside the Van Long nature reserve. The information gathered will help us evaluate what mapping support we can provide to this area.

During discussion with politicians from communes that overlap some of the possible extension areas in Hà Nam, we found that there were conflicting visions for the Van Long landscape. At the edge of the karst mountains in northern Hà Nam, a golf course and a tourist resort are under construction. There are also plans for scenic tourist road to cut across the Delacour Langur’s habitat from east to west in Hà Nam.

In Hòa Bình, almost exactly where the tips of the southern and northern karst forests meet – a crucial area connecting potential habitats – the ground was cleared and prepared for the relocation of 120 families from northern Vietnam forced to move because of the Sơn La Dam dam construction approximately 200 kilometers northwest of Van Long.

The resettlement area shown in the middle of the satellite photo was cleared for the relocation of 120 families from a hydropower site in northern Vietnam. It is located at a key point connecting karst forests in the south and north of the Van Long area.

Looking at zoning plans for the Liên Sơn commune in Hà Nam with local partners and politicians.

As a newcomer to this area, I thought its future looked rather bleak. But despite of the competing demands for space in and around the Van Long Nature Reserve, our local project partners remain optimistic. GRID-Arendal will work with spatial data such satellite imagery and zoning plans to create up-to-date maps of the area. We will also return to Van Long later in 2018 to conduct small participatory mapping workshops focusing on different future land-use scenarios for the Van Long landscape. These workshops will be an opportunity to collect more spatial data from local experts, guards and rangers and also people who live in and around the area.