Tiger preservation areas to be formed in Highlands

Five tiger conservation areas will be established in Central Highland provinces under a national programme to preserve and develop the country's tiger population.

The development of tiger conservation areas is a first step in a national programme according to Hoang Thanh Nhan, an official from the Biodiversification Conservation Department, Vietnam Environment Agency (NEA).

The programme designed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in co-operation with foreign experts was in response to the Global Tiger Initiative launched by the World Bank to protect the Asian tiger from extinction by 2020.

The five areas will be established in the Central Highlands provinces of Dac Lac, Dac Nong, Bu Gia Map National Park in Binh Phuoc, Chu Mon Ray National Park in Kon Tum, Song Thanh Natural Conservation in Quang Nam.

Yor Don National Park in Dac Lac would be a key area in tiger conservation programme which will be developed in close co-ordination between forest protection staff, border police and non-government organisations.

When the conservation areas are put into operation, qualified staff and facilities will undertake protection, supervision and management work, Nhan said at a consultant national programme tiger conservation seminar held recently in Hanoi.

Wild tigers in Vietnam have sharply declined in number over the past few decades and face the risk of extinction within the next ten years, said experts at the seminar.

Although Vietnam is one of 13 countries worldwide that host wild tiger populations, the country has less than 50 wild tigers that are in serious danger of extinction, according to Nguyen The Dong, the NEA's vice chairman.

In Vietnam, tigers have habitually lived along the border between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, in the central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Central Highland provinces and the southern province of Binh Phuoc.

However, the tiger population numbered a handful in many of these areas, with some districts only possessing paper records of tiger numbers backed by little evidence of real tiger populations, he said.

Nguyen Manh Hiep from the NEA's Nature Conservation Department suggested the establishment of a dedicated wild-life border patrol because wild tiger populations were not confined to just Vietnam but regularly crossed borders.

Wild tigers in Vietnam are under threat from activities such as hunting and deforestation that had led to a loss in habitat and food sources, he said.

Hiep added that another reason for the decline was Vietnamese and Asian people hunting tigers for their body parts in the manufacturing of supposed medicine. People also believe that tiger teeth help them avoid bad luck.