The illegal wildlife and timber trade network around Chu Yang Sin Nation Park, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam
Vườn quốc gia Chu Yang Sin cách trung tâm thành phố buôn Ma Thuột khoảng 60 km. Đây là khu vực có giá trị bảo tồn mang tầm quốc tế về các loài và sinh cảnh rừng. Vườn quốc gia có diện tích 58.947ha, phần lớn là rừng lá rộng thường xanh trên núi cao và núi trung bình.
BirdLife International Vietnam Programme
with financial support from the
World Bank Global Environment Fund
The illegal wildlife and timber trade network around Chu
Yang Sin National Park, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam
Conservation Report
Number 34
Hanoi, 2008
The illegal wildlife and timber trade network around Chu Yang Sin National Park, Dak
Lak Province, Vietnam
Le Trong Trai
(BirdLife International Vietnam Programme)
Simon Mahood
(BirdLife International Vietnam Programme)
With contributions from:
John Pilgrim
Funded by the World Bank Global Environment Fund
Hanoi, 2008
2
Project Coordinators
Pham Tuan Anh and Jonathan C. Eames
Project Funding
World Bank Global Environment Fund (GEF-MSP Grant No. TF053039).
Cover Photo
Dried Black-shanked Douc Pygathrix nigripes confiscated by CYSNP rangers. Chu Yang Sin
National Park.
Survey Team
Le Trong Trai (BirdLife International Vietnam Programme), Luong Huu Thanh (Chu Yang
Sin National Park), and Mai Duc Vinh (IWBM Project Officer)
ISBN 978-0-946888-61-0
Citation
Le Trong Trai and Mahood, S. P. (2008). The illegal wildlife and timber trade network around
Chu Yang Sin National Park, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam. BirdLife International Vietnam
Programme, Hanoi, Vietnam
Copies available from:
BirdLife International Vietnam Programme
N6/2+3, Lane 25, Lang Ha Street
Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel/Fax: + (84) 4 5148921
E-mail: [email protected]
© BirdLife International, June 2008
3
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................7
Executive Summary in Vietnamese.............................................................................................8
1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................10
1.1 Conservation in Vietnam .................................................................................................10
1.2 The Da Lat Plateau Endemic Bird Area ..........................................................................11
1.3 Chu Yang Sin National Park ...........................................................................................11
1.4 The IWBM project...........................................................................................................13
1.5 Purpose of investigation ..................................................................................................13
2. Investigation methodology ....................................................................................................14
3. The wildlife trade at Chu Yang Sin National Park................................................................18
3.1 Structure of the wildlife trade network............................................................................18
3.2 Wildlife products and their use........................................................................................20
3.2.1 Wildlife meat ............................................................................................................20
3.2.3 Wildlife as trophies and status symbols ...................................................................23
3.3 The economic value of wildlife products ........................................................................23
4. Stakeholders in the wildlife trade ..........................................................................................25
4.1 Hunters ............................................................................................................................25
4.1.1 Full-time hunters ......................................................................................................25
4.1.2 Part-time hunters ......................................................................................................26
4.1.3 Opportunistic hunters ...............................................................................................26
4.2 Traders .............................................................................................................................28
4.2.1 Small-scale traders....................................................................................................28
4.2.2 Large-scale traders....................................................................................................29
4.2.3 Restaurateurs ............................................................................................................30
4.2.4 Cao (Medicinal alcohol) producers ..........................................................................31
5. Methods of hunting and trading.............................................................................................31
5.1 Hunting and trapping equipment .....................................................................................31
5.1.1 Traps .........................................................................................................................31
5.1.2 Guns..........................................................................................................................32
5.2 Timing of hunting and trapping.......................................................................................32
5.3 Spatial distribution of hunting and trapping ....................................................................33
5.4 Processing of hunted wildlife ..........................................................................................34
5.5 Transportation of hunted wildlife ....................................................................................34
6. Illegal logging and the timber trade.......................................................................................35
6.1 The timber trade network ................................................................................................35
6.2 Timber products and their economic value .....................................................................35
6.3 Stakeholders in the timber trade ......................................................................................36
6.3.1 Loggers .....................................................................................................................37
6.3.2 Small-scale traders....................................................................................................37
6.3.3 Large-scale traders....................................................................................................37
6.4 Spatial distribution of illegal logging activities...............................................................38
6.4.1 Illegal logging inside CYSNP core zone..................................................................38
6.4.2 Illegal logging in the buffer zone of CYSNP ...........................................................39
6.4.3 Illegal logging in State Forest Enterprises and Lak Lake Landscape Protection Area
...........................................................................................................................................39
4
7. Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) ..................................................................................39
7.1 Medicinal plants ..............................................................................................................39
7.2 Rattan...............................................................................................................................40
8. Impacts of the wildlife and timber trade on the integrity of CYSNP ....................................40
8.1 Effects of the wildlife trade on the biodiversity of CYSNP ............................................40
8.2 Effects of the illegal timber trade on Chu Yang Sin........................................................42
9. Evaluation of mitigation of the wildlife and timber trade by CYSNP ..................................43
9.1 Current mitigation activities ............................................................................................43
9.1.1 Direct law enforcement ............................................................................................43
9.1.2 Joint patrols ..............................................................................................................44
9.1.3 Awareness-raising among local communities ..........................................................44
9.1.4 Forest protection contracts .......................................................................................44
9.2 Factors limiting the effectiveness of actions of CYSNP to reduce the illegal wildlife and
timber trade............................................................................................................................45
9.3. Recommended activities for reduction of wildlife exploitation and trade .........................46
9.3.1 Activities for district and provincial level staff ........................................................46
9.3.2 Activities for CYSNP staff .......................................................................................46
10. References ...........................................................................................................................51
Appendix 1. Stakeholders in wildlife and timber exploitation and trade in the buffer zone of
CYSNP. .....................................................................................................................................54
Appendix 2. Species recorded in the wildlife trade during the survey......................................57
List of Tables
Table 1: Number of people interviewed in the CYSNP buffer zone during the survey period
Table 2: Prices for living animals, their meat and parts in early 2007 in Buon Me Thuot, based
on perceptions of traders in the buffer zone of CYSNP
Table 3: Summary of stakeholders in the wildlife trade
Table 4: Prices of selected timber products at the time of the survey
Table 5: Threatened and protected species recorded in the wildlife trade during the survey
Table 6: Activities recommended for the reduction of wildlife exploitation and trade
List of Maps
Map 1: Location of the towns and villages close to CYSNP mentioned in this report
Map 2. Hunting activity in Chu Yang Sin National Park
List of Figures
Figure 1. The illegal wildlife trade network in the CYSNP area
Figure 2. The abundance of wild meats in restaurants in the buffer zone of CYSNP during the
survey
5
Acknowledgements
This report has been produced as a result of work funded by the World Bank Global
Environment Fund (GEF-MSP Grant No. TF053039) as part of a project entitled: Integrating
Watershed and Biodiversity Management at Chu Yang Sin National Park, Dak Lak Province.
The authors would like to thank Luong Vinh Linh, Director of Chu Yang Sin National Park
and Mr Duong Thanh Tuong, Vice-Chairman, Provincial PPC for their valuable contributions
to this report in terms of permissions for the survey team and support to the project. The
authors would like to thank Nina Ksor as well as the rest of the project staff at Chu Yang Sin
National Park for providing logistical support during the fieldwork for the report. Finally, the
authors wish to thank John Pilgrim for his comments on a draft copy of this report.
6
Conventions Used
Plant names, and species limits follow Tran Phoung Anh et al. (2007). Mammal names
(common) follow Duckworth and Pine (2003) and (scientific) IUCN (2007), sequence follow
Duckworth and Pine (2003) and species limits follow IUCN (2007), with scientific names
given in Appendix 2. Bird names (common and scientific), sequence and species limits follow
BirdLife International (2008), with scientific names given in Appendix 2. Reptile and
amphibian names, sequence and species limits follow Nguyen Van Sang and Ho Thu Cuc
(1996), with scientific names given in Appendix 2. Diacritical marks are omitted from
Vietnamese names due to typographical limitations and the restricted understanding of
international readers.
Glossary of Terms
Endemic Bird Area (EBA) refers to an area supporting at least two restricted-range bird
species. A restricted range bird species is one with a global breeding range of less than 50,000
km2. Globally threatened species refers to a species assigned a category of threat in the IUCN
Red Lists of Threatened Animals and Plants (IUCN 2007); the term excludes species listed as
Near Threatened or Data Deficient. Indochina refers to the biogeographic region of Cambodia,
Laos and Vietnam.
Abbreviations and Acronyms Used
CYSNP – Chu Yang Sin National Park
FPD – Forest Protection Department
MARD – Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
IWBM – Integrating Watershed and Biodiversity Management
EBA – Endemic Bird Area
CR – Critically Endangered
EN – Endangered
VU – Vulnerable
NT – Near Threatened
DD – Data Deficient
Executive Summary
Chu Yang Sin National Park, located 60km from Dak Lak’s provincial capital, Buon Me
Thuot, is of global importance for conservation due to the species and habitats it protects. The
National Park encompasses 58,947ha of broadleaf evergreen forest at middle and upper
altitudes. It supports all eight of the restricted-range species that define the Da Lat Plateau
Endemic Bird Area (EBA), including two globally Endangered species with worldwide ranges
confined to the Da Lat Plateau (Tordoff 2002). Due to its relatively remote setting, large size
and difficult topography, CYSNP still supports globally important populations of Black-
shanked Douc (Pygathrix nigripes) and Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon (Nomascus
gabriellae).
7
Unsustainable levels of hunting to supply the trade in wildlife, is playing a major role in the
extinction crisis and is perhaps the greatest threat to wildlife across the tropics (Robinson &
Bennett 2000; Bennett et al. 2002; Milner-Gulland et al. 2003). The rate and scale of illegal
exploitation of wildlife and timber has increased rapidly in Indochina in recent years, due to
increasing demand from an expanding rich middle class, facilitated by a rapidly modernizing
communication and transportation infrastructure throughout the region. Due to its location,
CYSNP has until recently, been exposed to relatively little hunting for commercial purposes
and no illegal logging. However, throughout the last decade, increasing immigration of Kinh
and H’Mong ethnic minority groups into the CYSNP area, has led to land shortages and
increased competition for resources with Ede and M’Nong indigenous ethnic minority groups.
In combination with the increase in demand, the presence of skilled hunters and many people
with little land and low income has resulted in the extension of the commercial wildlife trade
network to CYSNP.
An efficient wildlife and timber trade network is currently in place employing at least 500
people in the buffer zone of CYSNP, driven by the demand for wildlife and timber products in
often distant urban centres. There is at least one small-scale wildlife and timber trader in each
commune and village to whom local hunters rapidly sell animals and their parts. In turn, there
is one large-scale trader in each district, whom together with the owners of the largest wildlife
meat restaurants, buy from the small-scale traders and arrange the export of live animals and
their parts to elsewhere in the province and as far away as Ho Chi Minh City. As well as these
individuals, a significant number of other stakeholders currently make all or part of their
income from the transport or processing of illegal wildlife and timber. This is placing
considerable pressure on animal populations in the national park, for instance, each cao
(medicinal alcohol) maker in the buffer zone of CYSNP uses approximately 350 kg of
primates annually.
Despite a high level of awareness of the scale of the problem among the national park staff,
the rates of hunting and deforestation appear to be increasing. Several recommendations are
put forward in this report to reduce the illegal trade activities now threatening the biological
integrity of CYSNP. These include: improving law enforcement inside the park to combat
illegal hunting and logging, capacity building of key park staff, increased co-ordination with
other law enforcement agencies, and public awareness campaigns. For these measures to be
effective, district and provincial level law enforcement efforts must target the large-scale
traders and restaurant owners in an attempt to disrupt the trade network that is driving the
rapid loss of mammals and high-value timber from the national park.
Executive Summary in Vietnamese
Vườn quốc gia Chu Yang Sin cách trung tâm Thành Phố Buôn Ma Thuột khoảng 60 km. Đây
là khu vực có giá trị bảo tồn mang tầm quốc tế về các loài và sinh cảnh rừng. Vườn quốc gia
có diện tích 58.947 ha, phần lớn là rừng lá rộng thường xanh trên núi cao và núi trung bình.
Vườn quốc gia là một phần của Vùng Chim Đặc Hữu của Cao Nguyên Đà Lạt (EBA), có tới 8
loài là những loài có vùng phân bố hẹp, trong đó có hai loài đang bị đe doạ toàn cầu ở mức
Nguy cấp đã tìm thấy ở đây (Tordoff 2002). Hơn thế nữa, CYS với diện tích rừng rộng lớn,
địa hình phức tạp tại đây đang tồn tại những quần thể của hai loài linh trưởng có ý nghĩa bảo
8
tồn trên toàn cầu là Chà vá chân đen (Pygathrix nigripes) và Vượn má hung (Nomascus
gabriellae).
Mức độ săn bắn và buôn bán động vật hoang dã đang đóng vai trò quan trọng đến sự diệt
chủng và có lẽ là mối đe doạ lớn nhất đối với các loài động vật hoang dã trên phạm vi các
nước nhiệt đới (Robinson & Bennett 2000; Bennett et al. 2002; Milner-Gulland et al. 2003).
Trong những năm gần đây, mức độ và phạm vi khai thác bất hợp pháp động vật hoang dã và
gỗ đã tăng lên nhanh chóng ở Đông Dương, lý do là nhu cầu sử dụng gia tăng của lớp người
giàu có ngày càng nhiều, điều kiện thông tin liên lạc hiện đại cũng như cơ sở hạ tầng giao
thông thuận lợi trên toàn vùng. Hơn thể nữa Vườn Quốc Gia Chư Yang Sin mới được thành
lập, săn bắn với mục đích thương mại còn nhỏ lẻ và chưa thấy có hiện tượng khai thác gỗ bất
hợp pháp. Tuy nhiên trong suốt thập kỹ qua, sự di dân ồ ạt của người Kinh, người H’Mông tới
khu vực vùng đệm của VQGCYS, điều này đã dẫn đến sự thiếu hụt về đất đai cũng như cạnh
tranh về chia xẻ nguồn tài nguyên với hai nhóm người dân tộc bản địa là Ê Đê và M’Nông.
Thêm vào đó là tăng nhu cầu sử dụng, xuất hiện nhiều thợ săn giỏi/chuyên nghiệp và nhiều
người thiếu đất sản xuất, thu nhập thấp, tất cả điều đó là kết quả dẫn đến mạng lưới buôn bán
động vật hoang dã ở CYS ngày một mở rộng.
Hiện tại có khoảng 500 người trong vùng đệm của VQGCYS có liên quan đến mạng lưới buôn
bán động vật hoang dã và gỗ, để đáp ứng nhu cầu về sản phẩm gỗ và động vật hoang dã cho
những nơi tập trung đông người như thị thành. Ít nhất có một cơ sở buôn bán động vật hoang
dã hoặc gỗ trong mỗi xã hoặc thôn bản, đây là nơi thợ săn địa phương bán các loài động vật
hoang dã săn được hoặc các bộ phậm của chúng. Theo đó, mỗi huyện có một cơ sở buôn bán
lớn, cùng với họ là các chủ nhà hàng ăn uống phục vụ thịt động vật hoang dã, họ mua hàng từ
những người buôn bán nhỏ và sau đó xuất đi những loài động vật còn sống cùng với nhiều bộ
phận của động vật hoang dã cho các nơi trong tỉnh và thậm chí đi cả Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh.
Ngoài ra một số lượng đáng kể những người khác đã kiếm được toàn bộ hoặc một phần thu
nhập từ việc vận chuyển hoặc chế biến bất hợp pháp gỗ và động vật hoang dã. Điều này đã và
đang đe doạ tới quần thể của các loài động vật ở vườn quốc gia, ví dụ những người nấu cao
động vật hoang dã ở vùng đệm đã dùng tới khoảng 350 kg linh trưởng mỗi năm.
Mặc dù, mức độ nhận thức cao về mối nguy hại của vấn đề này trong đội ngũ cán bộ của vườn
nhưng mức độ săn bắn và mất mát tài nguyên gỗ vẫn gia tăng. Báo cáo đã đưa ra nhiều đề xuất
nhằm giảm thiểu các hoạt động săn bắn và buôn bán tài nguyên rừng đang đe doạ đến tính
toàn vẹn về đa dạng sinh học của VQGCYS. Các đề xuất này bao gồm: tăng cường công tác
thi hành luật pháp trong vườn quốc gia để chống lại nạn săn bắn và khai thác gỗ bất hợp pháp,
nâng cao năng lực cho một số cán bộ của vườn, tăng cường công tác phối hợp với các cơ quan
thi hành luật ở địa phương, và chiến dịch truyền thông nhận thức cho công đồng. Để những đề
xuất có hiệu quả, nỗ lực thực thi pháp luật ở cấp huyện và tỉnh phải hướng tới những người
buôn bán lớn và những ông chủ nhà hàng bán thịt thú rừng nhằm phá vỡ một mắt xích quan
trọng trong mạng lưới, và đây là nguyên nhân dẫn đến các loài thú và gỗ quý hiếm của vườn
quốc gia giảm đi nhanh chóng.
9
1. Introduction
1.1 Conservation in Vietnam
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a relatively narrow strip running north-south along the
eastern coast of the Indochinese Peninsula. The population of Vietnam is approximately 85
million people (CIA Sourcebook 2008). The country is currently undergoing an economic
transition towards a more market-oriented economy. Vietnam's annual per capita gross
national product (GNP) has been growing rapidly for the past decade. Economic growth,
infrastructure development, population growth, protracted wars, and the development of
agriculture, forestry and fishing industries, have resulted in over-exploitation of Vietnam's
natural resources. The environment in Vietnam has largely been compromised: gross
deforestation has been accompanied by degradation of arable land, soil erosion, destruction of
water catchments, diminished groundwater sources, siltation and ecological degradation of
coastal and submerged areas and a loss of overall biodiversity within Vietnam.
Due to a rapidly expanding population and an economic growth rate which has now reached
over 8%, there is increasing pressure on land and resources in Vietnam. The national
conservation movement now faces its greatest challenge yet: conserving biodiversity in the
face of these mounting pressures. Forest is being lost due to the agricultural needs of the rural
poor, whilst high value timber trees are now targeted wherever they occur, to manufacture
high quality furniture for the expanding rich middle class. A concurrent trend has been the
equally rapid commercialisation and expansion of wildlife trade, facilitated by an increasingly
efficient transport and communications network and driven by new found wealth and a
growing demand for wildlife products (WCS/FPD 2008).
Vietnam has rapidly become a key country in the Southeast Asian wildlife trade network,
sourcing wildlife throughout the region as well as from Vietnam’s remaining forests, to supply
a growing domestic and international demand for wildlife (Compton & Le Hai Quang 1998;
Nooren & Claridge 2001; Bell et al. 2004; Lin 2005). In Vietnam the main uses of wildlife
include traditional medicine, pets, decoration, and souvenirs (Compton & Le Hai Quang 1998;
Nguyen Van Song 2003; Bell et al. 2004). However, the primary demand is from urban wild
meat restaurants associated with increasingly affluent populations, found in urban centres
throughout the country (Roberton & Bell in prep.). Despite significant national and
international policy controls and interventions, the wildlife trade is largely uncontrolled and
unsustainable (WCS/FPD 2008).
The government of Vietnam recognised the need for conserving and rehabilitating the natural
environment at the end of the 1970s, however it was not until the 1990s that the conservation
emphasis moved towards protecting endangered habitats and species. Vietnam's forests are
divided into three categories, of which national parks fall under the designation Special-use
Forests (Protected Areas) and are managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development (MARD). A countrywide analysis of protected area coverage conducted by the
BirdLife International Vietnam Programme and the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute of
MARD was published in 2001, and a second edition published in 2004. These analyses
highlighted the global importance of Chu Yang Sin for biodiversity on a global scale.
10
1.2 The Da Lat Plateau Endemic Bird Area
Initial surveys conducted by BirdLife International identified 218 centres of bird endemism
world-wide, termed Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs) (ICBP 1992, Stattersfield et al. 1998). EBAs
are areas which support at least two restricted-range bird species (species with a global range
of less than 50,000 km2), and are considered to be priority areas for conservation (Stattersfield
et al. 1998). Three EBAs were identified in Vietnam: the Southern Vietnamese Lowlands, the
Da Lat Plateau, and the Annamese Lowlands.
The Da Lat Plateau is a mountainous region in the northern part of the Southern Annamite
Mountains, it lies entirely within Lam Dong and adjacent Dak Lak and (probably) Ninh Tuan
provinces. It is characterised by a number of mountains over 2,000 m, the highest being Chu
Yang Sin at 2,442 m. The Da Lat Plateau is geographically isolated from other high altitude
areas in Vietnam and as such supports a number of unique plant and animal taxa at the species
and subspecies level. It is currently defined by the ranges of eight bird species and 25 sub-
species, although the taxonomic status of a number of these is in a state of flux. These figures
suggest that the area is a centre of active speciation. Evidence of congruence in endemism is
generally deficient for other vertebrates, but in the case of the Da Lat Plateau, is shown by several
species of tree and orchid.
The natural vegetation types of the Da Lat Plateau are mixed broad-leaf evergreen forest and
coniferous forest. Most widespread is the coniferous forest, which is dominated by Pinus
kesiya. However, it is the mixed broadleaf evergreen forest which supports the highest levels
of endemism and species diversity. Moreover, the pine species endemic to the plateau (Pinus
dalatensis and Pinus krempfii) are found in the mixed broad-leaf evergreen forest. Chu Yang
Sin was identified as a priority protected area because it captures the greatest possible intact
altitudinal gradient (600 m - 2,440 m) and the best examples of mixed broadleaf forest in the
Da Lat Plateau bio-unit. An adjacent and equally large (72,573 ha) nature reserve (Bi Doup-
Nui Ba NR) located in Lam Dong Province to the south, was identified to represent the conifer
forest type. There are no other significant areas of montane broad-leaf evergreen forest in the
Da Lat Plateau bio-unit.
The Da Lat Plateau EBA lies immediately adjacent to the northern part of the South
Vietnamese lowlands EBA, the birds of this EBA occur mainly at lower altitudes, in lowland
semi-evergreen forest on the flanks of the mountains. The lower parts of Chu Yang Sin
National Park support forest representative of this habitat type.
1.3 Chu Yang Sin National Park
Chu Yang Sin National Park (CYSNP) is located in Krong Bong and Lak Districts, 60 km
southeast of Buon Me Thuot Town in Dak Lak Province, Vietnam. These districts encompass
transitional landscapes between two macro-scale geomorphologies. These are the Dak Lak
lowland plain and the central highlands. The national park consists of 59,278 ha of hill and
montane forest with an altitudinal gradient of 600-2,442 m. Chu Yang Sin (CYS) was designated
as a nature reserve by statute of the Government of Vietnam in 1986, following the first review of
Protected Areas in the Indo-Malayan Realm. Although the Reserve was decreed by law in 1986,
an actual Management Board (in Vietnam the term ‘board’ refers to the staff) for CYS was not
11
formed until 1998. On 31 July 2002, the Government of Vietnam upgraded CYS from nature
reserve to national park status.
CYSNP protects a substantial part of the largest remaining forest block in the upper catchment of
the Srepok River, which is a major tributary of the Mekong River. Based on current knowledge,
Chu Yang Sin is biologically the richest mountain in the Da Lat Plateau EBA; CYSNP supports all
eight restricted-range species that define the Da Lat Plateau EBA as well as two of the three
species that define the South Vietnamese Lowlands EBA. CYSNP qualifies as an Important Bird
Area and is also of global importance, due to the size of Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon and
Black-shanked Douc populations it supports.
Landscape context
CYSNP covers a range of deeply folded hills embedded in a larger forested landscape. The
transition between these highlands and the lowland plain to the northwest, is a complex of rolling
hills, narrow tablelands, and flat-bottomed valleys. Lak District is a large, enclosed flat valley,
while Krong Bong District is a complex of the three landscape units at smaller scales. The
mountain range is a primary forest landscape. The lowland plain is an anthropogenic landscape
dominated by plantation agriculture, notably coffee. The transitional landscapes of Krong Bong
and Lak Districts appear to have been derivative natural landscapes up until the late 1970s. These
are now anthropogenic landscapes, characterised by a mix of irrigated wet rice and diverse upland
cropping.
The landscapes of Krong Bong and Lak Districts have undergone major changes since the end of
the American War in 1975. Extensive dipterocarp forest and abundant big game (e.g. deer, Asian
Elephant, Gaur, and Tiger) populations previously characterised the lower hill slopes and valleys.
Indigenous M’nong and Ede people inhabited the area, subsisting on rain-fed rice in the valley
floor and swidden agriculture on higher ground and hillsides. Their impact on forests and wildlife
was limited because they lacked saws and guns. After the American War there was a general
movement of people down from the hills into the valleys. Irrigated wet rice and animal husbandry
was introduced to the region by the government, and as part of this process, Kinh (ethnic-
Vietnamese) people from the Red River Delta moved into the region. Commercial-scale logging of
the dipterocarp forest started in 1978 and continued until 1994. Cropping activities were further
concentrated following the 1993 land law, which banned shifting cultivation and granted land-use
certificates (red books) to villagers, based on a 50-year lease. Consequently, hillside swiddens
have been abandoned and farmers are adapting to sedentary lowland farming. In many areas of
Krong Bong District, a homogeneous band of bamboo re-growth now separates the forest of the
Chu Yang Sin hills from agricultural areas.
Socio-economic context
The social composition of the park buffer zone is in flux. A traditional subsistence society of
M’nong and Ede ethnic groups is rapidly transforming into a multi-ethnic and market-driven
agricultural society. The human population of the buffer zone communes is close to 63,500
with approximately 12,150 households living in 13 communes and 99 villages comprising
37% M’nong, 36% Kinh, 11% Ede and 11% H’mong. The remaining 5 percent is made up of
other ethnic groups who have immigrated from the northern part of the country.
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Most M’nong and Ede village communities have made a recent transition from lowland and
swidden cropping of rice and vegetables, to sedentary cropping of rice, vegetables and plantation
crops, notably, coffee and cashew. However, many people are finding adoption of the more
sophisticated sedentary agricultural techniques difficult and the communal decision-making
structures associated with swidden systems are breaking down, due to sedentary agriculture being
household-bound.
In the last ten years, agricultural productivity and incomes have generally moved beyond
subsistence levels. For example, fewer people now suffer food shortages, tiled-roof houses are
increasingly common, and hundreds of hand tractors are sold in the districts each year, compared
with an average of ten just three years ago. Road access is also currently being upgraded; for
example, the roads in Lak District, which is located along a national highway between Da Lat and
Buon Me Thuot, were recently improved with a hard asphalt surface. The secondary road to Krong
Bong is partially hard-surfaced as far as the town of Krong Bong; beyond this is a dirt road that is
difficult to pass in the rainy season.
In line with improving agricultural incomes and road access, many people of the dominant Kinh
ethnic group are moving into Krong Bong and Lak Districts, to pursue livelihoods in the
expanding small business and government sectors. Kinh people are gradually being elected to
leadership roles in communes because the ethnic minorities believe Kinh people better understand
the government and new agricultural systems.
Since 1995, nearly six thousand spontaneous immigrants of H’mong ethnicity from northern
Vietnam have settled in Krong Bong District. The H’mong migrated into northern Vietnam from
China in the 19th century and have become one of the largest and most under-privileged ethnic
groups in Vietnam. They practice swidden agriculture and are skilled hunters. The H’mong have a
reputation for unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, although this may be in part because
they originally settled marginal land in densely populated northern Vietnam. In Krong Bong
District, this immigration event has increased demand for the already-limited land resources and
has disrupted existing means for allocating and controlling land use.
1.4 The IWBM project
The Integrating Watershed and Biodiversity Management Project was initiated in June 2005
with financial assistance from the Global Environment Fund. The overall aim of this project is
to conserve the biodiversity attributes of CYSNP in the long term, and to develop integrated
watershed and biodiversity management at a broader scale. The project’s purpose is to
establish public support and effective management for CYSNP, by stabilising an interface
between natural and agricultural landscapes, protecting the integrity of key biodiversity
attributes, promoting integrated approaches to watershed and protected area management in
the wider forest block, and elaborating realistic and sustainable development options for the
park. As part of an effort to increase the availability of information required for effective
adaptive management, the project has commissioned a series of reports, of which this is the
first.
1.5 Purpose of investigation
Illegal logging and hunting have been identified as two of the three main threats to the
biological integrity of Chu Yang Sin National Park. Since successful conservation action relies
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on accurate and up-to-date information and as part of an ongoing effort to provide the data
necessary for adaptive management of CYSNP, this study was commissioned. This study aims
to assess and document the extent of the illegal wildlife and timber trade in CYSNP and the
buffer zone communes. It therefore provides an invaluable tool for effective management of
the national park and law enforcement in the surrounding area.
The study focuses on the stakeholders and processes employed in the wildlife and timber
trade. Nonetheless, the species and quantities of wildlife detected during the survey, though
only a snapshot, provide an indication of the volume and extent of illegal trade in the CYS
area. In this report, emphasis has been placed on the components and drivers of the wildlife
trade. Recommendations for stopping the wildlife and timber trade in the CYS area are
proposed.
2. Investigation methodology
The survey was conducted from 14 January to 5 February 2007, by a team comprising of a
BirdLife Technical Support Officer, a field project officer and a number of national park staff.
Data were collected from two towns, eight communes, 12 villages, 15 restaurants and eight
guard stations in the buffer zone of CYSNP, covering a wide range of stakeholders involved in
the wildlife and timber trade (Map 1). Due to time constraints it was not possible to
specifically investigate consumers of wildlife and illegal timber. Survey effort was
concentrated on people involved in hunting and trading; 142 people were interviewed, most on
more than occasion (Table 1).
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Map 1. Location of towns and villages relevant to the study
Data on trade, exploitation and consumption of wildlife, timber and other forest resources in
the buffer zone of CYSNP, were gathered through informal interviews. Due to the sensitive
nature of the wildlife and illegal timber trade, data were collected in an undercover manner.
Surveyors used one of a number of pre-arranged and rehearsed cover stories, in which
members of the survey team assumed different roles. A pocket digital recorder was covertly
used during conversations with hunters and traders, to avoid taking written notes. The
following cover stories were used:
- A research team from Tay Nguyen University, including a teacher and one or two
students. The survey team explained that data were required for a thesis or feasibility
study on “development of wildlife farming or captive breeding, to provide wildlife
meat for market consumption”;
- Consumers looking for wildlife meat for food and medicinal purposes;
- Traders from outside the local area or province in search of potential source areas and
new networks for the wildlife trade;
- Students and teachers from Tay Nguyen University looking for timber for house
construction or upgrading of the furniture in their houses.
In addition, some interviews were conducted with no cover story, through meetings with local
people from buffer zone villages. These interviews were conducted by the rangers and
organised through the leaders of communes and villages. The exploitation and consumption of
forest resources from CYSNP were discussed, with specific attention given to assessing the
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number of species in trade, the volume and source of resources, harvesting practices, and
economic values.
All of the information collected from interviews and meetings was then cross-checked and its
validity assessed by rangers and ‘community satellites’ or ‘informants’ - local people who
have made a commitment with rangers to provide information on violations in the area. A
number of secondary data sources were also analysed:
- Data from forest patrols by park rangers;
- Forest protection law enforcement data from the survey area, provided by park rangers;
- Monthly and quarterly reports from the biodiversity monitoring programme, conducted
by park rangers;
- Reports on law enforcement both by district Forest Protection Departments (FPDs) in
Lak and Krong Bong Districts, and by Krong Bong State Forest Enterprises (SFEs).
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Table 1. Number of people interviewed in the CYSNP buffer zone during the survey period
Location Villagers Hunters Small Large Restaurant Cao CYSNP Leaders Timber Total
(general) scale scale owners makers rangers and traders
traders traders managers
Krong Bong District
CYSNP 20 20
Yang Mao 15 3 2 2 22
Cu Dram 12 1 2 2 3 1 21
Cu Pui 9 3 2 1 1 16
Hoa Le 11 1 1 1 14
Krong Bong town 5 3 8
Hoa Son 5 1 6
Lak District
Yang Tao 7 1 1 1 10
Lien Son Town 2 1 5 1 9
Dak Phoi 12 2 14
Yang Re 1 1 2
Total 76 5 13 2 15 1 20 6 4 142
3. The wildlife trade at Chu Yang Sin National Park
The wildlife trade network surrounding CYSNP is complex and efficient. It allows rapid
transfer of wildlife products and live animals, from hunters to the final consumers through a
series of traders and middlemen.
3.1 Structure of the wildlife trade network
The wildlife trade network surrounding CYSNP extends from buffer zone villages beyond
Krong Bong and Lak Districts, to Buon Me Thuot, coastal towns like Na Trang and even to
Ho Chi Minh City (Figure 1). As such it is not just a local problem, but rather a national and
probably even international issue.
In general, each village has a number of hunters and at least one small-scale wildlife trader.
Each district has one large-scale wildlife trader. A similar structure is evident in the illegal
timber trade. Appendix 1 lists the known stakeholders in the illegal wildlife and timber trade
from each village in the buffer zone of CYSNP.
This spatial arrangement means that trade chains usually begin with people situated closest to
the national park and fan out towards larger and more distant centres of human population,
where the greatest demand for timber and wildlife products originates. Therefore, in CYSNP
most hunters and trappers come from the buffer zone communes, in the villages closest to the
national park in Krong Bong District. However, there are anomalies and some hunters are
known to come from much further away. For instance, hunters from Hoa Thanh Commune, 20
km from the park, and H’Mong hunters from Eachang Commune, MaDrak District, have been
arrested by rangers in CYSNP. Additionally, hunters from K’No village, Lam Dong Province,
are also known to have hunted in CYSNP.
Typical simple trade chains for wildlife meat and live animals in the CYSNP area are shown
below:
Wildlife meat: Hunters → Small-scale traders in villages in buffer zone communes →
Restaurants in central commune towns and elsewhere in the district;
Live animals: Hunters → Small-scale traders in villages in buffer zone communes → Large-
scale traders in district towns → Buon Me Thuot.
.
Figure 1. The illegal wildlife trade network in the CYSNP area. (NB. Not to scale).
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3.2 Wildlife products and their use
During the survey, 38 species were detected in the wildlife trade, including 21 mammals, nine
birds and eight reptiles (Appendix 2). However the survey was not intended to be a
comprehensive study of which species were traded, instead, this is merely a snapshot of some
of the animals which were found in the trade during the four-week survey. It is likely that
almost all of the 67 mammals (excluding bats), recorded from the national park are hunted and
traded to some extent. Almost all vertebrate species are of some commercial value, whether
for meat, trophies or perceived medicinal properties.
3.2.1 Wildlife meat
The main use of hunted wildlife is for food. However, although there is some subsistence
consumption, due to the high value of wildlife meat, most is traded for commercial
consumption. The wildlife meats most often recorded in restaurants were Common Palm Civet
(Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), Eurasian Wild Pig (Sus scrofa), Red Muntjac (Muntiacus
muntjak) and Southern Serow (Naemorhedus sumatraensis) (Figure 2). Wildlife meat dishes in
restaurants in the study area were consistently higher priced (30-50,000 VND/dish) than
domestic alternatives, as such they are luxury items and not essential for human health and
well being. In addition to the species found as meat in the restaurants, the following species
were recorded as live animals, destined either for wild meat farms or restaurants:
• Bear Macaque – two individuals
• Common Palm Civet - two individuals
• Eurasian Wild Pig - 30 live individuals of 8-15 kg weight sold to trader from Binh
Phuoc Province, one individual confiscated by CYSNP rangers
• East Asian Porcupine - five individuals
• Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine – two individuals
• Bamboo Rat - three individuals
Wildlife meat is most commonly consumed by small groups of 2-5 people. However, wildlife
meals are also very popular with large parties where they are consumed as a show of status.
End of year parties for most government departments at district level often feature wild meats.
For instance, the District Education Department end of year celebration in 2006 had Eurasian
Wild Pig on the menu and rangers reported that a wedding party in Krong Bong town around
the same time also had a dish of wild pig meat for each table. Additionally, during the survey a
policeman was observed buying wildlife meat at a restaurant for his trip to Buon Me Thuot.
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