sourcebook

Management history

Chu Mom Ray was included on Decision No. 65/HDBT of the Council of Ministers, dated 7 April 1982, which decreed the establishment of a 10,000 ha nature reserve, called Mom Ray-Ngoc Vin (MARD 1997). In 1995, an investment plan for Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve was prepared by the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute (Anon. 1995). This investment plan was approved by Decision No. 12 of Kon Tum Provincial People's Committee, dated 27 January 1996, by Decision No. 3051 of MARD, dated 11 September 1996, and by governmental Decision No. 693, dated 27 August 1997. A management board was then established by the provincial people's committee on 19 October 1998 (Kon Tum Provincial People's Committee in litt. 2000). The management board currently has 40 members of staff, based at eight guard stations (Lai Duc Hieu Vice-director of Chu Mom Ray National Park in litt. 2003).

On 30 July 2002, the Special-use Forest category of Chu Mom Ray was revised from nature reserve to national park, following Decision No. 103/QD/TTg of the Prime Minister. According to the Prime Minister's Decision, the total area of the national park is 56,621 ha, comprising at strict protection area of 40,566 ha, a forest rehabilitation area of 12,137 ha and an administration and services area of 3,918 ha. These figures include two expansion areas added to the national park in 2002: one in the north and one in the south. The national park is under the management of Kon Tum Provincial People's Committee (Lai Duc Hieu Vice-director of Chu Mom Ray National Park in litt. 2003).

Chu Mom Ray is included on a list of Special-use Forests to be established by the year 2010, prepared by the FPD of MARD, as a 56,621 ha national park (FPD 2003); this list has not yet been approved by the government.

On 17 and 18 December 2003, the environment ministers of the ASEAN nations amended the ASEAN Declaration on Heritage Parks and included four ASEAN Heritage Parks in Vietnam, including Chu Mom Ray National Park.

Topography and hydrology

Chu Mom Ray National Park is situated in western Kon Tum province, in the Central Highlands, close to the point where Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos meet. The national park is located in Ro Koi, Sa Son, Sa Nhon, Ya Xier and Mo Rai communes, Sa Thay district and Sa Loong and Po Y communes, Ngoc Hoi district, Kon Tum province. To the west, the national park borders Virachey National Park in Cambodia.

The national park is situated in an area of medium-high mountains, the highest of which is Chu Mom Ray at 1,773 m, from which the national park gets its name. Elevations gradually decrease from east to west, and the lowest elevation in the national park is c.200 m. The national park is drained by the Dak Hodrai and Krong Po Ko rivers and their tributaries. These two rivers feed the Se San river, which flows across north-eastern Cambodia to join the Mekong River.

Biodiversity values

The two main forest types at Chu Mom Ray National Park are lowland evergreen forest, which is distributed below 1,000 m, and lower montane evergreen forest, which is distributed above this elevation. In addition, there are smaller areas of lowland semi-evergreen forest, distributed at elevations below 700 m. The remainder of the national park supports a range of secondary vegetation types (Anon. 1995), including large areas of bamboo and a central area of grassland that developed following the wartime use of defoliants along the Ho Chi Minh Trail; this latter area has now become important for wild cattle.

According to Lai Duc Hieu Vice-director of Chu Mom Ray National Park (in litt. 2003), 1,149 species of vascular plants, 97 species of mammal, 201 species of bird, 47 species of reptile, 17 species of amphibian and 18 species of fish have been recorded at the site to date. These include two newly described orchids species believed to be endemic to southern Indochina: Coelogyne schltesii and Bulbophyllum amitinandii.

According to Duckworth and Hedges (1998), Chu Mom Ray National Park may be one of the best remaining areas for Tiger Panthera tigris in Vietnam, with a population estimated at 10 to 15 individuals in 1997. Duckworth and Hedges (1998) also report that the occurrence of Asian Elephant Elephas maximus has been confirmed at Chu Mom Ray, although the population has declined in size significantly since 1980, and is now fragmented into two small groups. Finally, the authors present provisional evidence for the continued occurrence of Gaur Bos gaurus at the site. Fieldwork conducted during 2001 and 2002 provided further evidence for the occurrence of Gaur and Banteng B. javanicus at the site (C. Turtle in litt. 2003).

During a field survey in 2003, a number of bird species of conservation concern were recorded at the site, including the globally threatened Germain's Peacock Pheasant Polplectron germaini and the globally near-threatened Black-hooded Laughingthrush Garrulax milleti (Nguyen Cu in litt. 2003). Both of these are restricted-range species, indicating that Chu Mom Ray may lie in a transitional zone between the Kon Tum Plateau and South Vietnamese Lowlands Endemic Bird Areas. Tordoff (2002) considers that Chu Mom Ray is likely to qualify an Important Bird Area, as it is likely to regularly support significant populations of a number of globally threatened and restricted-range bird species.

Conservation issues

The buffer zone of Chu Mom Ray National Park covers 188,749 ha. The total population of the buffer zone is 28,570 people, who belong to the Kinh, Gia Rai, Muong, Xe Dang, Thai, Ro-mam, Ha Lang and Brau ethnic groups (Lai Duc Hieu Vice-director of Chu Mom Ray National Park in litt. 2003). There are currently no people living inside the boundaries of the national park (Kon Tum Provincial FPD in litt. 2000).

Many of the threats to biodiversity at the site come from the inhabitants of the buffer zone. Kon Tum Provincial FPD (in litt. 2000) identify these threats as forest fire, hunting and clearance of forest for shifting cultivation.

According to the World Bank Forest Protection and Rural Development (FPRD) Project, the most important conservation issues at Chu Mom Ray National Park are: (i) the boundary of the national park is not clearly demarcated, although, except for 21 km on the eastern side, which has the most pressure from villages, there are plans to completed boundary demarcation by 2004; (ii) there is encroachment from villages bordering the national park; (iii) hunting is taking place within the national park; (iv) non-timber forest products (particularly rattans, dipterocarp resins, Scaphium macropodium fruit and Thysanolaena maxima) and (although there is limited direct evidence of it) timber are extracted from the national park; (v) the main road that cuts through the middle of the national park is being upgraded for use by rubber plantations in Mo Ray commune; (vi) the area was heavily bombed and sprayed with defoliants during the Second Indochina War; and (vii) there is a significant threat of forest fire along the eastern edge of the national park, with the development of commercial pine and Acacia plantations (C. Turtle in litt. 2003).

Other documented values

Chu Mom Ray National Park has an important role in protecting the upstream catchment of the Se San river. The Se San is the site of two planned hydro-electric dams, as well as the existing Ya Ly falls scheme, and a dam on the Krong Po river, a tributary of the Se San.

The forest in the area is an important source of forest products for local communities, who experience, on average, two months of food shortages per year (Kon Tum Provincial FPD in litt. 2000). Forest products exploited by local people include fuelwood, bamboo, rattans, honey, resin and some medicinal plants (Thai Truyen 1997).

Related projects

With funding from the World Bank and the Netherlands government, the FPRD Project began implementation at Chu Mom Ray National Park in 1999. The objectives of the project at Chu Mom Ray are to develop and implement a revised management plan for the national park; promote food security and socio-economic development in the buffer zone to reduce pressure and dependence on the natural resources of the national park; and to develop institutional capacity for national park and buffer zone management.

The revision of the management plan aims to formulate an agreed management direction for the national park, covering management zoning, ecosystem management, institutional development, community relations and livelihoods, conservation awareness and education, tourism and visitor management, and ecological research and monitoring.

In addition to the FPRD Project, the WWF Indochina Programme has implemented three projects at Chu Mom Ray. Between June 1996 and May 1997, a project to promote forest protection in Le R'Mam village, Mo Ray commune, through local culture and traditional methods was implemented. Between December 1997 and May 1998, an English language training course was held for management board staff. Between August and December 1998, training was provided to management board staff in Tiger conservation (WWF 2000, 2001a,b).

Conservation needs assessment

A conservation needs assessment was conducted for Chu Mom Ray National Park in 2002, with the support of the FPRD Project.

Operational management plan

An operational management plan was prepared for Chu Mom Ray National Park in 2002, with the support of the FPRD Project.

Eligibility against VCF criteria

Chu Mom Ray is eligible for VCF support because it meets criteria A, B and C.

Criterion	Eligibility
A_I	DF5 - Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam Tri-border Forests
A_II
B_I	Decision No. 103/TTg, dated 30/07/02
B_II	National Park
B_III	Under provincial management
C_I	Management board established
C_II

Social screening requirements

A social screening report has not been prepared for the site.

Criterion	Eligibility
A
B
C
D

Literature sources

Anon. (1995) [Investment plan for Mom Ray Nature Reserve, Kon Tum province]. Hanoi: Forest Inventory and Planning Institute. In Vietnamese.

Anon. (2002) Management plan revision for Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve. 3 vols. Sa Thay: Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

Do Tuoc and Ngo Tu (1995) [A report on mammals of Mom Ray Nature Reserve]. Hanoi: Forest Inventory and Planning Institute. In Vietnamese.

Duckworth, J. W. and Hedges, S. (1998) Tracking tigers: a review of the status of Tiger, Asian Elephant, Gaur and Banteng in Vietnam, Lao, Cambodia and Yunnan province (China) with recommendations for future conservation action. Hanoi: WWF Indochina Programme.

FPRDP (1998) Project implementation manual. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2000a) Annual work plan 2000, volume 1: work programme. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2000b) Annual work plan 2000, volume 2: procurement plan and budget. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2000c) Preparation of a revised management plan for Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve: intermediate report on activities on biodiversity. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2001) Diseases in free-living wildlife of Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2001) Survey, protection and sustainable management of wild animals in Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2001) Overview of the flora and vegetation of the Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve and preliminary assessment of their protection values. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2001) Initial assessment on the biodiversity values of forest and forest-biotypes for Chu Mom Ray management planning. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2002) Revised management plan for Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve. Three volumes and summary. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2002) Wildlife study programme for Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2003) Chu Mom Ray National Park forest guard field manual. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2003) Overview of flora systems vegetation in the area of Klon Gluih mountain, south of Chu Mom Ray National Park. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2003) Primary survey and assessment of wild animal resources and recommendations for the conservation of south of Chu Mom Ray National Park. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2003) Initial outputs of biodiversity survey and assessment in Klon Gluih mountain area in south of Chu Mom Ray National Park. Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project.

FPRDP (2003) [Rapid biodiversity survey of Chim Nam, Chu Mom Ray.] Unpublished report to the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project. In Vietnamese.

Ovel, C. (1998) An eastward flow of Virachey logs: a summary of observations in Kon Tum province, Vietnam. Unpublished report to WWF Indochina Programme.

Thai Truyen (1997) Integrative approaches for biodiversity conservation in Vietnam with a case history of the Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve, Kon Tum province, Central Highlands. Dissertation submitted to School of Resource Management and Environmental Studies, Australian National University.

Tordoff, A. W. ed. (2002) Directory of important bird areas in Vietnam: key sites for conservation. Hanoi: BirdLife International in Indochina and the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources.

Vietnam News (2002) Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve gets green light. Vietnam News 29 June 2002.

Vietnam News (2002) Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve to save rare ox herds. Vietnam News 11 May 2002.

Vietnam News (2003) Wild bulls seen roaming Central Highlands park. Vietnam News 4 April 2003.

WWF (2000) Central Vietnam Tiger corridor: Tiger conservation in Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and Kon Tum. Hanoi: WWF Indochina Programme.

WWF (2001a) Core support to the Chu Mom Ray Nature Reserve for biodiversity and Tiger conservation activities and running costs. Hanoi: WWF Indochina Programme.

WWF (2001b) Forest conservation at Le R’Mam village through indigenous culture and traditional methods. Hanoi: WWF Indochina Programme.

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