Current Initiatives

Community engagement is critical to conserve biodiversity.  Historically,  lam villages in the Lam Binh/ Sinh Long landscape were not involved in conservation efforts, leading to a lack of awareness, reduction of the langur population, and destruction of its habitat. We presently work with 15 ethnic minority villages to increase their awareness on  conservation, and to engage them in co-management of the high value forests.  This has led to a  proposal to establish a community-based conservation area to protect the endangered Francois Langur and its habitat.

We help communities establish village-based institutions and networks.  An  umbrella community-based organization will facilitate village  participation in management and conservation work.  The institution will engage local people in conservation and will support households and village development.  To date, we have helped villagers establish a network of 15 Village Co-Management Committees, 15 Village Self-help Groups, nine Community Conservation Teams, and five Village Forest Management Committees.  All institutions will support conservation of local biodiversity and advance village social and economic development.

We train and equip selected villagers  to become members of Community Conservation Teams.  These teams carry out conservation and monitoring of the Francois’ Langur population and its habitat.  The teams conduct several patrols per month and six-month langur population surveys.  All patrolling data is fed into a SMART monitoring database,  collated and analyzed to support conservation management work, in close collaboration with officials from the Forest Protection Department.

We have finalized the  ‘establishment plan’ (feasibility study and investment plan)  draft to the proposed conservation area in the Lam Binh/ Sinh Long high conservation value forests.  Conservation planning included the development of Five-Year Conservation and Development Plan,  Annual Operation am Management Plans, and village development action plans.

We have facilitated the establishment of Village Co-managment Committees (VMCs) in each of the villages we work with in the Lam Binh and Sinh Long regions.  Each VMC comprises five to seven villagers, selected by villagers themselves, and holding the function of supporting village conservation initiatives and socioeconomic development needs.

Village self-reliance measures are spearheaded through Village Self Help Groups (VSHGs), headed by the village Women’s Union and aiming to support village households with agriculture and forestry development initiatives and needs.  Each VSHG holds a revolving loans scheme, which has received initial seed-funding from PRCF to support household agriculture.  VSHGs also hold an intra-village farmer extension system featuring on-farm agriculture demonstrations.

PRCF established and worked with Community Forest Management Committees in five ethnic minority  villages to support conservation of standing good forest remnants in Sinh Long commune.  This has included connecting with community leaders to gain support for the committees, learning about villager current use of forest land, and planning for, and supporting, forest conservation efforts.  To date, we have helped five villages establish Community Forest Management Committees,  supported the  production of forest management plans at each village, and facilitated submission of forest allocation documents to the local government authorities.

We assist Village Forest Management Committees to  identify and secure  funding to ensure that their conservation efforts can continue.  This includes documenting the committee structure and goals, contracting with funding sources, and managing funding received.  To date, we work with five Dao and H’mong villages, in close liaison with the Sinh Long Commune Peoples Committee, to help manage more than 600 ha of forest in a sustainable manner.

PRCF researches  suitable karst forest restoration measures to restore habitat for the critically endangered Eastern Black-crested Gibbon. This takes place in degraded forest habitat in valleys where previous agriculture practice denuded the forestland.  To date, we have mapped  deforested valleys  considered  essential for long-term survival of the Gibbon,  identified 250 plant species for Gibbon feeding, and restored more than 30 hectares of degraded forests on valleys through assisted natural regeneration and enrichment planting with about 5,000 native trees of 27 different species.

We provide capacity building and training to the Cao Vit Gibbon Conservation Area. Out aim is to  build capacities so that  eventually the protected area can take over the habitat restoration program.  This has included on-hands training on assisted natural regeneration, nursery establishment and maintenance, willings collection and rearing, and enrichment planting techniques.

PRCF consults with communities near the conservation areas to learn about local knowledge of native plant species to support their conservation and sustainable use.  We  discuss sustainable livelihood solutions with villagers to ensure that conservation efforts are not at the expense of community well-being.  By engaging local villagers in our habitat restoration work, PRCF  ensures that forest restoration efforts receive the  support from local communities and use best practices.

PRCF Vietnam researches areas that are critical for Tonkin snub-nosed monkey conservation and establishes Critical Conservation Zones. Local communities participate in this research to ensure that information collected is accurate and communities are supportive of conservation efforts. To date we have established two Critical Conservation Zones for the protection of Snub-nosed Monkeys.  We hope to have these areas clearly marked to increase community awareness of conservation zones.

We provide training and resources to the Na Hang Nature Reserve staff to build their capacity for conservation management. This includes helping plan for patrols and sustainable funding, as well as providing patrol training and resources based on our conservation research and mapping. To date, we have trained 6 staff members for patrolling and … By 2017, we hope to…