A ceremony was held at the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh on October 17 to mark the park’s decade-long cooperation with the Cologne Zoo of Germany.
Ten years ago, Germany’s Cologne Zoo embarked on a nature conservation project signed with the Quang Binh Province under which it has engaged in helping the local authorities enforce conservation of biodiversity and endangered fauna and flora at the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.
The Cologne Zoo has also assisted the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park to build a rescue centre for wild animals. The centre was designed for the accommodation, quarantine, feeding and breeding of small to medium-sized mammals, but it also included enclosures for turtles.
Since 1999, the Cologne Zoo has coordinated with the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in conducting research on amphibian and reptile. Their joint efforts have results in the discovery of 14 new species of reptiles and 10 new species of fish and a detailed list of 96 reptile species and 45 amphibian species at the park.
In 2007 alone, experts spotted five endangered primate species, including Ha Tinh langurs in the park. In 2009, night fieldwork also captured images of several rare species, such as flying squirrel, deer, chamois, and Ha Tinh langurs.
The Cologne Zoo has also provided training for the park’s staff to improve their capacity in conducting research and enforcing rescue and protection measures.
To further their cooperation in biodiversity research and conservation, the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and the Cologne Zoo signed a memorandum of cooperation for the 2008-2013 period.
Apart from pledges for continued collaboration in biodiversity research, forest protection, wild animal rescue and environmental education, the two sides will work together to create livelihood and stable income for local people inhabited in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park’s buffer zone.
In September this year, the German Government committed to continue funding the project on “conservation and sustainable management of natural resources in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.