First-ever elephant conservation area established in Vietnam

An elephant conservation area will be established in Phuoc Ninh and Que Lam communes of Nong Son district in the central province of Quang Nam.
A student in Nong Son District presents a painting of wild elephants to U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius. (Photo: Sggp)
A student in Nong Son District presents a painting of wild elephants to U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius. (Photo: Sggp)
The 19ha reserve includes the strict protection zone covering on 13,000 hectares. There is a buffer zone with an area of 25,000 hectares.
The first-ever elephant conservation area in the country will be invested with a total capital of VND128 billion (US$5.6 million) from now until 2030.
The launch of the reserve is part of the Truong Son Xanh (Green Annamites) Project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with a total capital of US$24 million, aming at improving local people's standard of living surrounding the elephant sanctuary, supervising multi-biodiversity and raising conservation awareness
Speaking at the announcement ceremony of the conservation in Nong Son on September 7, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius was proud of to cooperate with Quang Nam in protecting living habitat for endangered Asian elephants and finding solutions to improve incomes for local residents.
In February, local people found seven elephants in Que Lam Commune. Then the Quang Nam Province People’s Committee had submitted a proposal to the Vietnam Forest Administration for establishing a elephant conservation site in Nong Son. The project aims to help conserve the wild population and reduce human-elephant conflicts.

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