📋 Tender Overview
Faced with the current situation of elephant herd decline, in 2013, for the first time, the State allocated budget for an elephant conservation project on a national scale, shifting from a scattered approach to a strategic approach, with resources and an overall assessment. Download Mr. Doan Hoai Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Forestry and Forest Protection, spoke - Photo: VGP/Do Huong Elephants are considered ecological indicator species of the forest, because the existence and growth of elephant herds directly reflect the quality of habitat and the level of integrity of the ecosystem. Therefore, restoring the elephant population is not only a story of conservation of a species, but also a measure of the effectiveness of forest protection and biodiversity. At the meeting to evaluate the Overall Project on Elephant Conservation for the period 2015-2025 on the afternoon of December 26, Mr. Doan Hoai Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Forestry and Forest Protection, said that since the 1990s, Vietnamese elephants have entered a period of serious decline when their habitat has shrunk and human-elephant conflicts have occurred. Facing that situation, in 2013, for the first time, the State allocated budget for an elephant conservation project on a national scale, moving from a fragmented approach to a strategic approach, with resources and overall assessment. Dong Nai is a typical locality for this change. After merging boundaries, by the end of 2024, the province will have about 370,000 hectares of forests and forestry land, with a coverage rate of over 25%, including large conservation areas such as Cat Tien National Park and Dong Nai Cultural Nature Reserve - where there is a rare wild elephant population in the Southeast. According to Mr. Co Tan Huy, Deputy Director of Dong Nai Forest Protection Department, the period 1990-2009 was the bottom of the recession. of the local elephant herd, when the number decreased from 15-20 individuals to about 10, human-elephant conflicts occurred frequently. The turning point came from the emergency elephant conservation project implemented in 2013, with the key solution being to build electric fences to orient the elephants movement paths, separating the elephants living space from residential areas and production land. To date, the entire electric fence line in Dong Nai is about 72 km long, accompanied by a patrol system, guard towers, water pans and mineral supplement points in the forest. Thanks to that, the elephant population has clearly recovered, increasing to 25-27 individuals by 2023; The period 2023-2025 continues to record 4-5 young elephants being born. Human-elephant conflict has decreased sharply, about 5,000 hectares of crops have been protected, people can feel secure in production. According to Deputy Director Doan Hoai Nam, the key lesson is that elephant conservation must put humans at the center, reducing conflicts with specific technical solutions, associated with livelihood support and raising awareness, aiming for long-term sustainability. Do HuongSee moreActions to conserve elephantsSee moreUnderstanding elephant behavior for conservation towards harmonious coexistence. Read moreEfforts to preserve elephant herds in the wild
