Volume 3 Issue 1 January 2000

Cuc Phuong Report Palm Civet

 IN THIS ISSUE
  • Project Summary: Four Years of Conservation at Cuc Phuong National Park

  • Project 2000: National Training Program for Conservation Awareness

  • Conservation Awareness Program Review

  • Education Program Returns to Hoa Binh Province

  • CAP Developments

  • Baseline Surveys Help Measure Success of Education Program

  • Visitor Education Program Review

  • Training and Visitor Education Program Activities

  • Special Visits

  • Biological Program Review

  • Owston's Palm Civets Matched for Breeding Season

  • Biodiversity Database Training

  • Wildlife Watch

  • Socioeconomic Program Review

  • Institutional Capacity Building Review

  • GEF Workshop Brings Forest Protection Authorities Together

  • Wildlife Trade Notes

  • Expansion of Turtle Center Facilities

  • Staff News: Departures

    		•
     Cuc Phuong and Region

    Four Years of Conservation
    at Cuc Phuong National Park
       The new year marked the Cuc Phuong Conservation Project's fourth year of conservation efforts at Cuc Phuong National Park. The project, established in 1996 with a grant from the BP Statoil Alliance, has committed its efforts to helping conserve Cuc Phuong's unique biodiversity through a multifaceted approach to conservation and protected area management.
    		The main focuses of project activities have been socioeconomic research, community-based environmental education, visitor interpretation, institutional capacity building, biological research, and species conservation.
       A brief summary of the progress of each of these components is included within this issue of the newsletter.



    Project 2000:  National Training Center for Conservation Education and Awareness
         With its second phase due to be completed sometime in early 2001, the project has already begun to shift its focus to building upon the success of the education program through development of the National Training Center for Conservation Awareness (NTC), based at Cuc Phuong National Park. This national program will offer training for staff and rangers from other National Parks and Protected Areas, as well as teachers, student groups, and the core staff from other project.

         The Cuc Phuong Conservation Project's Conservation Awareness Program is the first and longest running community-based education program of its kind in Vietnam. Through the NTC, the project will share its experience in the field of environmental education, and provide opportunities for others to be trained and acquire experience from an active program currently running in the field.

         "Our experience and success should be made available to other parks and protected areas in the country, avoiding the need for institutions and organizations to consistently reinvent the wheel when it comes to environmental awareness and education," said Ms. Vu Thi Quyen,

    Students participating in the Conservation Club
    Students in the Conservation Club
    Program Officer for the Cuc Phuong Conservation Project. Ms. Quyen added, "Other areas should learn from what we do well, as well as from our mistakes. Our program at Cuc Phuong is a resource that should be used for the benefit of conservation in Vietnam."

       The project has already initiated focused training programs for staff from the SFNC project in Pu Mat Nature Reserve, as well as a ranger from Na Hang Nature Reserve, and routinely runs specialized programs for park staff and university groups.