Rangers from Ninh binh Province in a TCEP training workshop on “The Ecology and Conservation of Vietnam's turtles”. |
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Provincial Ranger Training Aims
at Increasing Enforcement Capacity
The Turtle Conservation and Ecology Project (TCEP) has expanded its efforts to increase the enforcement capacity of regional ranger units through a training program launched in March for rangers of the Soc Son Rescue Center (Hanoi region). The Soc Son rangers participated in a three-day workshop hosted by the TCEP on "Turtle Ecology and Trade in Vietnam". The training workshop, designed specifically for rangers, combines classroom training with experience working with turtles maintained at the TCEP, and is aimed at increasing knowledge and understanding amongst wildlife protection officers about the ecology and threats to Vietnam's turtle fauna, and more specifically, how their unique
ecology and reproductive potential, combined with the impacts of trade and habitat loss, has evolved into a serious crisis, threatening the future of Vietnam's remaining wild populations. The workshop also works with rangers to improve their identification skills, develop monitoring procedures for trade shipments, and encourage practical and more ecologically sound means of dealing with turtles confiscated from the trade.
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Soc Son rangers work with project staff during a four-day training workshop in March. |
In April, a second workshop for Ninh Binh rangers brought 16 officers from the mobile enforcement unit out to the TCEP for training. Ninh Binh rangers have maintained a long history of cooperation with Cuc Phuong National Park, and lead national efforts in developing more effective enforcement and disposal procedures for animals confiscated from the trade. Ninh Binh also lies along the principal road transport route from areas within southern Vietnam, and has nurtured a reliable network of informants that provide information about trade shipments heading north along Highway One.
A third workshop in May brought 13 rangers from the Hanoi Forest Protection Branch (FPB) to Cuc Phuong. Hanoi rangers are in the position to play a particularly important role in wildlife trade enforcement due to the nature of the trade network, with most overland trade passing through Hanoi, before being shipped north via several routes to China. Enforcement in recent years has led to a series of trade seizures at Nho Bai Airport, as well as the central train and bus stations, and major road routes. Some of the country's largest traders also reside within the immediate Hanoi region.
Rangers from the Hanoi Forest Protection Branch attended a workshop in May at the TCEP. Rangers are trained to improve their turtle identification skills, which will enable more effective monitoring of the trade. |
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Plans call for further training of other provincial units, as well as for the protection staff of some parks and nature reserves. The TCEP will also work with ranger units that have received training through the center on increasing monitoring and enforcement activities, as well as helping to establish clear guidelines for dealing with animals confiscated from the trade.
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