Climate change is inevitable. This means we have to develop methodologies to enable species to be able to cope with the rapid climatic change. WWF Vietnam programme is looking at this through development of resilient multifunctional landscapes that also encompass forest corridors. In central Vietnam, a landscape is being protected through strategies that include a number of ecological transitions to assist with species dispersal and adaptation.

The Central Annamite forests comprise some of the most unique and diverse biodiversity within the Mekong region. The area hosts considerable biodiversity traversing an ecological range that includes the evergreen wetter forests in Vietnam, extended to the drier parts of the eastern slopes of the Annamite chain. The Central Annamites is an area known to be as a Pleistocene refugia, i.e. an area that has existed as continual forest despite the previous climatic fluctuations of the past. This has encouraged high degrees of speciation and endemism, highlighted by the discovery of three large mammals (the saola, a unique forest species, and two muntjac species, a tyoe of deer) in the late 1990s, a feat that has not be encountered anywhere else in the last hundred years. The Central Annamites landscape is regarded as one of the most critical conservation priorities in the SE Asia by international scientists. It supports a large number of endemic species including recent discoveries from lizards, snakes, orchids and mammals. In addition to this, the forests have enormous socio-economic wealth, supporting watersheds, provide community incomes, and are home to over 30 different ethnic peoples. However, the current rate of climate change is at happening at a rate never experienced before. In addition, population pressure and fragmented forest habitats mean that species may face extinction as climate changes occur faster than species can adapt. In a nutshell: where do animals move to?

Mitigating Climate Change: Creation of a Robust Landscape

WWF have been conducting a number of activities as part of Central Truong Son Initiative. This is a pilot initiative under the Greater Annamite Ecoregion Action Plan, with a view towards establishing the process of working at three scales – ecoregional, landscape, and site. The aim of this fledgling initiative is to create a partnership of a broad range of stakeholders - from local communities to international organisations - working together to secure biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the Central Annamite Landscape.

With the social, economic, and ecological impacts of climate change not yet known, it is expected that Vietnam will be amongst the severest affected. In order to cerate resilient ecosystems and livelihood opportunities for local people, WWF is adapting the landscape approach. Through this we aim to create corridors of forest habitat through a mosaic of protected area, watershed forest, and production forest which can assist with creating a landscape corridor. The WWF Vietnam programme through the World Bank – GEF Green Corridor project and ADB Biological Conservation Corridor Initiative project have been investigating a number of ways of mitigating these little known impacts.

The combination of existing nature reserves, and three new protected areas in central Vietnam strengthens forest conservation through creation of protected area forest corridors. This is particularly strong in Hue and Quang Nam province where there is an east to west corridor connecting the coastal areas of Vietnam to the forests of Laos through two new protected areas and an extension to Bach Ma National Park. In addition, WWF work supported by the ADB Biological Conservation Corridor Initiative is strengthening protection of the forest landscape.

This encompasses a remarkable ecological transition between east and west and north to south, covering the biogeographic borders between north and south Vietnam, as demarcated by the Hai Van Pass. It creates a robust corridor spanning ecological transitions between the coast and the wetter parts of the Annamites chain in Vietnam and drier western slopes in Laos; and encompasses an altitudinal range from sea level to 1600m. In addition, a north – south corridor covers an important biogeographic range between the north and southern parts of Vietnam, showing elements of different biogeographic fauna and floras, marking the transition zones between Indo-Malesian, Sino-Himalayan and Indochina flora and faunas.

Restoring connectivity across the landscape

However, the area consists of many degraded and bare land in-between these areas and there is a need to promote restoration that encompasses ecological approaches, livelihood and income generation, carbon storage, and improving landscape connectivity. The ADB Biological Conservation Corridor Initiative is developing a mechanism in Laos and Vietnam for restoring areas to improve connectivity, and supporting livelihoods thorough ownership and/or user rights of forest resources. Forest planting is one way to supporting communities and establish models which also encompass native species, both as creation of sound land use as well as income generation opportunities. However, the process has only started and requires a high degree of commitment across the landscape to be achieved.