Evaluating the effects of ecotourism on flora and fauna in ba vi national park, ha noi

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT VIETNAM FORESTRY UNIVERSITY STUDENT THESIS EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF ECOTOURISM ON FLORA AND FAUNA IN BA VI NATIONAL PARK, HA NOI Major: Natural Resources Management Code: D850101 Faculty: Forest Resources and Environmental Management Student: Mai Thuy Van Student ID: 1153090361 Class: K56 Natural Resources Management Course: 2011 - 2015 Advanced Education Program Developed in collaboration with Colorado State University, USA Supervisor: Dr Le Xuan Truong Ha Noi, November 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I offer my sincerest gratitude to Faculty of Forestry & Environmental Management, Vietnam Forestry University for the continuous support of my study and related research My sincere thanks also go to all of officers in Ba Vi national park, Ha Noi who helped me with the field work and data collection Without their precious support it would not be possible to conduct this research My special thanks to my supervisor, Dr Le Xuan Truong for his patience, motivation, and immense knowledge His guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis I could not have imagined having a better supervisor and mentor for my thesis Besides, I also especially thank Prof Lee MacDonald for assisting me in the logical outline, structure and for valuable comments and discussions of final presentation Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents and my friends for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this thesis and my life in general Despite all efforts to make the study free from error, there may be errors still left unnoticed for what the researcher takes all the responsibilities personally I am very glad to receive suggestions from my teachers and friends to make my thesis better, I sincerely pay my thanks to them Ha Noi, November 2015 Mai Thuy Van TABLE OF CONTENT 1/ Introduction 2/ Goals and Objectives 2.1 Goals 2.2 Objectives 3/ Methods 3.1 Study area 3.2 Data collection 3.3 Analysis data 4/ Results and discussions 4.1 Current ecotourism activities in Ba Vi national park 4.1.1 Infrastructures and material facilities 4.1.2 Current trend in tourism 10 4.1.3 Seasonality in tourism 12 4.2 Effects of ecotourism on flora and fauna in Ba Vi national park 12 4.2.1 Overview of tourists 12 4.2.2 Evaluating the awareness of tourists about the effects of ecotourism to Ba Vi national park 14 4.2.3 Difference between nationalities about evaluation of the effects of ecotourism on flora and fauna 22 4.2.4 SWOT analysis 24 4.3 Suggest some solutions for sustainable management of ecotourism in Ba Vi national park 26 4.3.1 About tourist 26 4.3.2 About community 26 4.3.3 About manager 26 5/ Conclusions 28 6/ References 29 7/ Appendices 31 LIST OF TABLE Table 3.1: The component of managers interviewed Table 3.2: The structure of tourists by questionnaire Table 4.1: Number of tourist from 2011 to 2014 in Ba Vi national park 10 Table 4.2: Nationality structure of tourist by questionnaire 12 Table 4.3: Age and sex distribution of tourist 13 Table 4.4: Sources of information let tourists know about Ba Vi national park 14 Table 4.5: The purpose of tourism trip 14 Table 4.6: The tourist density during the day 15 Table 4.7: Awareness of tourists about influence level of ecotourism activities 16 Table 4.8: Frequency of participation in tourism activities 18 Table 4.9: Evaluating the positive and negative effects of ecotourism 21 Table 4.10: Awareness of tourists based on nationality 22 Table 4.11: Frequency of participation in tourism activities based on nationality 23 Table 4.12: Evaluating the positive and negative effects of ecotourism based on nationality 24 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Local of study area Figure 4.1: Organizational Structure of Ba Vi national park Figure 4.2: Ecotourism routes in Ba Vi national park Figure 4.3: Number of tourist from 2011 to 2014 in Ba Vi national park 11 Figure 4.4: Age group distribution of tourists 13 ABSTRACTS The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of ecotourism on flora and fauna in Ba Vi national park The survey was conducted from July to September, 2015 Data was collected from interview tourists and managers associated with field survey, secondary data collection, SWOT analysis Then evaluating the current potential of ecotourism and exploitation in Ba Vi National park Through interview questionnaire, evaluate the awareness of visitors about the effects of ecotourism on flora and fauna There are some difference awareness between foreign visitors and domestic visitors Finally, suggest some solutions for sustainable management of ecotourism in Ba Vi national park 1/ Introduction Nowadays, the people‟ lives are improving They want to travel to take a rest, reduce daily anxiety Moreover, they could breathe in the fresh air, immerse themselves into nature, improve their knowledge Thus, ecotourism has become the need of human beings Ecotourism is a relatively new concept It is the concern of a lot of people in different fields Ecotourism is now defined as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education" (The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), 2015) Education is meant to be inclusive of both staff and guests Principles of ecotourism include: (i) Minimize physical, social, behavioral, and psychological impacts; (ii) build environmental and cultural awareness, and respect; (iii) provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts; (iv) produce direct financial benefits for conservation; (v) generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry; (vi) deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climates; (vii) design, construct and operate low-impact facilities and (viii) recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous People in your community and work in partnership with them to create empowerment (TIES, 1990) In Vietnam, an important attraction of tourism is the biodiversity of the country Despite a great potential, ecotourism in protected areas and national parks in Vietnam in general and at Ba Vi national park in particular is just at the beginning of development Ba Vi national park is centered on Mount Ba Vi, an isolated mountain about 50 km west of Hanoi The three mountain summits are Dinh Vua which is the highest at 1,296m, Tan Vien which is 1,226m and Ngoc Hoa the lowest at 1,131m Together they form a three humped crest which is often obscured by clouds at the highest point There are also superb tropical forest views and vistas all the way to Hanoi to be enjoyed from this peak The fast1 flowing Da River is located on one side of the national park; there are several other streams running through the park With the wonderful beauty, famous historical monuments, waterfalls and streams, Ba Vi national park attracts a large number of tourists each year Moreover, Ba Vi national park has rich of forest resources, especially flora and fauna There are a lot of endemic and endangered species based on Vietnam Red data book Tourists play the main part in ecotourism projects Because of a great potential, the number of tourists coming to Ba Vi national park has increased each year In 2014, Ba Vi national park welcomed nearly 150 thousands visitors, which increased 6.9% than the number of visitors in 2013 (Environment Education & Services Center, 2015) But many threats are caused by tourism The effects of tourism are threatening flora and fauna, such as noise, littering, exploiting forest products, illegal wildlife trade or building infrastructures Because most of activities are spontaneous, flora and fauna has been degraded in many places Some important income has been lost The effects of ecotourism on natural resources and conservation are necessary to concern today After that researcher should give some solutions, directions for ecotourism development as well as protect potentials of the national park Because of the problems mentioned above, I decided to choose the topic: “Evaluating the effects of ecotourism on flora and fauna in Ba Vi national park, Ha Noi” to contribute development of ecotourism at the same time flora and fauna protection Managers, administrations and local people perform the mission of the Forest Protection well Forest Service Rental Program provides a lot benefit of conservation, creating jobs, increasing income * Weaknesses Despite of strengths, Ba Vi national park had a lot of weaknesses Lack of infrastructure and services has caused various problems like uncontrolled construction and developmental activities Tourism routes were rudimentary Resort service, room rentals did not meet the needs of tourist Camping, cuisine, souvenir were weak Ba Vi national park has not had area for wildlife conservation In addition, the park is lack of professionalism tour guide Promote program is not received fully concern of management * Opportunities The number of tourists has increased rapidly in recent years, it makes opportunities to develop ecotourism in Ba Vi national park The park has received the capital investment from government budget and business mobilization Thanks for the consent of The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ba Vi national park had carried out a pilot of Forest service rental program for ecotourism services The park received money from businesses which rent forest for ecotourism business This fund was sent to the budget then it was used for forest protection projects * Threats Ba Vi national park has faced a lot of threats in the conservation of flora and fauna Loss of forest and hunting wildlife has happened Some species were completely decimated such as Cervus nippon, Ursus malayanus About flora, it faced many threats from invasive and exotic species The increasing of tourists causes negative impact to forest Local people has exploited bamboo shoot, hunted animal, collected medicine in the forest Moreover, lack of funds caused some categories were not investment 25 4.3 Suggest some solutions for sustainable management of ecotourism in Ba Vi national park Solutions were brought out based on analysis, summary opinion of tourists through interview Solutions were divided into three groups: Tourist, community and manager 4.3.1 About tourist Tourists should be encouraged not to eat forest products or buy souvenir of forest products It is important to increase awareness of tourists about the conservation of flora and fauna, environmental protection before visited national park through public relation programs The park should put rule and guideline plates at tourism places It is necessary to build a management regulation for tourists 4.3.2 About community Historical cultural background of local communities is important factor to attract tourists The participation of communities not only brings their benefit, but also increases tourism quality and contributes to protected environment To attract communities to conservation of flora and fauna, Ba Vi national park needs help them understand that hunting and exploiting forest products must be banned Communities should be encouraged to take part in training, propaganda programs of protected forest Communities could find jobs in the park or tourism company Local people around the park who received forest plot from national park have to protect this entrust forest 4.3.3 About manager Ba Vi national park should concern about adding staff who has skillful and experience Staff must be trained more regularly than ever before Furthermore, detail development plan for ecotourism and conservation should be built and applied Infrastructures such as guest-house, meeting room, car park, road need to widen Another suggestion is setting up a new ecotourism route associated with scientific research such as visiting Podocarpus annamiensis, Calocedrus macrolepis In fact, advertising of national 26 park was weak, so the park should build more promote programs on public media or internet Forest rangers enhance inspection to detect misconducts 27 5/ Conclusions Ba Vi national park has great potential to develop ecotourism The park attracts a large number of tourists per year, but the number of foreign tourist is very small Visitors come here for spiritual tourism, relax, sightseeing or studying In recent years, the number of tourists has increased each year, along with increasing tourist activities, flora and fauna in the park has been threatened Some evident effects on flora and fauna by ecotourism are exploiting and trading forest products, building infrastructures, littering, and noise There were 80 tourists who interviewed with their age from 16 to 55 years Among them, there were 70 domestic visitors and 10 foreign visitors There were 49 males and 31 females The awareness of tourists about the effects of ecotourism activities on conservation of flora and fauna was limit There was difference about awareness and participation between foreign tourists and domestic tourists Foreign tourists had better awareness about the effects of ecotourism on flora and fauna than domestic tourists So they didn‟t participate in these activities that impact to natural resources About the positive and negative of ecotourism based on nationality, there was hardly any difference between two types of visitors about the positive effects About negative effects, foreign visitors had better awareness than domestic visitors The thesis proposed three groups of solution to contribute conservation of flora and fauna and sustainable management of ecotourism in Ba Vi national park Three groups are tourist, community and manager 28 6/ References Chi TV (2012) Ecotourism development and biodiversity conservation at Tam Dao national park Hen, L (1998) Tourism and Environment Free University of Brussels Belgium Hong, P.N et al, (2013) Ecotourism in Vietnam: Potential and Reality Hong QM, (2003) Ecotourism Case Studies in Vietnam In Ecotourism Book, pp: 264269 José, J.G.H (2011) Handbook of ecotourism in protected areas of Vietnam Quang, D.V, Thanh, D.K, (2002) Using special-use forest environment to develop ecotourism and careers education in Ba Vi national park Report, (2010) Ba Vi national park development planning, period 2010-2020 Ba Vi national park Ministry of agriculture and rural development, pp 20-64 Tan, N.V (2015) The number of tourists in Ba Vi National park from 2011 to 2014, Ba Vi national park tourist map Environment Education & Services Center Ba Vi national park TES, (1998) The Ecotourism Society Ecotourism Workshop Handbook, George Washington University, Washington, DC 10 TIES, 1990-2014 The international ecotourism society, What is Ecotourism? http://www.ecotourism.org/ 11 Tin, D.V, (2013) Graduate thesis Research the effects of ecotourism on biodiversity in Tam Dao national park, Vinh Phuc Library and information center, Vietnam forestry university 12 Tra, D.T.T, (2007) Solutions to sustainable development of ecotourism in Ba Vi national park 29 13 Tu, C.V, (2009) Graduate thesis Research the effects of ecotourism on biodiversity in Hoang Lien national park, Sa Pa, Lao Cai Library and information center, Vietnam forestry university, pp 25-43 14 Tuan, T.M et al, (2008) List of flora and fauna list Ba Vi national park 15 Viet B, Tuan, T.M, Dien, N.V (2008) Ba Vi national park Vietnam natural bookcase Kim Dong publisher 16 Vietnam‟s Red Data book (2007) Volume 1: Fauna, volume 2: Flora Science and technology publisher 17 Yen, M.D (2006) Ecotourism development in national parks and protected areas in Vietnam Vietnam tourism magazine, No.12 30 7/ Appendices Questionnaire for tourists To whom it may concern! I'm currently a student at Vietnam Forestry University My graduate thesis is: “Evaluating the effects of ecotourism on flora and fauna in Ba Vi national park, Ha Noi” Could you help me complete the survey questionnaire below? The result of this survey is only served to research and sustainable ecotourism development So, I would like to receive the cooperation of you 1/ You are: A Domestic visitor B Foreign visitor 2/ How did you get information about Ba Vi national park? A Friend, relative B Tourism company C Advertising D Internet E Others:…………… 3/ How many times have you visited Ba Vi national park? 4/ What was the aim of your holidays in Ba Vi national park? A Relax B Sightseeing C Spiritual tourism D Study and research E Others:………………… 5/ Did you feel crowded by the number of people on the national park today? Not at all crowded Slightly crowded Moderately crowded 31 Considerably crowded Extremely crowded 6/ Did you see the tourism phenomenon? Did you take part in those activities? Taking part in Level Phenomenon Not at all Slightly Moderately Extremely Yes Walking on grass, plant, breaking branch Tree, Stone carving Buying souvenir of forest products Camp fire Eating forest products Exploiting forest products Illegal wildlife trade Noise Littering Building infrastructures Others: …………… 7/ What you think the effects of ecotourism in the Ba Vi national park? Level Effects Not at all Slightly Creating jobs Raising income Raising awareness about flora, fauna conservation Contribution for flora, fauna protection Preserving traditional cultural Environment pollution Flora and fauna degradation Others:……………… Personal information Full name: Sex: Age: Education: Thank you for your help and support! 32 Moderately Extremely No List of Rare plant in Ba Vi national park (According Vietnam Red data book – 2007) No Vietnamese name Scientific name Family Family (Latin) (Vietnamese) EN (Endangered): species Cèt to¸i bỉ Drynaria fortunei Thủ long cèt Polypodiaceae B¸ch thuý Calocedrus Hoàng đàn Cupressaceae macrolepis Tế tân ba Asarum balansae Mà đâu linh Aristolochiaceae Quỉ cữu bắc Podophyllum Tiểu nghiệt Berberidaceae tonkinense Táu n-ớc Vatica subglabra DÇu Dipterocarpaceae SÕn mËt Madhuca pasquieri Hång xiªm Sapotaceae Goniothalamus Na Annonaceae Ngut q Lauraceae VU (Vulnerable): 29 species Lăng thác việt nam vietnamensis Dự (Chù) Cinnadenia paniculata Vï h-¬ng (Gï h-¬ng) Cinnamomum balansae Nguyệt quế Lauraceae Tế tân ba Asarum balansae Mà đâu linh Aristolochiaceae Thổ tế tân Asarum caudigerum Mà đâu linh Aristolochiaceae Tế tân nhẵn Asarum glabrum Mà đâu linh Aristolochiaceae Dòm (Nhòm) Stephania dielsiana Phòng kỷ Menispermaceae Thanh ng-u đảm Tinospora sagitta Phòng kỷ Menispermaceae Cµ ỉi sa pa Castanopsis lecomtei Cư Fagaceae 10 Cà ôi ô vuông (Cà ôi Castanopsis tessellata Cư Fagaceae da) 33 11 Såi l¸ m¸c Lithocarpus balansae Cử Fagaceae 12 Giẻ đĩa Quercus platycalyx Cử Fagaceae 13 Hạp tử thảo Actinostemma Bí Cucurbitaceae tenerum 14 Trọng đũa dà sinh (Khôi) Ardisia silvestris Đơn nem Myrsinaceae 15 Trám ®en Canarium pimela C¶m l·m Burseraceae 16 Géi nÕp Aglaia spectabilis Xoan Meliaceae 17 Sắng Melientha suavis Sơn cam Opiliaceae 18 Mộc vệ choắt Taxillus gracilifolius Tầm gửi Loranthaceae 19 M· tiỊn l«ng Strychnos ignatii M· tiỊn Loganiaceae 20 Ba gạc luân sinh Rauvolfia verticillata Trúc đào Apocynaceae 21 Nồng lợi Fagerlindia Xuyến thảo Rubiaceae Chùm ớt Bignoniaceae depauperata 22 §inh mËt (§inh) Markhamia stipulata var.Kerrii 23 Lâi thä hoa chùm Gmelina racemosa Cỏ roi ngựa Verbenaceae 24 Đảng sâm xê - lép Codonopsis celebica Hoa chuông Campanulaceae 25 Đảng sâm Codonopsis javanica Hoa chuông Campanulaceae 26 Trúc thất dài Disporopsis longifolia Ngọc linh Convallariaceae 27 Tiễn thự nguyên Tacca integrifolia Tiễn thự Taccaceae 28 Đài thảo ba Carex bavicola Raym Cói Cyperaceae 29 Song mËt Calamus Cau Arecaceae R¸y Araceae platyacanthus LR (Lower Risk)1 species N-a đứt đoạn Amorphophalus interruptus 34 List of fauna in Ba Vi national park (According Vietnam Red data book – 2007) No Scientific name I II III 10 IV 11 12 13 V 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 INSECTIVORA Soricidae Suncus murinus Talpidae Suncus murinus SCANDENTA Tupaiidae Tupaia glis CHIROPTERA Pteropodidae Rousettus leschenaulti Cynopterus brachyotis C.sphinx Rhinolophus Rhinolophus pusillus Vespertilionidae Pipistrellus cormandra P minus PRIMATES Loridae Nycticebus coucang Cercopithecidae Macaca mulatta M arctoides CARNIVORA Canidae Cuon alpinus 10 Ursidae Ursus thibetanus U malayanus 11 Mustelidae Melogale moschata M personata Lutra lutra Mustela flavicula M strigidosa 12 Viverridae Viverra zibetha Vietnamese name BỘ ĂN SÂU BỌ Họ Chuột chù Chuột chù Họ Chuột chòi Chuột cï l×a BỘ NHIỀU RĂNG Họ Đồi Đồi BỘ DƠI Họ Dơi Quả Dơi Ngực nâu Dơi chó tai ngn Di tai dài H Di mũi Dơi mũi nhỏ H Di mui Dơi muỗi nâu Dơi muỗi mắt B LINH TRNG H culi Culi ln H khỉ Khỉ vàng Khỉ mặt đỏ BỘ ĂN THỊT Họ chó Sãi ®á Họ gấu Gấu ngựa GÊu chã Họ chồn Chồn bạc má Chồn bạc má nam Rái cá thường Chồn m¸c ChiÕt chØ l-ng Họ cầy Cầy giơng thường 35 VN Red Distribute data book 2007 32 decree 1,2 1,2 1 VU 1, 1,2 VU IB 2 VU IIB IIB VU IB 1,2 EN EN IB IB 1,2 1,2 2 VU IB IIB 1,2 IIB No 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Scientific name Viverricula indica Paguma larvata Arctictis binturong Chrotogale owstoni Prionodon pardicolor 13 Herpestidae Herpestes javanicus Herpestes urva 14 Felidae Felis bengalensis F temmincki Panthera tigris VI ARTIODACTYLA 15 Tragulidae 33 Tragulus javanicus 16 Cervidae 34 Cervus unicolor 35 Muntiacus muntjak 36 Cervus nippon 17 Suidae 37 Sus scrofa 18 Bovidae Naemorhedus 38 sumatraensis VII PHOLIDOTA 19 Manidae 39 Manis pendactyla VIII RODENTIA 20 Pteromyidae 40 Belomys pearsoni 41 Petaurista petaurista 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 21 Sciuridae Callosciurus flavimanus C inornatus Ratufa bicolor Tamiops maritimus Tamiops macclelandi 22 Rhizomyidae Rhizomys pruinosus R sumatraensis 23 Muridae Vietnamese name Cầy hương Cầy vòi mốc Cầy mực Cầy vằn bắc Cầy gÊm Họ cầy lỏn CÇy lán Cầy móc cua Họ mèo Mèo rừng Beo lửa Hổ* BỘ GUỐC CHẴN Họ Cheo cheo Cheo Cheo Java* Họ nai Nai* Hoẵng* Huou sao* H Ln Ln rng Họ trâu bò Sn dng BỘ TÊ TÊ Họ Tê tê Tê tê vµng BỘ GẶM NHẤM Họ sóc bay Sóc bay long tai Sóc bay trõu H Súc cõy Sóc bụng đỏ đuôi đỏ Sóc bụng xám Sóc đen* Sóc chuột h¶i nam Sóc chuột H Dỳi Dỳi mc ln Dỳi má đào H chuột 36 VN Red Distribute data book 2007 1,2 1,2 1,2 EN 1,2 VU 32 decree IIB IB IIB 1,2 1,2 1,2 EN CR VU IIB IB IIB 1,2 EW 1,2 1,2 VU IB 1,2 EN IIB 1,2 CR VU IIB IIB 1,2 1,2 1,2 1,2 VU IIB No 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 Scientific name Rattus bowersi R argentiventer R.flavipectus R molliculus R sabanus Bandicota indisa Mus musculus Rathis koratensis R hoxaensis R surifer R norvegicus 24 Hystricidae Atherurus macrourus Acnthion subcristatum* Vietnamese name Chuét mèc lín Chuột Bụng bạc Chuột nhà Chuột đàn Chuét nói Chuột ®Êt lín chuột nhắt Chuột rừng Cht ®ång lín Cht suri Cht cèng Hä nhÝm §on NhÝm bêm Note: EN: Endangered VU: Vulnerable CR: Critically Endangered 32 decree: The government's Decree No 32/2006/ND-CP IB: Rare species are prohibited from exploitation IIB: Rare species are limited from exploitation 37 VN Red Distribute data book 2007 1 1,2 1 1,2 1,2 2 1,2 2 32 decree Some pictures in the fieldwork in Ba Vi national park, Ha Noi Upper temple French period summer camping Cactus garden Flora garden The old church Bird in Ba Vi national park 38 39