Con Dao National Park, Viet Nam, Becomes Part of IOSEA Site Network

Con Dao National Park, Viet Nam

Da Nang/Viet Nam, 23 October 2019– The listing of Con Dao National Park, Viet Nam, in the IOSEA Network of Sites, gives a further boost to the protection of marine turtles.

During the 8^th Meeting of the Signatories (MOS8) to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia (IOSEA Marine Turtle MOU), the proposal to include Con Dao National Park, Viet Nam into the IOSEA Network of Sites of Importance was officially accepted.

The IOSEA Site Network aims to promote and coordinate the long-term conservation of sites of regional and global importance to marine turtles and their habitats. Ten Sites were evaluated according to a set of defined criteria and accepted into the Network when it was launched in September 2014.

Con Dao National Park has become the 11^th Site in the Network. Con Dao National Park is situated off the south-east coast of Viet Nam and consists of 14 islands. Especially the smaller islands surrounding Con Son island offer important nesting beaches. The waters of Con Dao offer feeding habitats for Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) and Hawksbill Turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), both of which are listed on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Viet Nam introduced legal protection of marine turtles in 1987, when consumption of meat and eggs became illegal. The first two marine turtle conservation stations in Con Dao were established in 1989, and a further three stations in 1996. Thanks to the conservation efforts of the Vietnamese Government, there has been a dramatic decline in poaching of marine turtles and egg collection. Con Dao was established as a National Park in 1993. However, activities in the areas surrounding the Site are causing increasing pressures to the habitats. These pressures include overfishing and destructive fishing practices which cause disturbance to foraging and nesting of marine turtles, poaching of marine turtles and collection of their eggs for trading, and marine pollution from untreated waste.

To enhance the protection of the marine turtle habitats, the IOSEA Site Network aims to address these threats. The overarching goal of the IOSEA Marine Turtle Site Network is to promote the long-term conservation of sites of regional value for the benefit of marine turtles and their habitats. The governments proposing sites do so in order to improve coordination of their individual efforts, as well as to bring greater attention to the conservation status of sites.

Congratulations to Viet Nam!

Nguồn: https://www.cms.int/iosea-turtles/en/news/con-dao-national-park-viet-nam-becomes-part-iosea-site-network