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Site description (2002 baseline):
Site location and context
Cat Loc is one of the three sectors of Cat Tien National Park, and is situated at the western extent of the Central Highlands. The topography of the site is characterised by steep low hills. Cat Loc supports a variety of habitat types, including secondary evergreen forest, bamboo forest, flooded forest and grassland. Cat Loc is one of the most important sites for the conservation of mammals in Vietnam. Among the mammals that have been confirmed to occur at the site are Asian Elephant Elephas maximus, Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondiacus, Gaur Bos gaurus, Black-shanked Douc Langur Pygathrix nigripes and Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon Nomascus gabrielle. Cat Loc is situated in the South Vietnamese Lowlands Endemic Bird Area (EBA). The site supports populations of all three bird species that occur in this EBA: Orange-necked Partridge Arborophila davidi, Germain's Peacock Pheasant Polyplectron germaini and Grey-faced Tit Babbler Macronous kelleyi. People belonging to a variety of ethnic groups inhabit Cat Loc and the national park buffer zone. Each of these groups have different land-use strategies and different impacts on the natural resources of the national park. The major threats to biodiversity at Cat Loc are conversion of forest land for agriculture, timber extraction, exploitation of non-timber forest products and hunting.
Non-bird biodiversity: The following primate species have been recorded at Cat Loc by Ling (2000): Long-tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis, Stump-tailed Macaque Macaca arctoides, Black-shanked Douc Langur Pygathrix nigripes and Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon Nomascus gabrielle.Cat Loc supports a population of Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus estimated at 5-8 individuals (Ling, 2000). This is the only known population of this species in mainland Asia.
The natural vegetation of Cat Loc is restricted to steep hills and consists of dense primary evergreen forest, secondary evergreen forest, mixed bamboo/evergreen forest on the slopes, patches of scrub and dense stands of bamboo on some slopes and along streams. The bamboo dominates areas that were denuded of vegetation during the Second Indochina War. The surrounding lowlands have been cleared and converted to rice paddy (Atkins and Tentij, 1998 and Ling, 2000).There are several villages situated in Cat Loc, populated by people belonging to the Kinh, Tay, Chau Ma and Stieng ethnic groups. A much larger population inhabits the national park buffer zone, including people belonging to the Kinh, Tay, Nung, Dao and Hmong ethnic groups. Each of these groups have different land-use strategies and different impacts on the natural resources of the national park.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
There are several villages situated in Cat Loc, populated by people belonging to the Kinh, Tay, Chau Ma and Stieng ethnic groups. A much larger population inhabits the national park buffer zone, including people belonging to the Kinh, Tay, Nung, Dao and Hmong ethnic groups. Each of these groups have different land-use strategies and different impacts on the natural resources of the national park. Forest land within Cat Loc is being converted into agricultural land, reducing the area of habitat for globally threatened species. Illegal exploitation of timber, rattan, mammals, birds and fish is still taking place within Cat Loc, despite its national park status.Land within Cat Loc designated as agricultural land is not under the management of the national park management board, which only controls land designated as forest land. Poor coordination among different local government agencies is resulting in an emphasis on agricultural development instead of biodiversity conservation in the agricultural land within the site.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
WWF and MARD are currently implementing the Cat Tien National Park Conservation Project, with funding from the governments of the Netherlands and Vietnam. This project began implementation in May 1998 and is projected to continue until April 2003. The long-term objectives of this project are to: conserve the remaining tropical forest at Cat Tien and its full compliment of biodiversity; maintain a viable population of Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros resident within Cat Tien National Park; protect a critical part of the water catchment of the Tri An reservoir; and enhance public awareness of the physical and biological values of the national park and its surroundings, and improve income-generating opportunities for the national park and the local population.A second major donor-assisted project currently being implemented at Cat Tien National Park is the Forest Protection and Rural Development Project. This project is being implemented by the provincial authorities and MARD, with funding from the World Bank and the government of the Netherlands. This project began implementation in September 1999 and is projected to continue until August 2003. The aim of this project is to reduce local people's dependency on the natural resources of the national park by initiating and executing community development activities that can be expected to have conservation benefits, including land allocation and rural infrastucture development.The US Fish and Wildlife Service have funded two smaller WWF-implemented projects concerned with Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros in Cat Loc. The first of these was an awareness campaign for Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros in Vietnam, focusing on schools and policy and decision makers. The second project was a genetic anaysis of Lesser One-horned Rhinoceros dung samples, in order to assess the size and composition of the population.
Cat Tien National Park consists of three sectors. The Nam Cat Tien sector is located in Tan Phu district, Dong Nai province. The Tay Cat Tien sector is located in Bu Dang district, Binh Phuoc province. The Cat Loc sector is located in Cat Tien and Bao Lam districts, Lam Dong province.Nam Cat Tien was decreed as a protected forest in 1978, and was subsequently upgraded to National Park status. The Tay Cat Tien and Cat Loc sectors were initially separate protected areas. In 1993, an investment plan that proposed combining all three sectors as Cat Tien National Park was completed, but was not approved. In 1997, a revised investment plan for Cat Tien National Park was prepared. This investment plan was approved in 1998.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Cat Loc (Vietnam). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/cat-loc-iba-vietnam on 22/11/2024.
