Current view: Text account
Site description (2002 baseline):
Site location and context
Ha Tien is situated in the north-west of the Ha Tien plain, a flat coastal plain, which is one of the last remaining extensive areas of seasonally inundated grassland in the Mekong Delta. The soils in the area have a high acid-sulphate content, which means that the land is marginal for agriculture. The site has been proposed as a nature reserve by BirdLife International but is currently under threat of being converted into agricultural land.
The Ha Tien site comprises a mixture of grassland, Melaleuca scrub and Nypa fruticans swamp.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The seasonally inundated grassland at the site is under severe and immediate threat of conversion to rice agriculture and forestry.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
There are currently no conservation activities being implemented at Ha Tien. Kien Giang Provincial People's Committee established a joint venture together with a Taiwanese Company. This Joint venture planted Eucalyptus sp. and Melaleuca sp. but was financially ruined because the scheme was unsuccessful. However, the joint venture retains land tenure for some the most conservation important areas of the Ha Tien plain.
The Ha Tien area was proposed as a nature reserve by BirdLife and the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR), following their project to identify key sites for wetland conservation in the Mekong Delta.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ha Tien (Vietnam). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ha-tien-iba-vietnam on 23/12/2024.
