Current view: Text account
Site description (2002 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA is situated in the south 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 site is bisected by a network of canals and has some brackish water characteristics. In the south-west part of the site there is a small area of Melaleuca plantation. At the fringes of the site, the natural habitat has been converted into agricultural land, principally wet rice.
Non-bird biodiversity: Silvered Langur Trachypithecus villosus is reported to occur in a neighbouring limestone area, to the east of the site. Some parts of this species' habitat have been designated for cement production (Tran Triet ed. 2001).
Kien luong supports mainly seasonally inundated grassland, although there is also a small area of Melaleuca plantation in the south-west of the site. At the fringes of the site, the natural habitat has been converted into agricultural land, principally wet rice.
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. Most of the large remaining grassland areas are currently earmarked for resettlement and agricultural conversion. However, the acid-suphate soils in the area make most of the plain insuitable for rice agriculture, and there is a real risk , therefore, that the last remaining areas of extensive seasonally inundated grassland in the Mekong Delta will be lost to provide marginal agricultural land.The Kien Luong is further threatened by plans for a major flood control canal that will bisect the site, leading to further fragmentation, changes in flooding regimes and subsequent deterioration of soil fertility through acidification. The construction of this canal is also likely to have serious impacts on the globally threatened large waterbirds found at the site by increasing levels of disturbance.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
The Kien Luong 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 conservatiom in the Mekong Delta. Kien Luong has been included on a proposed list of protected areas currently being prepared by FPD and FIPI.There are currently no conservation activities being implemented at Kien Luong.
The site is included on a list of proposed national protected areas, which was submitted to the central government for approval in 2001.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Kien Luong (Vietnam). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/kien-luong-iba-vietnam on 23/12/2024.
