
The central city Huế has established a new North Hải Vân Landscape Protection Area covering 7,354.97ha to strengthen the conservation of rich biodiversity, develop environmental services and enhance carbon storage for the ‘green’ growth of the Chân Mây-Lăng Cô Economic Zone.
The municipal People’s Committee said the protection area will receive a fund of VNĐ30 billion (US$1.2 billion) for restoration and protection programmes in 2025–30.
It added that the landscape area conserves a large biodiversity corridor encompassing a well-protected ecological system of primary forests running from National Bạch Mã Park to the Saola Nature Reserve and Xesap National Park in Laos.
The area will serve as a buffer zone and natural reserve within the complex of the Chân Mây-Lăng Cô Urban area, Lăng Cô Bay, the Hải Vân Gate, and the National Historical Relics and Architecture.
A biodiversity study on the landscape protection area reported that it is home to typical endangered species, including the red-shanked douc langur (Pygathrix nemaeus), the Sumatran forest goat (Capricornis sumatraensis), the pygmy slow loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus), and various valuable timbers such as Sindora tonkinensis, a type of bean tree, and ironwood (Erythrophleum fordii).

Last year, the city also established the new Saola Nature Reserve before approving a project to protect the critically endangered Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), one of the world’s rarest animals, sometimes called the Asian ‘unicorn’, with funding from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for 2025-26.
Huế City now conserves three nature reserves – National Bạch Mã Park, the new Saola Nature Reserve, and the newly introduced Phong Điền – covering a total of 90,000ha.
Bạch Mã National Park was selected as the site for the world’s only breeding centre for the saola, while the first phase of the Bear Rescue Centre Việt Nam’s second branch was established at the park by the Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) and the Forest Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Tam Giang–Cầu Hai Lagoon has been designated a Natural Wetland Conservation site, covering an area of 22,000ha, making it the largest and most diverse brackish water ecosystem in Southeast Asia.
(VNS)