Known as “Vooc Ngu Sac” (Vietnamese for “Five-coloured Macaque”), the Red-shanked Douc now has a safer home in the newly declared Khe Nuoc Trong Nature Reserve – thanks to the Carbon Balanced supporters who helped protect these forests. Credit: Bjornolesen.com / Viet Nature
This World Environment Day (Saturday 5 June 2021), the UN is calling for a new “generation restoration” to save the ecosystems all life depends on – and that’s the very sort of transformation Carbon Balanced donors have made possible, for years now, at Khe Nuoc Trong. By choosing World Land Trust (WLT) to offset their carbon emissions, our supporters have saved forests teeming with endangered life – and these are the latest impacts for climate, conservation and communities.
Climate: A 50,000 tCO2e/year carbon-storing ‘powerhouse’
To ensure Khe Nuoc Trong’s climate potential can be fully harnessed, new PhD student Paolo Sartorelli will soon be examining the impact of forest restoration at the 54,000-acre reserve. Credit: Natalie Singleton
Last year, Vietnam’s declaration of Khe Nuoc Trong as a Nature Reserve unlocked higher government protection for these forests and the huge volumes of carbon they store – a potential that Viet Nature is now in an even better position to harness. With Carbon Balanced supporters on their side, our partner has spent years working with researchers to periodically collect carbon inventory data across 24 sample plots. The conclusions, supported by peer-reviewed analysis by Leeds University PhD researcher Susanne Stas, are staggering: the protection of Khe Nuoc Trong’s 54,000+ acres (22,132 ha) of forest will deliver 50,000 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) in annual climate benefits. These are climate impacts on par with taking 23,706 average UK cars off the roads for a full year, and Carbon Balanced supporters have helped make it possible!
Conservation: Bounce-back signs for Critically Endangered species
Long-antlered Muntjacs were only discovered by scientists in 1994, but thanks to Carbon Balanced supporters, Viet Nature now has a chance to ensure this Critically Endangered species will live on for generations of researchers to study. Credit: Viet Nature
With 700+ species thought to live in these forests, the life of Khe Nuoc Trong is incredible, as Viet Nature are reminded every time they check their camera trap feeds. Our partner’s latest updates show annual counts for wildlife sightings that run into the thousands, with rangers recently running into a 35-strong group of Red-shanked Douc and glimpsing Critically Endangered Southern White-cheeked Gibbon and Large-antlered Muntjac on camera traps – a confirmation that these beleaguered species are now starting to bounce back in the area. Khe Nuoc Trong’s Nature Reserve status has allowed new conservation mandates for wildlife to be set, and Viet Nature is working hard to make sure they are respected: In January-March 2021 alone, our partner travelled 775 km over 18 patrolling trips (a total of 344 person-days in the forests) and removed 950+ snares, rescuing a trapped Rhesus Monkey and others.
Communities: Shift to sustainable economy improves local lives
Not just climate: Viet Nature’s work at Khe Nuoc Trong, made possible by Carbon Balanced supporters, is helping advance at least nine UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Credit: Viet Nature
No conservation project can hope for long-term success without communities, and with help from Carbon Balanced supporters, Viet Nature have laboured tirelessly so that Khe Nuoc Trong can improve local lives. Our partner has been helping farmers in the project area organise themselves into sustainable forestry cooperatives and secure Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificates. In an area home to marginalised ethnic minorities, a new local economy is taking shape where smallholders will never have to turn to the primary forest again for subsistence. “This shift will be a game-changer for the forest landscape and the local economy by reducing livelihood pressure on natural forest,” says Viet Nature President and Co-founder Pham Tuan Anh. “In time, it will allow sustainable plantation timber to gradually become the substitute for timber from natural forest for domestic use and export.”
