Hin Nam No national park to join IUCN green list

Laos has confirmed the nomination of Hin Nam No National Park in Khammuan province to the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas.
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas is a global standard for protected area management performance.
“The approval of the Lao government to proceed with IUCN Green List certification for Hin Nam No National Park is a big step toward our goal of having our national park obtain international recognition status and another important step towards UNESCO World Heritage nomination,” said the Deputy Governor of Khammuan province, Mr Bounmy Phimmasone.

Hin Nam No is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and has been proposed for World Heritage status by the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
 Both processes are supported by the German government through the project “Protection and Sustainable Use of Forest Ecosystems and Biodiversity”, which is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
“That Hin Nam No undergoes assessment for Green Listing at the same time as its sister site, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam.
This way, the future transboundary world heritage site, as a whole, will fulfill the highest international management standards,” Deputy Director General of the Department of Heritage, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Phakhanxay Sikhanxay, said.
“As well as raising the international profile of Hin Nam No, Green List certification will set a precedent for other protected areas in Laos,” he added.
The national park covers 94,000 hectares, mostly comprising pristine karst forests. Together with the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, it constitutes the largest protected tropical karst area in the world.
 Hin Nam No was designated a national park in January 2020 by prime ministerial decree and is acclaimed for its outstanding biodiversity and geological features.
“We look forward to working with Hin Nam No National Park on getting the site added to the prestigious IUCN Green List,” said the Head of IUCN’s Indo-Burma Group, Jake Brunner.
Vietnam’s Van Long Nature Reserve, a stronghold of the Critically Endangered Delacour’s langur, was the first protected area in Southeast Asia to be certified as a Green List site, in October 2020.
The site represents the most significant and essentially intact karst ecosystem within the Annamites Range Moist Forests, a Global 200 Priority Ecoregion.
 It provides pristine forest habitats and acts as a refuge for a vast biodiversity with more than 1,520 species of vascular plants and 536 vertebrate species.
Among them are the critically endangered Large-antlered muntjac, the Southern White-cheeked gibbon and the Red-shanked Douc langur.
It also offers habitats to many endemic subterranean species in its vast cave systems, including blind fish, large spiders and scorpions, which only occur in this area.
One of these cave systems is Xe Bang Fay cave, which is a contender for the world’s largest cave and a must-see for every visitor to Hin Nam No.
The national park will now be assessed in relation to an international standard that recognises and improves successful area-based nature conservation efforts.
The benefits of Green List certification include regional and international recognition as part of a community of protected areas that demonstrate conservation leadership through commitment and action.
IUCN provides technical support to Green List members, helping strengthen park management and governance, and often results in increased funding.
Such benefits will see the national park become a leader of conservation efforts in Laos, setting a precedent for other protected areas. It will also assist its nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage Site programme.
The Hin Nam No National Park will become one of two candidate Green List sites in Laos, the other being Nakai-Nam Theun National Park, which joined the programme in August 2020.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update February 1, 2021)