The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has approved a conservation project to help protect the endangered elephant herds in Da Nang city and Dak Lak province – both in central Vietnam – as part of the Vietnam Elephant Conservation Action Plan to 2035 funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature Vietnam (WWF VN).
WWF VN said the non-refundable grant worth 23.9 billion VND (908,000 USD) will help provide conservation and protection solutions for the wild elephant community, including by creating safe migratory corridors, improving habitat and reducing conflict between humans and wildlife.
The project also aims to provide GPS tracking collars and more sources of food and minerals in the environment, as well as create isolated “green” fences to help avoid conflict between local farmers and wild elephant herds.
According to WWF VN, at least one elephant has been given a tracking collar under a joint effort between the National Park of Yok Don and the Mondulkiri Project Elephant Sanctuary in Cambodia.
Previously, a series of projects funded by international partners was implemented to protect the wild elephant community in the formerly Quang Nam province (now part of Da Nang city), including construction of an elephant-deterrent honey locust fence by the US Forest Service starting in 2020.
Another prior project involved empowering local communities and raising awareness to prevent habitat destruction, poaching and human-elephant conflicts in the Nong Son Elephant Species and Habitat Conservation Area, now located in Da Nang.
The initiative was undertaken from 2024–25 and was supported by the US charity LVDI International Incorporated and HiVOOC company of Vietnam.
Last month, two baby elephants were captured in photographs by a camera trap system in the Nong Son conservation area.
Nong Son was set up under the US Agency for International Development-funded Green Annamites Project, assisting Vietnam’s transition to climate-smart and low-emissions development through improved forest protection, enhanced biodiversity conservation and increased resilience of communities.
The conservation area covers 18,977ha of critical habitat for Asian elephants and helps protect one of the last groups of the endangered species in central Vietnam.
Local rangers reported a herd of eight Asian elephants living in Nong Son, including a mature male, one semi-mature male, three mature females, two semi-mature females and a one-year-old calf.
Communities living in a buffer zone near an elephant protection area in Nong Son commune have been offered education programmes to raise awareness of the campaign to protect the endangered Asian elephant and other wildlife species in the region.
The herd of eight Asian elephants – an endangered species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature – has been found to coexist in harmony with humans in the protected zone, the local rangers department reported.
WWF VN has previously implemented projects in central Vietnam, including the Elephant Species Habitat Conservation Area in the former Quang Nam province’s Nong Son district; the Green Annamites Project; the Saola Nature Reserve in Quang Nam and another in Hue; and phase one of the Forest Restoration and Livelihood Development Project.
Da Nang, which now includes the former Quang Nam province, has made efforts to conserve its rich biodiversity and ecological systems, including Song Thanh National Park, the UNESCO-recognised world biosphere reserve at Cham Islands-Hoi An and reserves for saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), or Asian bicorns, in central Vietnam.
Other protected landscapes include several created for Ngoc Linh ginseng in Son Tra, Ba Na Nui Chua, and South Hai Van./.
