VN: Animals and plants increase danger level!

The coming 2004 Vietnam Red Book will add to the official list of many endangered species (plants or high risk of extinction).

From 2001 to 2003, the Project of Amendment and Drafting of the Vietnam Red Book 2004, chaired by the National Center for Natural Science and Technology, now the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, was established, with participation the majority of scientific staff in all sectors in the country.

The results of the project show that the level of threat in each animal and plant component in nature has changed alarmingly.

Amend the Red Book

Vietnam Red Book includes parts: Animals and Plants. First drafted and published in 1992 and 1996, the Vietnam Red Book quickly came to life, widely used in industries and localities, as a basis for consideration, evaluation and handling. cases of violating state laws and regulations on prohibition of hunting, exploitation, transportation, trading of endangered wild animal and plant species, as well as proposing protection measures necessary for each object.

Since the time of the publication of the Vietnam Red Book 1992-1996, the situation of our country in general and biodiversity in particular have changed and need to be updated with new information.

Therefore, it is necessary to amend and draft the Vietnam Red Book 2004.

The deer is now extinct in the wild

After two years of implementation, in collaboration with over 70 scientists, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has completed the drafting of both basic documents: Vietnam Red List 2004 and Vietnam Red Book 2004 , excellently evaluated by the State-level Acceptance Council.

Results of implementation of the Vietnam Red Book revision and drafting project (not yet released) show the new situation of biodiversity in our country after 10 years.

Fauna and flora endangered .

A total of 857 species of wild animals and plants endangered in nature, including 407 animals and 450 plant species.

Compared to figures published in the Vietnam Red Book 1992-1996 that are 709 threatened species (359 animals and 350 species of plants), it can be seen that the number of threatened species is significantly increased.

What is more interesting is the level of threat in each of the dynamic components, the plants in nature also have very alarming changes.

In the animal composition, in the Vietnam Red Book 1992, the highest level of threatened species in the Critically Endangered species, in 2004 there were 6 species considered extinct in the territory.

About wild animals, there are 3 species: Two-horned rhinoceros, tapir, and otter civet can be considered completely extinct. Star deer only exist in a state of nurturing and extinction in nature.

Among the aquatic animals, the original carp and lilac are also considered to be completely extinct in nature.

There are 149 species of aquatic animals that are considered Endangered, far more than 71 species in the Vietnam Red Book 1992.

There are 46 species that are considered Very Vulnerable, most in groups: Wild animals (12 species), Birds (11), Amphibian reptiles (9), Insects (4) .

It is noteworthy that some insects have the shape, beautiful colors are hunted too much and are very dangerous objects such as: pair of pliers, sword pliers, large pliers, three horns, four-pointed orange wings. .

In botanical composition, there are no species that are considered extinct, but in the Vietnam Red Book 1996, some species previously classified as Vulnerable must move to Endangered and Very Endangered. .

The Vietnam Red Data Book of 1996 has only 24 Endangered species, now up to 192 species, of which 45 are considered Very Endangered. Most of these species belong to Magnolia (closed-grain) and Pine (conifer) branches.

Among the plants that belong to Very Endangered nowadays, there are precious timber trees such as: Hoang dan dan, Hoang Dan, Yellow cypress, Taiwan canopy, some precious medicinal plants such as: Three red flower antlers, red ginseng Diep, tam vi hoang, endemic plants of Vietnam such as: Tam Dao enlightenment, curved leaves.

Rare and precious ornamental plants such as red comedy orchids, orchid comedy orchids, Tam Dao orchid orchids, Helium comedy orchids are also classified as Very Endangered.

In the Vietnam Red Book 2004, the number of species assessed at Endangered levels also increased significantly. In plants and animals, the number of species listed above is 209 and 173 species respectively.

The biggest increase is the group: Birds, Freshwater Fish, Animals, Insects, Sea Animals. As for plants, the Magnolia industry previously had only 48 species considered to be Endangered and now increases to 180 species.

It is noteworthy that there are wild animals that are considered extinct in nature in our territory such as: Two-horn rhinos, tapirs, and otter civets; or perhaps extinct as reptiles still exist in some neighboring countries.

Wildlife protection and protection: Urgent tasks

From the above results, we can see that the level of biodiversity in our country is seriously threatened.

The completion of the drafting of the Vietnam Red Book 2004 in addition to the meaning of contributing to the assessment of the current biodiversity situation, predicting the development trend in the coming time also serves as a basis for drafting the Law on biodiversity protection. Study in Vietnam is underway.

At the same time, it also sets out urgent tasks of preserving natural resources of our country, not only focusing on economic value organisms but also scientific and cultural values. Vietnam Red Book will be released in the near future. Then at that time, will the situation be even more dangerous?

Prof. Dr.-Doctor Dang Ngoc Thanh (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) - follows Hanoi New