Protected areas of Vietnam

Many areas of Vietnam are under protection. While the national reserves cover small areas of scientific significance with restricted access, the national parks also cover wetlands of Ramsar designated areas and BirdLife International inscribed bird areas. The largest of the national parks initially covered were the Cúc Phương National Park, the Cát Tiên National Park, and the Côn Đảo National Park which to start with were forest areas cum reserves or prohibited areas. The objective for creating national parks was to allow access to the reserved areas as a part of ecotourism and cultural needs with full attention to the basic approach of conservation of natural environmental resources.^[1]

The national parks and reserves, as per present status, (as reported by the National Parks of Vietnam) conforming to the topography of the country which cover terrestrial, deltas of rivers, and coastal zones are:^[2][3] Five national parks and four reserves in the Mekong Delta;^[4] two national parks in the northeastern area;^[5] five reserves in the north western area;^[6] three parks in the Red River Delta;^[7] two parks and one reserve in the North Central Coastal area;^[8] two reserves in South Central Coastal area;^[9] three parks and one reserve in Central Highlands;^[10] one park and one reserve in south eastern area.^[11]