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Nearly all members of the Ramsar Convention’s Secretariat have
reached an agreement to recognise Tram Chim National Park, of Dong Thap Mekong
Delta province, as a Ramsar Convention of Wetlands of International Importance,
according to the park’s director, Nguyen Van Hung.
Nguyen Duc Tu, Water and Wetlands Coordinator of the International Union for
Conservation of Nature in Vietnam, says: “The Secretariat is completing final
formalities to announce Tram Chim National Park as a world Ramsar site in the
coming days.”
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty signed in Ramsar, Iran, in
1971, and has continued to provide a national framework for wetland preservation
ever since.
Tram Chim National Park will become Vietnam’s fourth Ramsar site if it is
accepted by the Ramsar Convention Bureau, after Xuan Thuy Natural Wetland
Reserve in the northern province of Nam Dinh, which was recognised in 1988; the
Bau Sau (Crocodile Lake) Wetlands and Seasonal Floodplains in Cat Tien National
Park, selected in 2005; and Ba Be National Park in the northern province of Bac
Kan, recognised in 2011.
According to Wikipedia, Tram Chim covers an area of 7,588 hectares, which is
home to 130 species of plants, 100 species of vertebrate animals, 40 species of
fish, and 147 types of water birds – of which 13 are listed as endangered.
The most distinguished resident bird is the Sarus crane (Grus antigone), which
has been considered endangered species by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red Book.
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