CAMA Festival 5 in support of FFI

The Cause FFI Vietnam

Wildlife in Vietnam is on its knees. Tigers and elephants are on the brink of being lost, and only last year, what was probably the last rhino in Vietnam was shot dead. Against the odds, some of the world’s rarest species of monkey and ape cling on to survival in the remote, forested hills of Vietnam. Among the misty, limestone hills of northern Vietnam, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) has been working for over 10 years to conserve two of the rarest animals in the world, the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and cao vit gibbon. We now know that there are only about 100 cao vit gibbons left, and the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, found only in northern Vietnam has around 200 individuals scattered across a number of sites.

With this in mind, CAMA Festival 5 will be produced in partnership with FFI and, specifically, to raise much needed funds to support FFI’s primate protection program. FFI’s approach to conservation is to use sound science, while involving and providing benefits to the local people which inhabit the areas closest to the forests. Ex-hunters are paid to become community support rangers and key people from the community are brought together to advise on management of the forests. As Vietnam continues to develop rapidly, there is a growing need to work with the community to protect these incredible monkeys and apes, for the benefit of generations to come.

We have several different projects running but one of the most important is our primate programme, which targets the endangered primates persisting in isolated pockets within the Northern Limestone Mountains and the Hoang Lien Mountains, in the north of the country.

Cao Vit Gibbon

The radiant cao vit gibbon (Nomascus nasutus), also known as the eastern black crested gibbon, is the rarest ape in the world after its closest relative the Hainan gibbon. It is only known from one patch of forest on the China-Vietnam border where an Fauna & Flora International (FFI) survey team rediscovered it in 2002.

Recent surveys have recorded about 110 individuals. FFI's country programmes in China and Vietnam are working together to protect this population on both sides of the border.
The main threat to these gibbons is habitat destruction for fuelwood collection and livestock grazing. To reduce fuelwood extraction FFI has promoted fuel-efficient stoves in local villages and provided some household bio-gas plants. In addition, a local tree species is being cultivated in plantations as a fuelwood substitute. The project also works with local villages to control livestock grazing and reduce their impact on the forest.

FFI has established and continues to support Vietnamese and Chinese community patrol groups which patrol the gibbon's habitat, supervised by government forestry officials.
In 2007, the Cao Vit Gibbon Conservation Area was established in Vietnam to strengthen protection for this species and in 2009 the adjoining forest in China was established as a nature reserve, so now the whole habitat of the gibbon is formally protected. Habitat restoration now becomes a priority for long-term survival of this species.

We have several different projects running but one of the most important is our primate programme, which targets the endangered primates persisting in isolated pockets within the Northern Limestone Mountains and the Hoang Lien Mountains, in the north of the country.

Tonkin snub-nosed monkey

The unusual and mysterious Tonkin snub-nosed monkey is one of the 25 most endangered species of primate in the world. It is only found in Vietnam and was believed extinct until its rediscovery in the early 1990s.

In May 2002, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) discovered a vitally important population in a small patch of limestone forest known as Khau Ca, in Ha Giang Province.
Tonkin snub-nosed monkey facts:

• It is believed there are fewer than 200 Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys left in the world
• They are Vietnam's largest primate species and have a very distinctive look that is almost comical due to the upturned nose, tufted ears, pale blue rimmed eyes and thick, pink lips
• They have different calls including a loud hiccough-like alarm call
The main long-term threat to the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey at Khau Ca is the limited area of the forest. Surveys have highlighted several potential threats to the species and its habitat locally, including illegal logging, hunting, exploitation of a range of non-timber forest products, shifting cultivation, fuelwood collection and grazing of livestock in the forest.
Fauna & Flora International's (FFI's) Vietnam Conservation Support Programme and Ha Giang Provincial Forest Protection Department are implementing a community-based primate conservation project with the aim of providing long-term conservation for the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey in Ha Giang Province.