ABSTRACT
Hoang Lien – Van Ban Nature Reserve (VBNR) is located in Van Ban, a mountainous district of Lao Cai Province in the north-west uplands of Vietnam. It contains the largest extent of forest cover in the north-west of the country (BirdLife International, 2004; Nguyen Quang Truong, 2002) and is situated in a contiguous stretch of protected areas along the Hoang Lien Mountains in north Vietnam and the Ailao Mountains in south China. Van Ban acts as an important link in trans-boundary conservation efforts (Tran Van Phung et al., 2007). Most importantly, Van Ban is one of the very few areas in the world that harbours the global Endangered species the western black crested gibbon (Nomascus concolor) (Le Trong Dat and Le Huu Oanh, 2006). In 2007 Van Ban was included in the special-use forest system of Vietnam and officially gazetted as a nature reserve with an area of approximately 25,669 hectares (VBNR, 2007) in the administration areas of Nam Xe, Nam Xay and part of Liem Phu communes (Tran Van Phung et al., 2007).
