According to Le Ngoc Tuan, director of the reserve, the move aims to enhance the enforcement of the law on forest protection and strictly handle any violations.

Covering an area of 15,519 ha, the reserve connects to a similar reserve in central Quang Nam province, Bach Ma National Park and the Xe Sap National Protected Area in Laos, forming a conservation corridor and a vast and continuous span of forest.

The reserve includes a strictly protected section, an ecological rehabilitation area and another for administration and services. It contains the remaining primeval forest of the central Truong Son mountain range, where the biodiversity is of the highest standard in the world.

The region is also shelter for rare animals like Truong Son muntjacs, giant muntjacs, Annamite striped rabbits and white-cheek gibbons.

Since 1985, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has considered the region as a place in need of urgent protection, Tuan added.

The WWF has worked with the Thua Thien-Hue Forest Protection Department and the management board of Sao la reserve to conduct an array of projects furthering the protection of forest and wildlife here.

(VNA)