Members of the Vietnam Bird Conservation Society (VBCS) plan to provide free nature experience education for primary school pupils, raising their life-skills and awareness of the importance of migratory birds and wetland ecology systems in the central city.

Storks live in wetlands along Han River in Da Nang city. A free education on wild bird conservation and nature protection is planned for primary school students in the city. (Photo: Courtesy of Pham Tai Minh)

Pham Tai Minh, a biodiversity researcher at Da Nang University of Science and Education, said the field trip would run every other weekend for around 700 students in the first programme later this year.

“It’s the first ever course for school pupils on bird species, biodiversity, nature conservation, geography and history related to nature conservation. We also cover life-skills and wild bird rescue, as well as warnings on illegal bird snares in nature,” Minh said.

“A remaining 25ha wetland section from Tran Thi Ly Bridge to Cam Le district on the Han River bank will be selected as a field education location for students in weekend,” he shared.

Minh said the untouched wetland area on the Han River bank is home to 62 bird species, of which stork populations dominated with eight species recorded.

A research group of VBCS also found two endangered species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List, including the yellow-breasted bunting (emberiza aureola), a Critically Endangered species, and Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) endangered species by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora), Minh said.

Large populations of storks are very often found in the wetland areas remaining even as urbanisation has boomed in the city over the past two decades, while Sonneratia caseolaris dominate the flora, along with nipa-palm and acanthus, he added.

The researcher said the biodiversity education course would help create a generation of conservation human resources for Da Nang in the future, and school students will have an opportunity to study the beauty of nature.

According to VBCS, the beach areas from Da Nang to Hoi An naturally became stops for migratory birds in 2018-20, and a group of conservationists from Da Nang University of Science and Education have been building a database for the Master Plan on biodiversity conservation in the city.

The presence of endangered migrant bird species in Da Nang and Hoi An would speed up an option of wild bird watching tours.

During the migratory season (from September to April), freelance photographers and conservationists in Da Nang and Hoi An join hands in removing wild bird snares and traps set by illegal poachers at vacant land plots.

Source: VNA