© Thach Mai Hoang.

The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey population of Na Hang Nature Reserve was first rediscovered in late 1980s. While this population was the focus of significant attention between 1990s and 2002, little work has been done since 2002. It appears that this population has significantly declined, due to hunting. Therefore, the research alone within the context of this project will be able to stop the hunting and increase the population through 1) Monthly presence of forest rangers or scientist inside the forest during survey on population status; 2) Awareness enhancement of conservation status of TSNM for local people when getting interviews with them. Methods of Threat Reduction Assessment to (TRA) to supervise threats and Recce to survey on population status will be applied inside two forest sectors: Tat Ke and Nam Trang – Ban Bung. This conservation project is designed as multiple years. At the first stage, it is divided into the following two phases:

Phase 1 (Year 1): will include the following activities/targets:

- Identifying the population status of and threats to TSNM and target sites for conservation.

- Organizing consultation workshops with local villages close to the identified populations of the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey to gauge their level of awareness of the species and get them to define the threats that the species currently faces.

- Designing an awareness raising programme: I am working with FFI and PRCF to inherit their conservation education materials on Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (brochures, leaflets,) and methods of village meetings.

- Interviewing past members of the community ranger teams in the previous Tonkin snub-nosed monkey Conservation Project (TCP), gather lessons learned and ask them to offer advice on how to improve in the future and to ensure their buy-in.

- Identifying surrounding villages for the awareness raising programme/conservation education activities in year - I initially have identified 3 villages: Tat Ke and Na Tchang (Tat Ke Sector), Ban Bung (Nam Trang - Ban Bung Sector).

Phase 2 (Year 2): will include the following activities/targets:

- Launching public awareness raising programme.

- Developing a mechanism of supervision of new members of patrol groups by working closely with Tuyen Quang Forest Protection Department and Management Board of Na Hang Nature Reserve.

- Organizing consultation workshops with scientists and other stakeholders on conservation status, population status, target sites and threats to get more partnership and support for long-term conservation.

- Monitoring population status and threats to evaluate conservation efforts.