Con Dao National Park was formally rewarded the title of International Wetland Area and Vietnam’s first sea Ramsar Site by the Ramsar Convention Secretariat. It is the 2,203rdRamsar Site in the world and Vietnam’s sixth.
Con Dao National Park is located at the Southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, or about 80 kilometers off Vietnam’s Southern coast. It has an area of 14,000 hectares. It is an archipelago composed of 14 islands, Con Son being the biggest with a land area of 5,700 hectares or 14,000 acres.
An island area, it is home to a multitude of sea animals such as sea turtles, dolphins and dugongs. 144 species are recorded to reside at the park, composed of 28 mammals, 69 birds, 39 reptiles and 8 amphibians. The water around Con Dao is the habitat of 1,321 recorded different flora and fauna species. Many of these are recognized as endangered.
Vietnam presented Con Dao National Park to the Ramsar Convention Secretariat in 2012. But as early as 1995, it was already listed in the Global Representative System of Marine Protected Areas by the World Bank. The park is also part of Vietnam’s biodiversity conserving plan.
Other Ramsar sites in Vietnam are the following: Xuan Thuy Natural Wetland Reserve in Nam Dinh Province; Tram Chim National Park in Dong Thap Province; Ca Mau Cape National Park in Ca Mau Province; Bau Sau (Crocodile Lake) in Cat Tien National Park, Dong Nai Province; and Ba Be National Park in Bac Kan Province.
Photo by http://vovworld.vn/en-us/Discovery-Vietnam/Con-Dao-a-tourist-paradise/161817.vov