Hanoi (VNA) - The Ninh Binh provincial People's Committee has recently approved the outline and budget estimate for completing the dossier of the project to establish the Kim Bang White-rumped Langur Species and Habitat Reserve, with implementation set for 2026, according to the Nature Conservation and Biodiversity Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.
Speaking at the ministry's regular press conference on March 11, Le Van Huu, Deputy Director of the Nature Conservation and Biodiversity Agency, said that Report No. 2967/SNNMT-LNKL dated September 16, 2025, issued by the Ninh Binh Department of Agriculture and Environment, stated that the department would submit proposals to the provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision-making regarding the establishment of the conservation area.
"Following recent discussions with the Ninh Binh Department of Agriculture and Environment, we learned that the project has undergone review and supplementary adjustments due to the provincial merger. In January 2026, the Ninh Binh provincial People's Committee approved the outline and budget estimate for reviewing and completing the project dossier for the establishment of the reserve," Huu said.
He added that the proposed conservation area covers 3,182 hectares and is scheduled to be implemented during 2026. The project is currently being carried out.
The agency's leadership also said it would report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment on inspections related to the establishment of the reserve during the review and preliminary assessment of the national biodiversity conservation planning process, the results of which will be submitted to the Prime Minister. However, the time for conducting such a preliminary review has not yet arrived.
In late July 2025, VietnamPlus published a five-part investigative series entitled Building Conservation Space: A Matter of Survival and Responsibility for the Future. The series highlighted how years of quarry blasting, cement production and construction material transportation in Kim Bang and Thanh Liem districts of Ha Nam province, now part of Ninh Binh province, have caused pollution and severely affected the lives of thousands of local residents.
The report also pointed out that quarrying and cement production have adversely affected biodiversity, particularly populations of the white-rumped langur, also known as the Delacour's langur, a species found only in Vietnam and regarded as a "global treasure". The species is currently listed among the world's 25 most endangered primates requiring urgent protection.
Following publication of the series, environmental and nature conservation organisations sent an open letter on August 1 to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Agriculture and Environment and the Chairman of the Ninh Binh provincial People's Committee, calling for the urgent establishment and protection of the Kim Bang White-rumped Langur Species and Habitat Reserve. They also urged environmental restoration following mineral extraction, the safeguarding of ecological corridors, and a review of development projects that could threaten the proposed conservation area.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and its specialised agencies subsequently issued three separate documents to the Ninh Binh provincial People's Committee and the provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment. The documents requested clarification of issues raised by VietnamPlus and called for immediate remedial measures, enhanced inspection and monitoring of mining and cement production activities, prioritisation of the closure of extraction sites affecting habitats of endangered species, protection of landscapes, and environmental restoration at mines that have closed or are nearing closure.
The Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam also proposed five priority actions and eight key recommendations aimed at strengthening biodiversity conservation, enhancing climate resilience and helping Vietnam fulfil its global commitments./.
