Son La (VNA) – The northern mountainous province of Son La will develop a new natural conservation area covering about 16,000 hectares in Muong La district while focusing on preserving its existing centres.
The locality is now home to Copia-Thuan Chau, Sop Cop, Ta Xua, Xuan Nha and Muong La natural conservation areas.
Spanning Hua Trai , Nam Pam and Ngoc Chien communes, the Muong La natural conservation site, which was established in 2015, aims to protect and use forest resources, biodiversity and rare species of fauna and flora in an effective and sustainable manner.
Statistically, the area is home to 622 plant species, including 27 placed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species - the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species - and 323 fauna species, including 51 rare species.
Under the province’s plan on biodiversity conservation by 2020 with a vision towards 2030, Son La will also pay heed to protecting and developing natural biodiversity in submerged areas like Hoa Binh and Son La hydropower plants and the upper Ma River.
The province has nearly 779,600 hectares of forest with the rate of forest coverage accounting for 45 percent of the local natural area.-VNA