We are very pleased to share a new poster resource we have produced for the critically endangered Indochinese Box Turtles which are at last all fully protected under national law. The group comprises three species that were formerly recognised as only one, the Indochinese Box Turtle (Cuora galbinifrons), with the Southern Vietnamese Box Turtle (Cuora picturata) and Bourret’s Box Turtle (Cuora bourreti) now recognised as full species.
The Asian Turtle Program (ATP) of Indo Myanmar Conservation (IMC) helped provide technical advice to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Resources (MoNRE) and Vietnam Forest (VNFOREST) for current laws now giving full protection to these species in Vietnam. The first of these is Decree 160/2013/ND-CP, which gave full protection to the Indochinese Box Turtle while the amendment in Decree 64/2019/ND-CP gave additional full protection to the Bourret’s Box Turtle and Southern Vietnamese Box Turtle. A second law, Decree 06/2019/ND-CP, the law ‘on the management of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals and implementation of the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora’ now also clearly lists all three species. Through both of these laws, 23 of Vietnam’s 26 species of tortoise and freshwater turtles are now fully protected.
The poster was produced with support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Saint Louis Zoo, and is being distributed to authorities and within some local communities throughout the species range.
We would like to thank the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Saint Louis Zoo for supporting this activity.
Press release by: Timothy McCormack – ATP/IMC
Date: 9th June 2021
No comment