ATTITUDES OF ETHNIC MINORITIES TOWARDS BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN CAT TIEN NATIONAL PARK, VIETNAM

This paper explores the attitudes of the ethnic minorities in Cat Tien National Park (CTNP) towards the biodiversity conservation and collaborative management of nature resources. In total, 170 households from six sampled hamlets in the CTNP were interviewed. In-depth interviews carried out using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) method and chi-square test and one-sample t test were used for the analysis. The result showed that the conservation attitudes of the ethnic minorities had significant association with various different socio-economic characteristics. Migration status, participation level and resource-use pattern affected their conservation attitudes (p = 0.000 < 0.05). Collaborative management practice was closely related to conservation attitudes of the ethnic minorities. Based on the findings, biodiversity conservation strategies in CTNP should put emphasis on migrant ethnic groups, natural resource dependents, and nonparticipants. Besides, group-based arrangements would promote positive attitudes towards conservation and collaborative management. Appropriate institutional strategies for effective biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in CTNP are proposed.