Da Nang (VNA) - The Southern Institute of Ecology has discovered three new plantspecies unknown to the world in the Son Tra Nature Reserve during a three-yearresearch and revaluation of its biodiversity, Dr Luu Hong Truong told a recentscientific conference in Da Nang.

“These may be the newest plants found in the world as we have yetto hear any reports of these plants, and they (plants) have not been given anofficial name,” Truong told Viet Nam News.

“We found these plants in 2016. We plan to send our scientificresearch on these plants to the Global Science Journals as an official reportand recognition of the world newest-found plant species,” Truong said.

He said the research project had updated the rich biodiversity ofthe Son Tra Reserve, listing 370 animal species and 1,010 plant species,compared to 287 animal species and 985 plant species previously recorded.

Truong said the reserve, 600 metres above sea level, is rare givenits rich population of fauna and flora spreading from jungle to ocean over arelatively small area. He said the 4,439ha reserve will be a draw forbiologists, conservationists and scientists worldwide.

According to the latest report about the reserve, the reserve, 10km away from DaNang city’s downtown, has 43 plant species listed as endangered in Vietnam’sRed Book and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The report said five wild species, including the endangeredred-shanked douc langurs (Pygathrix nemaeus); Pygmy slow loris (Nycticebuspygmaeus); pangolin (Manis Javanica); lesser short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterusbrachyotis); the Indian muntjac or red muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis)were found living in the reserve.

Two species – the red-shanked douc langurs and pangolin - arelisted as endangered species by the IUCN. In 2016, IUCN agreed to promote thered-shanked douc langur as a Critically Endangered (CR) species, granting it termlessprotection status in the world.

The endangered species living in the Son Tra Nature Reserve werealso declared as deserving special protection by Vietnamese law, includingGovernment Decree No 32 issued in 2006 and Government Decree No 160 of 2013 onmanagement of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals.

According to the latest report from GreenViet - the centre forbiodiversity research and conservation, more than 237 herds of red-shanked douclangurs, comprising over 1,300 individuals, are living in the Son Tra Nature Reserve.

Biologists and scientists warn that the development of concretebuildings around the reserve, mostly holiday beach resorts, would soon push theendangered primates into extinction.

Last year, Huynh Duc Tho, chairman of the Da Nang People’sCommittee, dismissed rumours that a cable car system will be built in thereserve and a vast area of the reserve, including sea areas and forest, will bedeveloped into an entertainment park. He said that was just an ideaproposed by a property developer.-VNA