The Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) is a both a software and a framework that allows forest rangers and anti-poaching patrols to collect geospatial data on their smart phones (via the SMART mobile app), which acts as an advanced handheld GPS. When traps, illegal encampments, animals, or violators are located, the patrol will make a record using the app’s customized “data model” (a customization of the application that creates specific drop-down lists, and decision trees). The SVW data model is based on Vietnamese forestry law, so when any technical gaps are identified in the data model in terms of arrest procedures, non-standard violations, or priority species listed in legislative decrees, it can directly inform and improve policy.

Once data has been collected by patrols on their smart phones, the patrol data (paths walked, km travelled, time spent on patrol, and data recorded) will upload automatically to SMART desktop. This is where managers can evaluate poaching hotspots to apply pressure, and also allows them to monitor the effectiveness of the patrols themselves. With each new data input, data managers are able to adapt to the situation and adjust their team and patrolling regimens accordingly.

Anti-poaching (AP) teams are hired and funded under Save Vietnam's Wildlife, and approved by protected area managers where they sign a joint contract between the two. They undergo approximately one month of training in Vietnamese forestry law, species identification, self-defense, field training, first aid, and using SMART. 

AP patrols stay with forest rangers for 15-20 days of patrolling at various ranger stations each month, and an assigned Data Manager typically processes, cleans, analyzes and reports SMART data for all patrols to the park director and SVW coordinators. At the beginning of each month, a SMART report is generated by the data manager; based on the intelligence from this report, a patrol plan will be discussed with the ranger and anti-poaching members, and then submitted to the protected area director for approval; mobile units are on standby and led by forest rangers to rapidly respond to any emergencies, locations outside of planned patrol areas, or situations accessible by road.

Rangers were trained to use SMART mobile through vertical knowledge transfer in the field, and by the end of 2020, 100% of the forest rangers (73 people) were all effectively using SMART, increasing patrol data coverage across the entire protected area (Figure 1).

Save Vietnam’s Wildlife aims to ensure that our rescue centre serves as a role model for other centres within Vietnam in wildlife rescue management and welfare standards. We lead the way for other organisations across Vietnam and overseas in pangolin rehabilitation by demonstrating the highest animal care standards and providing other facilities with technical advice and training. We have used the development of SVW and our improved outreach capabilities to directly work with other rescue centres in Vietnam. SVW has provided expertise, staff training, and logistical and financial support to help improve animal welfare standards and the capacity of the keepers in several government rescue centres in Vietnam. We have also employed dedicated animal keepers and veterinary staff and improved animal husbandry practices and quarantine procedures.

We co-established a rescue and breeding centre with Cuc Phuong National Park called the “Carnivore & Pangolin Conservation Program” inside the Cuc Phuong NP. The main purpose of the centre is to cooperate with authorities to successfully rescue wildlife confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade and release them back to the wild. The animals then go through a 30-day quarantine. If they meet health standards, they are then released into safe protected areas, while animals who did not have the ability to survive in the wild, would be kept in the education centre to inspire visitors to contribute to the species conservation.

Behavioural change is one of our main building blocks to benefit wildlife conservation. This project component aims to change the behaviour of wildlife consumers by identifying key behaviours and using them to reduce demand for wildlife products. Findings of background research on awareness and attitudes of government officials and citizens around Pu Mat National Park towards wild meat consumption and sales were used to develop appropriate behaviour change interventions, drawing attention to the impact of wild meat consumption on health and the negative social perceptions of consuming wild meat. Following implementation of our work, the impact of our messages on avoidance behaviour and attitudes toward wild meat consumption was measured.

Working with local communities in the buffer zones of Pu Mat National Park is one of SVW’s main focuses, in order to raise awareness, reduce their impacts on forest resources, and inspire them to protect wildlife. We utilise diverse approaches to implement different programs, from holding community engagement workshops and training, placing large billboards around the buffer zones and using self-sustained education outreach tools to encourage local people to take informed actions to protect wildlife.

Raising awareness and educating the community, especially children in the buffer zone of Pu Mat National Park is one of SVW's long-term strategies that aims at forming a future generation with positive attitudes and behaviours towards wildlife while reducing unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. Our program "Join me to protect Pu Mat forests'” is aligned with the environmental education curriculum at schools carried out by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, as well as general policies of the government in the field of nature conservation and wildlife management. More than 4,500 primary and secondary students in the buffer zone of Pu Mat National Park were engaged in this program, gaining more knowledge, and proudly contributing to the protection of Pu Mat National Park when possible. Visual posters, handbooks, and other materials were distributed to schools to continue spreading the word of conservation.

The agreements are aimed at preserving the integrity of the SFFG, through the release of transformed areas and the implementation of active and passive restoration processes, in order to achieve the recovery of degraded land cover and contribute to the maintenance of natural areas and the good living of the community.

To achieve the implementation of the ecological restoration agreements, it was necessary to carry out out outreach activities and socialization of the process with the 23 prioritized peasant families and also to collect information according to the guidelines of participatory ecological restoration, which allowed the construction of the technical annexes and the content of the agreements.

Its purpose is to involve local communities in the restoration process, depending on the socioeconomic environment prevailing in the area, with special attention to the aspirations of local communities in terms of the future they want for the space they inhabit. Therefore, in the implementation of the restoration strategy, local communities made up of children, youth and adults were involved in activities such as:

(i) Identification of the areas to be restored.

ii) Construction of community nurseries for the propagation of high Andean forest species. iii) Participation in the implementation of isolation in areas under pressure from agricultural activities, in order to encourage the use of the region's own natural resources that contribute to valuing the existing biodiversity and ensure the long-term continuity of the project, taking into account the important knowledge that the community has about their region, its history of use, the location of the species and in some cases their propagation.

The purpose of identifying the areas to be restored is to determine the number of hectares in which active restoration actions should be implemented (which consists of direct human intervention on the structure and characteristics of the degraded ecosystem, in order to replace, rehabilitate or restore it to ensure the existence of a structured and functional ecosystem) and passive restoration (focused on eliminating or minimizing the disturbances causing the degradation, leaving the degraded ecosystem to recover its structure and functionality by itself).This process was carried out through the methodology of observation and participatory research, which consists of making field trips with some members of the community, to take geo-reference points with the GPS, to subsequently build the polygons and calculate the area to be restored, which comprises 196.2 hectares. Parallel to this activity, a diagnosis of the conservation status and composition of the plant species present in the area is made to determine the degree of intervention to which the ecosystem has been subjected and thus make the decision on what type of restoration will be implemented.