VN’s four Ramsar sites

In 1988, the Ramsar Convention Bureau designated Xuan Thuy Natural Wetland Reserve, in the northern Nam Dinh Province as Vietnam's first Ramsar site, which was followed in 2005, by the designation of the Bau Sau (Crocodile Lake) Wetlands and Seasonal Floodplains in the Ramsar list. In 2011, Ba Be National Park was listed as Vietnam's third Ramsar site. Recently, Tram Chim National Park has officially become the fourth Wetland of International Importance.

Xuan Thuy National Park is located in Giao Thuy district (Nam Dinh province), 150 km south-east from Hanoi. It is the largest coastal wetland ecosystem in the north of Vietnam and placed in the south of the Red River mouth.

Xuan Thuy National Park is a staging and wintering area for shorebirds, gulls and waterfowl in the coastal zone of the Red River Delta. The National Park is a living space for 250 species of birds (150 migratory and 50 water bird species) from 41 families and 13 orders. 9 species are designated as endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species for example the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann’s Greenshank. 65- 75 Black-faced Spoonbill – who were chosen to be the symbol of Xuan Thuy National Park - are seen in the migratory season.

The total number of Black-faced Spoonbill in the world are about 1000, it shows that 5 % of the whole population of the species are living in Xuan Thuy National Park during the winter season. The park also provides a habitat for other rare animal species. These include species of otter, porpoise and whale. Furthermore it has 30 species of reptiles and an uncounted number of different insects.

In Xuan Thuy National Park are 120 species of vascular plants (20 of which thrive particularly well in the wetland habitat). The mangrove forest helps stabilizing the alluvial soil as well as functioning as flood protection and playing an important role in different biochemical cycles. 111 aquatic plant species have been recorded. Certain species of seaweed in particular are of high economic value. Over 500 species of benthos and zooplankton (shrimp, fish, crab, oysters etc.) have also been identified.

A freshwater complex and transition zone between the Great Annamite ecoregion and lower Mekong Delta with Vietnam's last remaining lowland semi-evergreen forests representative of the Indo-Chinese region.

Bau Sau is a key habitat for 50 very rare IUCN red-listed species like Siamese Crocodile, Asian Arowana, Black-shanked Douc, Asian Elephant, Wild Gaur, Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon and Smooth-coated Otter, 131 endemic fish and 6 species of turtles, tortoises and terrapins. Several red-listed birds include Pseudibis davisoni, Cairina scutulata, Grus antigone and Leptoptilos javanicus, and plants Dipterocarpus dyeri and Diospyros mun.

Despite human activities such as subsistence fishing, hunting and collection of wood products, it is the best-conserved and almost pristine habitat of the national park as a result of enhanced protection by local management. It also serves as a floodwater retention reservoir with significant flow regulation protecting populated downstream localities. An ecological threat arises from invasion of exotic Mimosa pigra and water hyacinth bringing succession from open water to swamp vegetation. Conservation efforts include control of invasive species, crocodile census, waterbird surveys, awareness raising and range patrolling.

Ba Be National Park is a reserve in Bac Kan Province, Northeast Vietnam, set up to protect a freshwater lake (Ba Be Lake) along with surrounding limestone and lowland evergreen forests. It is located about 240 kilometers northwest of the capital city Hanoi.

The vegetation in Ba Be National Park mainly consists of limestone and evergreen forest. The former covers steep mountain slopes on which the soil cover is thin. The latter depends on thicker soil cover and has higher species diversity. The dominating tree species of the lime stone forest are Burretiodendron hsienmu (Tiliaceae) and Streblus tonkinensis (Moraceae). Climbing bamboo (Ampelocalamus) is a regional endemic plant common on the hill slopes near the lake shore.

65 mammal species have been recorded in the park, among them: Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang), Rhesus Macaque, Stump-tailed Macaque, Francois' Langur, Asiatic Black Bear, European Otter, Owston's Palm Civet, Asian Golden Cat, Mainland Serow, Red Giant Flying Squirrel, Particolored Flying Squirrel (Hylopetes alboniger), Hairy-footed Flying Squirrel as well as 27 bat species.

Furthermore, 233 bird species, 43 reptile and amphibian species among them the King Cobra and the Vietnamese Salamander (Paramesotriton deloustali), have been recorded. In Ba Be lake, 106 fish species from 61 genera, 17 families, and 5 orders have been recorded. The park is also noteworthy for its diversity in butterflies for which 354 species have been recorded.

Puong Cave is a large cave in the north of the park through which the Nang River flows. The main cave is up to 50 meters high and about 300 meters long. It is inhabited by a population of 5 to 10 000 bats belonging to 18 species. The "Fairy Pond" is rock basin filled with clear water which seeps through the surrounding limestone rock. The Dau Dang Waterfall is formed by the Nang River. It consists of a sequence of rapids which stretch over a length of almost one kilometer. Widow Island is a small, cone-shaped islet near the center of the southern lake. According to the local legend, the islet was once the home of an old widow who was spared from a flood through divine intervention.

Established in 1999, Tram Chim National Park, with the total area of 7,600 ha, is situated in Tam Nong District, Dong Thap Province. It is designed to be in favor of restoration of the wetland ecosystem of Dong Thap Muoi. Nowadays, it is renovated and invested to become a natural museum and an attractive eco-tourism site to tourists in Vietnam travel.

The vegetation of Tram Chim National Park comprises a mixture of seasonally inundated grassland, regenerating Melaleuca forest and open swamp. Melaleuca is distributed throughout the national park, both in plantations and in scattered patches in areas of grassland or open swamp. There are five widespread grassland communities at Tram Chim, of which the community dominated by Eleocharis dulcis and wild rice Oryza rufipogon is of the highest conservation significance.

Tram Chim is one of the few places in the Plain of Reeds where community is likely to survive to any extent, and, therefore, one of the most important sites for the conservation of wild rice in Vietnam. The other grassland communities are dominated by Eleocharis ochrostachys, Panicum repens, Ischaemum rugosum and Vossia cuspidata.

The Park is in the lowest area of the Mekong River water logged plain submerged and in the centre of Dong Thap Muoi. With a system of swamps, grass-plots and crossing canals, the 7,612 ha Tram Chim National Park has become an ideal habitat of more than 100 vertebrates, 40 species of fish, and 147 rare and precious species of birds, especially the red-head cranes. Hence, it is also an ideal place for scientists to research into the life of migratory birds.

To date, at least 88 bird species have been recorded at Tram Chim National Park. The site is famous for the population of Sarus Cranes that inhabits the site in the dry season. In 1990s, hundreds of Cranes spent the dry season here. However, due to some inappropriate development in late 1990s and early 2000s, maximum counts of cranes fell dramatically to some 82 birds in the 2005 dry season.