STUDY ON THE COMMUNITY'S AWARENESS IN THE BUFFER ZONE ABOUT THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES OF U MINH HA NATIONAL PARK

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the community's awareness of ecosystem services of U Minh Ha National Park. The study was conducted by surveying 80 households in two buffer zone communes, Khanh An commune in U Minh district and Tran Hoi commune in Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province (currently in Khanh An, U Minh, Da Bac communes, Ca Mau province). Chi-square test was applied to analyze factors affecting the community's awareness. The results showed that percentage of the surveyee who perceived the provisioning services of the National Park at high and very high levels was (17.5 - 23.8%) lower than the regulating services (55 - 70%), the culture-education services (43.8 - 66.3%) and the supporting services (43.8 - 57.5%). The proportion of people who perceived the decline in resources and environmental quality of the National Park was 47.5 - 51.3%. Most people (88.8 - 96.3%) knew about the impact of agricultural production activities, domestic waste, resource exploitation and global climate change on the resources and environment of the National Park. In addition, the majority of people (77.5 - 87.5%) have good awareness of solutions to protect resources, environment and ecosystem services of the National Park. The community's awareness of ecosystem services increased with education level, so it was also influenced by occupational factors and young people often had better awareness. The research results are an important database for the protection of resources, environment, ecosystem services and the implementation of payments for ecosystem services of U Minh Ha National Park.