Xuân Thủy National Park (Vietnamese: Vườn quốc gia Xuân Thủy ) is a national park in Hong River Biosphere Reserve in Nam Định Province, Vietnam. 

The park was the first wetland area to be announced a Ramsar site in south-east Asia and is internationally significant as a migratory bird habitat.

History

On 2 January 1989, the area of 12,000 hectare around the mouth of the Red River in Giao Thủy District located in north-east Vietnam were recognized as Southeast Asia's first Ramsar site, being the 50th site worldwide. Six years later the establishment of Xuân Thủy Wetland Natural Reserve was decided by the government, soon after it was upgraded to be the Xuân Thủy National Park in 2003, putting the National Park under the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nam Định Province. Furthermore, the park was acknowledged by UNESCO as part of the core zone of the Red River Biosphere Reserve. The numerous titles given by both national and international agencies and the strong support from the government and international organizations (governmental and non-governmental) reflect the importance of the area.[2]

Landscape

Xuân Thủy National Park is located in Giao Thủy District (Nam Định 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.The Core Zone has a total area of 7.100 hectares, 4000 hectares of low tide wetlands and 3.100 hectares of land. It covers the islets of Con Ngan, Con Lu and Con Xanh. Aquaculture farms and some parts of mangrove forest cover the largest islet, Con Ngan. Con Lu islet is covered by sandy areas as such as alluvial flats and aquaculture farms. Con Lu, which is the smallest of the three islets is being widened by alluvium from the Red River and covered by sandy layer. The Buffer Zone has a total area of 8.000 hectares. The Park is a delta and estuary islands (Ba Lat river-mouth) support coastal mangroves and the mud flat ecosystem in the Red River delta. The area includes land enclosed by sea dikes with fringing marshes. ‘The land is also noted for the human ecological model of VAC (model of planting vegetable gardens, rasing fish in ponds and animal husbandry all in one home) and silvofishery models. The area has a long history of wet rice cultivation as well as dike construction and land reclamation.

Climate

Giao Thuy district lies in the tropical monsoon region, which has two distinct seasons. One hot and rainy season from April to October and a cold and dry season from November to March. The annual average temperature is 24 °C. The highest temperature in summer is 40.3 °C and the coldest temperature in winter is 6.8 °C. The average humidity is 84%. The annual rainfall is between 1700 mm and 1800 mm. Averagely there are 133 rainy days per year. Rain mainly falls in summer or winter. With 15-18 rainy days August is the month with the most rainfall in contrast to autumn and winter with the lowest rainfall (25–50 mm per month). From July to October the Red River is flooded, which influences the region as well as the northeast monsoon. In winter the wind mainly comes from the north and in summer from the east. July and August seem to be the stormiest months in the year where storms are followed by heavy rain. Three strong storms hit the north of Vietnam in 2005 (28 July one wind with level 7, 18 September with level 9 and on 28 September with level 12). There are two types of soil formed from the alluvium of the Red River. One is alluvial mud (which becomes loam) and one is sand. Transported by water the alluvial forms the coastal soil like light soil (sand and light loam and pure sand), medium soil and heavy soil (loam and clay).

Fauna

Xuân Thủy 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 Xuân Thủy 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 Xuân Thủy National Park during the winter season. The park also provides a habitat for other rare animal species. These include species of otter, endangered cetaceans such as Chinese white dolphins, finless porpoise, and rorqual whales. Furthermore, it has 30 species of reptiles and an uncounted number of different insects.

Flora

In Xuân Thủy National Park are 120 species of vascular plants (20 of which thrive particularly well in the wetland habitat). The mangrove foresthelps 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.