Environment tolerance of Cunninghamia konishii Hayata in northern of Vietnam

Abstract

Cunninghamia konishii Hayata is one of the rarest timber trees in Vietnam, that have a high scientific and commercial value for timber and essential oil. According to the IUCN, the species is treated as Endangered (EN)-A2cd; B2ab (ii, iii, v) (IUCN), and Near Threatened (VU) - A1a, d, c1 according to Vietnam Red Data Book. We conducted research on the environment tolerance of the this species to determine the key climatic, soil, and topographic threshold that limits species occurrence in order to find scientific basis for ecosystem management. A survey in northern Vietnam was implemented to determine the natural distribution and damage to C. konishii by human interactions, and local cultivation. Fourteen social-environmental factors were investigated within five committee authorities focus group discussions (FGDs) from the document of questionnaire completed by nine commune heads. The result showed the highest sustainable index (SI) was focused in the Que Phong (A3), Ky Son (A1), communes. This suggests that SI was related to soil erosion (F1).