This study examines the roles of crop boom (orange) in biodiversity conservation in Cham Chu Nature Reserve, Tuyen Quang province in the Northern Limestone Mountain Region of Vietnam. The results indicatedthat the local policy on orange development in Tuyen Quang since 2000 has made positive contributions to both local livelihood improvements and biodiversity conservation | VNU Journal of Science Earth and Environmental Sciences Vol. 37 No. 4 2021 9-21 Original Article Roles of Crop Boom Orange in Biodiversity Conservation in the Northern Limestone Mountain Region of Vietnam Ngo Ngoc Dung Le Trong Toan Tran Chi Trung Nguyen Thi Vinh Le Thi Van Hue VNU Central Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies 19 Le Thanh Tong Hoan Kiem Hanoi Vietnam Received 6 September 2020 Revised 23 December 2020 Accepted 03 January 2021 Abstract This study examines the roles of crop boom orange in biodiversity conservation in Cham Chu Nature Reserve Tuyen Quang province in the Northern Limestone Mountain Region of Vietnam. The results indicatedthat the local policy on orange development in Tuyen Quang since 2000 has made positive contributions to both local livelihood improvements and biodiversity conservation. On average household income has significantly increased VND 161 million Vietnam household year of which income from sale of oranges made up 62 of the total household income. Poverty rate has been reduced by half during the last 10 years. Therefore the dependence of the local livelihoods on the harvesting of forest resources has remarkably decreased accounting for only 1 of the total household income. Data analysis indicates that the trend of increasing orange area from 7 in 1986 to 27 in 2017 is related to the increasing forest cover in Cham Chu Nature Reserve of 1986 to in 2017 and the decreasing trend of forested areas under human impact in 2007 to in 2017 . Notably the number of cases of violation of the Law on Forest Protection and Development has significantly decreased from 66 in 2013 to 13 cases in 2017 in the study area. The case of Phu Luu shows that commodity agricultural development has had a positive impact on biodiversity conservation at the local level. Recommendations are provided at the end of the paper as how to strengthen thelinkages between commodity agriculture and biodiversity conservation in
