U Minh Thuong National Park becomes ASEAN Heritage Park VietNamNet Bridge - Featuring a climax primeval forest, including mixed mangrove forests and mangrove forests on peatlands, U Minh Thuong National Park has become ASEAN Heritage Park.    On August 12, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bui Cach Tuyen presented the certificate of ASEAN Heritage Park for U Minh Thuong National Park of Kien Giang Province. This is the 5th ASEAN Heritage Park in Vietnam and the first ASEAN Heritage Park in peatlands of the region. The four other ASEAN Heritage Parks include Hoang Lien (Lao Cai), Ba Be (Bac Kan), Chu Mom Ray (Kon Tum) and Kon Ka Kinh (Gia Lai). According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, U Minh Thuong National Park is highly rated in terms of biodiversity. This is one of Vietnam's national parks participating in the project to recover and sustainability use peatlands in Southeast Asia (Project PeatLand) for the 3rd time. U Minh Thuong National Park covers over 21,000 hectares in the two communes of An Minh Bac and Minh Thuan of U Minh Thuong district, Kien Giang province. The core zone includes 8,038 ha. Featuring a climax primeval forest, with mixed mangrove forests and mangrove forests on peatland of about 3,000 ha, U Minh Thuong has the tropical wetlands forest ecosystem which is very rare in the world. In addition to native cajuputs, U Minh Thuong has more than 243 species of plants, 32 species of mammals, 186 bird species, 39 reptile species and 34 amphibian species. Many species of wildlife in U Minh Thuong are endangered and must be strictly protected. My Ha