Vietnam: A Natural History, by Eleanor Sterling, Martha Maud Hurley, and Le Duc Minh, breaks new ground, emerging as a novel engagement with Vietnam through a study of its living environment. Lushly illustrated and broadly informative, the book presents an accessible—and thoroughly enjoyable—summary of current natural science research with relevance for anyone interested in the evolution and current status of the country's flora, fauna, and habitats.
The timing of the book's release and its ecological focus capitalize on a series of extraordinary scientific discoveries in Vietnam. Perhaps the most well-publicized of these discoveries occurred in 1992, when scientists conducting a survey of the Vu Quang Nature Reserve in Ha Tinh Province noticed curious trophies of a large mammal hanging from the rafters of hunters' homes. These skulls bearing swept, straight horns belonged to a creature known to locals as the “Saola,” and subsequent research led to the description of a mammalian genus (Pseudoryx nghetinhsis) entirely new to science. Looking like a cross between an antelope and a wild ox, the Saola was the world's largest land-dwelling mammal to be discovered in more than half a century (pp. 13–15). And this event launched a renewed age of discovery for Vietnam. Since 1992, scientists have described a litany of new species, including, among others, the Annamite Striped Rabbit, three kinds of deer, three turtles, forty-five fish, and more than 200 vascular plants.
What accounts for Vietnam's high levels of species richness? And why are scientists learning about them only now? As for the first question, the authors' explanation begins with the geological origins of Southeast Asia, created from the collision of the Indian subcontinent with the Eurasian land mass more than 50 million years ago. The consequent rise of the Himalayan massif—which ends in Vietnam's Hoang Lien Son range—trickled down to Southeast Asia's own land mass, creating an intricately varied collection of mountainous and coastal habitats. Furthermore, the rise of the Himalayas and the uplift of the Tibetan plateau altered regional patterns of air and water circulation, ultimately resulting in Asia's distinctive monsoon climate system. Over geological time, as the earth alternately warmed and cooled, sea levels rose and fell, submerging and revealing land bridges for traveling plant and animal life. These periodic climatic changes combined with the region's varied land forms to produce an assemblage of species uniquely adapted to such a wide range of habitats. In short, the current biogeography of Vietnam, as well as that of its mainland Southeast Asian neighbors, represents the outcome of millions of years of evolutionary history.
From the subtropical north to the tropical south, the long arc of Vietnam captures a tremendous variety of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The authors group these habitats according to the familiar tripartite division of the country into three zones: north, central, and south. A chapter is devoted to each of these zones, detailing their prominent geological and wildlife features as well as the coverage of protected areas. Of course, the nation-state's current political boundaries map unevenly onto the underlying distribution of plants, animals, and habitats. So it is with good reason that the authors adopt a regional framework, situating Vietnam's habitats and species ranges in relation to Laos, Cambodia, China, and insular Southeast Asia. This temporally deep and spatially broad approach reveals some remarkable transnational connections: for example, the upper Yangtze River once flowed into the Red River and emptied into the Gulf of Tonkin. As a result, the closest relatives of northern Vietnam's freshwater fish species are not found in the Mekong but, rather, swim in China's Yangtze and Pearl rivers (p. 204).
The explanation for why scientists are only recently finding and assembling the pieces to these evolutionary puzzles relates to Vietnam's recent political history as well as to the priorities implicit in a broader environmental movement. Warfare in the latter half of the twentieth century limited the capacity of domestic scientists to conduct full species surveys, and, moreover, their priority was focused on harnessing natural resources to boost national production. Only in the early 1990s, following enactment of the renovation policy (doi moi), were foreign scientists able to regain access to Vietnam's natural environments. Frequently, this new generation of scientific explorers, including the book's authors (who are affiliated with the American Natural History Museum's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation), brought along a new ecological paradigm, one oriented toward the identification and conservation of unique and rare species. Indeed, this international conservation agenda shapes the book's last third, with one chapter devoted to assessing threats to biological diversity—such as, habitat loss and the wildlife trade—and a final chapter on how to counter these problems with institutional reforms, such as policy reorientation, protected area expansion, and economic incentives.
Whether these institutional approaches to conservation are appropriate to Vietnam's social and political context is not a question these authors address. Critical scholars might wonder, for example, whether expanding and centralizing state control over environmental resources may not produce unintended consequences for both the rural population and rare species alike. Then again, Vietnam: A Natural History seems not to have been written with scholars in mind. There are no citations, and the text features the Vietnamese language only marginally (with some misspellings). Instead, lavish watercolors and detailed maps alternate with guest-authored sidebars to enrich the text with added information. This book speaks to a general audience, providing them with a remarkable overview of Vietnam's long natural history and the current status of national environmental conservation.
