# Ecological Suitability Evaluation for Conservation and Development in Bac Kan Province, Vietnam
## 1 Introduction  
Sustainable development is currently one of the most critical tasks in many countries. However, sustainable development in Vietnam faces many obstacles due to the difficulty of socio-economic conditions and policies as well as the limitation of qualified managers and lack of awareness from local people [1]. In addition, the pressure of population growth and the exploitation of natural resources for socio-economic development towards industrialization and modernization also affect the sustainable development goal [2]. Vietnam was one of the top nations for gross tree cover loss at the beginning of the 21 st century [3]. According to a report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2005, Vietnam has the second highest rate of deforestation of primary forests [4]. Although reforestation/afforestation has increased in Vietnam, deforestation and forest degradation continue [5]. Many areas after deforestation have been converted to construction sites and agriculture land for perennial trees or foodcrops [6; 7]. These activities mostly do not take into account the suitability with natural conditions and the ecosystem. Consequently, these economic development activities have considerably increased environmental pressures and decreased natural resources [8; 9]. In addition, natural disasters frequently occur more and cause more serious consequences such as soil erosion, landslide, flash floods, etc. Many studies indicate that natural disasters in developing countries cause more human losses than in developed countries [10; 11; 12]. In general, natural resource utilization and development activities have been threats to ecological security and human society [10; 13]. Thus, it is necessary to study the ecological suitability for economic development and conservation in order to provide directions for rational planning in accordance with natural resource conditions and to minimize the negative impacts of development activities. [PERSON] et al. [14] stated that minimizing the ecological impact of land development is an important principle of sustainable development. Currently, ecological suitability evaluation, which is an effective approach to identify and locate the most suitable territories for future development, has been focused on by many researchers [15]. This approach identifies the location of suitable areas for development, particularly construction and also builds the suitability hierarchy based on the planning principles and quantitative evaluations of factors influencing construction [16; 17]. Ecological suitability evaluation for economic development was successfully conducted in different countries such as China [18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23], Greece [24], Indonesia [25], Kosovo [26], United States [27], and Vietnam [28]. These studies showed that ecological suitability evaluation is important for optimizing spatial patterns of territorial development. Additionally, it is a key to realizing sustainability [14], and it is particularly crucial and urgent for urban planning and the proper utilization of natural resources [29]. In addition, zoning, which is a process of dividing a municipality into zones in which land uses are prohibited or permitted [30], is the most important method of land use regulation taken on by local governments [31]. Zoning is an instructive and reasonable approach to arrange and guide the land use for regional sustainable development. [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [13] stated that zoning can significantly solve the conflict between regional development and environmental protection and therefore forms a safe ecological pattern. Consequently, zoning regulation and ordinances are frequently used as the instrument of land use control [32], and planners can also apply zoning ordinance and regulation to achieve sustainable development [33]. Bac Kan province was chosen as a case study to balance land utilization for economic development and conservation.