the babbler 33

The BabblerNumber 33 - March 2010

Giant Ibis Thaumatibis gigantea©Jonathan C. Eames

• Comment• Features The biodiversity of Chu Yang Sin National Park, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam

P.2 Identification, Planning and Management of forests of high conservation

value:final consultancy report P.9• RegionalNews• IBANews: Cambodia protects key grassland P.33 Threats to Kampong Trach IBA Cambodia P.34 Updated news on designation of Kampong Trach IBA P.36• Rarestoftherare: Giant Ibis Thaumatibis gigantea P.37• ProjectUpdates: Rare Bird Club visited Cambodia P.39 CEPF - RIT update P.40 Census of Black-faced Spoonbill in January 2010 in Vietnam P.46

Enforcement ranger training in Chu Yang Sin National Park P.47 • Profile: Hugh Wright is Ibis crazy P.49 Mem Mai - Local hunter to local hero P.50• Review: HerpetofaunaofVietnam P.52• Publications: • PhotoSpot: Indian Spotted Eagle Aquila hastata P.53• StaffNews• Fromthearchives

Number 33 - March 2010

Working together for birds and people

BirdLife International in Indochina is a subregional programme of the BirdLife Secretarial operating in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. It currently has two offices in the region:

Vietnam Programme Office:N6/2+3, Lane 25. Lang Ha. Ba DinhP.O. Box 89, 6 Dinh Le, Hanoi, Vietnam.Tel: +84 (0043 514890

Cambodia Programme Office:#61B, STreet 386, Sangkat BoeungKeng Kang III, Khan ChamkarmonPhnom Penh, CambodiaTel/Fax: +85523 993 631

www.birdlifeindochina.org

CONTENTS

BirdLifeInternationalin Indochina The Babbler 33 - March 2010

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We plunged into 2010 with a busy schedule of work. We completed

the biodiversity report for our GEF funded Integrating Watershed and Biodiversity Management in Chu Yang Sin National Park project. In this issue we have a sneak preview of this important report, which is the first to ever document the biodiversity riches of this threatened Important Bird Area (IBA). The report will only be published in the second quarter of 2010. Ross Hughes was responsible for drafting and compiling this important document and I would like to congratulate him on a job very well done. Under the same project we held a two-week training course for Chu Yang Sin forest guards, which was designed and delivered by Freeland. I was personally delighted to see this going ahead after so much planning. Never was a training course so desperately needed and let us hope now that the guards can translate their newly acquired skills into better enforcement and improved conservation prospects for the national park.

In Cambodia we were privileged to host a visit by the Rare Bird Club whom we toured around a number

of IBAs across the country during January. This was the first ever visit by the Rare Bird Club to our region and the first time that a country programme had ever acted as ground agent. Highlights included sightings of five Critically Endangered species including a Giant Ibis perched in a tree top for twenty minutes which permitted ‘scope views for all. I would like to thank all those who contributed to such a successful visit and particularly Ma Danik and Gilly Banks. BirdLife Chief Executive Marco Lambertini joined the Rare Bird Club trip on what was his first visit to our programme. During his visit Marco was able to visit four IBAs where we work and we hope this gave him an insight into our work.

There were also two exciting and important developments in Cambodia during the quarter: Firstly, the Royal Government approved the Prakas designating the Integrated Farming and Biodiversity Areas (IFBAs) under the law. This had been an objective under our Fondation Ensemble funded project, and was finally realized by our colleagues at the Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia Program in collaboration with the Forestry Administration.

This will at last provide a firm basis for land-use and management planning at the IFBAs. Congratulations to Mark Gately and his team, especially Hong Chamnan, Robert van Zalinge and Tom Evans (get well soon please Tom!) During March I made an extended visit to Western Siem Pang, which was my first for two years. Accompanying me was photo journalist Nicolas Cornet, whose photographs illustrate this issue. Things are changing rapidly as a result of the new road connecting the district town with Stung Treng. There are many more signs of quickening pace of economic development that will doubtless have implications for the future of the IBA. During my visit it became clear that we have under estimated

the importance of the site for Giant Ibis and there is no reason to suppose that the density of the species at WSP is les than anywhere else in its range. I saw an astonishing 16 birds during my visit.

This quarter two highly valued members of staff moved on: John Pilgrim and Noun Vanna. John has left his mark on our programme by establishing a strong and efficient regional implementation team for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund project. Vanna, a project officer in our Phnom Penh office, worked on a number of projects during his time with us including the Darwin Ramsar project. We wish them both every future success.

Photo: Nicolas Cornet


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Chu Yang Sin National Park is one of the remaining jewels of Vietnam’s protected areas system but it faces escalating threats

from infrastructure development, logging and hunting. The Park protects forests of enormous significance for biodiversity conservation and protection of the upper watersheds of the SrePok River, one of the largest tributaries of the Mekong River. The importance of these forests was recognized in the early 1990s and this eventually led to the upgrading of the Park from nature reserve to national park status in 2005. The same year, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), World Bank, BirdLife in Indochina and Dak Lak Peoples Committee agreed to implement the Integrated Watershed and Biodiversity Management (IWBM) project in order to strengthen the management of the Park within the context of the wider watershed. This report is funded by the IWBM project and brings

together the growing body of information on the biodiversity of the Park, and the challenges facing its conservation, based on the findings of surveys and studies that date back to 1993.

The Park is located in the central highlands of Vietnam in Krông Bông and Lak Districts of Dak Lak Province. The Park covers 58,947 ha with elevations ranging from less than 600 m to 2,442 m elevation at the summit of Mount Chu Yang Sin. The Park is the largest protected area on the Da Lat Plateau, and together with adjacent forests including those protected by Bi Doup Nui Ba National Park, offers protection to the largest remaining block of contiguous forest in the central highlands. This includes an unbro-ken transition of forest from lowland evergreen to montane forest.

2© Vietnam Net

The Biodiversity Of Chu Yang Sin National Park, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam

The Biodiversity Of Chu Yang Sin National Park, Dak Lak Province, Vietnam


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The landscapes of these two districts have seen major changes since the end of the war in 1975. Commercial logging of these forests ended in 1994 when the nature reserve was established and there has also been a general movement of ethnic Ede and M’Nong people down from the slopes of the mountains to the valleys – supported in part my government policies, programs and changes to the Land Law. Since 1975 there has been large scale inmigration of Kinh Vietnamese into the area surronding the Park and in recent years, a large influx of H’mong people from northern provinces has placed a new set of pressures on the Park and surrounding land and natural resources. Outside what is now the Park, the forests of the landscape have become increasingly fragmented mostly through clearance for the expansion of agriculture (mostly commodity crops) and for road construction.

Available evidence suggests that the forests of Chu Yang Sin are a centre of active speciation. Based on current knowledge, Chu Yang Sin is biologically the richest mountain in the Da Lat Plateau Endemic Bird Area. The wide altitudinal range, varied topography and past forest management practices give rise to a patchwork of different forest habitat types. The dominant vegetation type in the Park is broadleaved evergreen forest and the Park protects the largest block of this forest type on the Da Lat Plateau - covering over 38,000ha or 65% of the National Park. At elevations below 900 m, the Park protects lowland semi-evergreen forest, characterised by Lagerstroemia calyculata and Terminalia nigrovenulosa, and lowland evergreen forest, dominated by Hopea odorata, Dipterocarpus

alatus and Dipterocarpus turbinatus. Sub montane and montane evergreen forest is widely distributed above 900 m, and dominated by members of the Fagaceae and Lauraceae. Montane evergreen forest is characterised by a higher proportion of gymnosperms, such as Pinus dalatensis, Pinus krempfii, Pinus kesiya var. langbianensis, Podocarpus imbricatus and Fokienia hodginsii. On mountain summits and ridge lines, elfin forest formations are distributed, dominated by Lyonia annamensis, Lyonia ovalifolia and the dwarf bamboo Arundinaria sp. Coniferous forest, dominated by Pinus kesiya, occupies more than 10,600 ha of the Park. The species grows in pure stands on well-drained exposed ridges and also grows as a secondary vegetation type in areas subject to periodic burning. A significant proportion of the Park supports bamboo forest, often colonizing areas formerly used for swidden farming and now regenerating slowly back to forest.

The Gymnosperm flora of the Park is particularly rich in the Vietnamese context and the Park supports populations of one third of the total number of conifer species known to occur in Vietnam and eighteen species of Gymnosperms in total. The presence of large stands of Fokienia hodginsii, a globally-near threatened species that is restricted to South China, Laos and Vietnam, is a feature of particular conservation interest and also concern – the species is much sought-after for furniture making, house-building, ornaments and even for medicinal purposes and therefore commands high market prices in Vietnam. This demand is driving high levels of illegal logging of this species inside the Park.

Vietnam Greenfinch Carduelis monguilloti © Le Manh Hung 3


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Sixty five mammal species have been confirmed to occur in the Park. Twelve mammal species known to occur in the Park are considered globally Endangered, Near Threatened, Vulnerable or Data Deficient. These include Sunda Pangolin Manis javanica, Small-tooth Mole Euroscaptor parvidens, Black-shanked Douc Langur Pygathrix nigripes, Northern Pig- tailed Macaque Macaca leonine, Bear Macaque Macaca arctoides, Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon Nomascus gabriellae, Sun Bear Helarctos malayanus, Large Indian Civet Viverra zibetha, Owston’s Banded Civet Chrotogale owstoni, Asiatic Golden Cat Pardofelis temminckii, Sambar Rusa unicolor, Giant Muntjac Muntiacus vuquangensis, Gaur Bos gaurus and Chinese Serow Capricornis milneedwardsii. Surveys have started to assemble a baseline of knowledge of bat and small mammal populations, but further work is needed on these groups.

A total of 250 bird species have now been recorded in the Park, including fifteen threatened and endemic species. The Park is the only site known to support all of the restricted range bird species which characterise this EBA. The Park is of particular importance for the two endangered species: Collared Laughingthrush Garrulax yersini and Grey-crowned Crocias Crocias langbianis; and is thought to constitute the global stronghold of the latter species and hold a significant population of the former. The Park also supports populations of all three species known to be confined to the Da Lat Plateau: Collared Laughingthrush Garrulax yersini , Grey-crowned Crocias Crocias langbianis and Vietnamese Greenfinch Carduelis monguilloti. The lower parts of the Park also support two of the three restricted-range species which characterise the South Vietnamese Lowlands EBA: Germain’s Peacock-pheasant Polyplectron germaini, and Grey-faced Tit-babbler Macronous kelleyi. Altitude is the most important factor determining species distributions - with measures of forest architecture (such as species richness and forest structure) having much less influence on species distributions than altitude. This gives rise to distinct bird communities at different altitude ranges within the Park.

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Vietnamese Cutia Cutia legalleni ©Nguyen The Luyen


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The Park supports impressive species richness of reptiles and amphibians. This is a consequence of the varied topography of the Park, its diverse hydrological network and different forest types which makes ideal conditions for rich taxonomic diversity of amphibians. A total of eighty species of amphibians and reptiles were discovered comprising thirty seven species of frog, one caecilian, twenty two lizards and twenty species of snake. No less than eight possible new species to science were discovered during the surveys in October 2007 and in April and May 2009, of which only two have so far been described formally.

Only indicative information on the fish diversity of the Park is so far available and the composition of the Park’s fish diversity remains poorly understood. In total, eighty one fish species have been tentatively recorded based on the 2006 surveys and overall, the fish fauna appears typical for the upper Mekong River Basin: seventy four species of the total number are native to the Mekong River whilst others have been introduced from other regions of Vietnam but are now relatively common. Interestingly, the species composition of each river system sampled appears to be relatively distinct.

Cyrtodactylus ziegleri© Nikolai L. Orlov/ BirdLife international in Indochina


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A total of 248 butterfly species were recorded, belonging to ten families. Two newly-described species, Stichophthalma uemurai and Aemona falcata were recorded during the survey. A total of nine species of four families were found in the Da Lat mountains for the first time. Some species recorded during the survey were not previously recorded for central Vietnam. For example, Flos apidanus was only known from southern Vietnam prior to surveys undertaken in 2006. Riverine vegetation was found to support the richest butterfly communities of the Park with nearly seventy percent of species were found in this habitat, compared with thirty three percent for bamboo forest, thirty two percent for evergreen forest, and ten percent in forest edge habitats. Butterfly species richness generally declined with altitude with greater diversity in butterfly communities at lower elevations.

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Above: Vindola erota

Right: Pieridae

© Nguyen The Luyen / BirdLife International in Indochina


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The forests and biodiversity of the Park face a number of very real threats and the IWBM project found that populations of key species had deteriorated between 2005 and 2008. When the Park was first designated, the most pressing threats were probably posed by hunting and trapping by subsistence hunters and wood collectors inside what is now the Park and buffer zone forests; and selective logging of high value species such as Fokienia hodginsii. In recent years, the level of hunting and illegal logging activity within the Park have increased to very worrying levels, associated largely with spontaneous and rapid in-migration of H’mong people into the buffer zone of the Park and driven by stronger market demand for wildlife and rare timber. However, it is now plans for the development of hydropower and roads that pose the major threat to the Park, through direct loss of forests and by ‘opening-up’ pristine forest areas to higher levels of illegal logging, land clearance and hunting.

The good news is that considerable progress has been made since the establishment of a management board in 1998, and especially since 2002 following the upgrading of the area to National Park status. Dak Lak Province Peoples Committee has provided substantial support for staffing and basic Park infrastructure, such as the construction of a new Park headquarters and several new guard stations. The Park has also benefited from strong leadership at the management board level. However, much still needs to be done to strengthen capacity and to maintain and expand conservation action at field level. The construction of roads and hydropower infrastructure inside the boundaries of the Park are clearly incompatible with its National Park status, and will degrade the regional and global contribution the Park makes to the protection and supply of environmental services such as watershed protection, biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. On economic grounds alone, the longer-term value of these services may well exceed the short-term benefits that roads and hydropower might bring. It is the role of local and national authorities to find a better balance between conservation and infrastructure development than has been the case so far.

The new patrolling road under construction . Nguyen Huu Mai Phuong/ Birdlife internation-al in Indochina


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Central to the longer-term vision for the Park is an expansion of boundaries to include the adjacent forests currently under the management of a range of different management authorities, including the Lak Landscape Reserve, the Lak Forest Enterprise and the Krông Bông Forest Enterprise. The management authorities for these various forest management units currently lack the expertise, capacity and financial resources to implement appropriate management. Expansion therefore provides a golden opportunity to coordinate conservation management across a larger forest landscape and introduce improved incentives for local communities to participate in forest management, for example through community forest management, the expansion of existing co-management arrangements and development of community-based ecotourism. These approaches could help balance sustainable use with biodiversity conservation and the protection of environmental services such as watershed protection and carbon storage – both of which could generate significant future revenues for forest management.

In the longer term, the financing of the Park, whether expanded or not, will require considerably more financial resources than have been made available so far. Equally important will be a stronger commitment from national and provincial decision-makers to ensuring that the unique biodiversity and environmental values of the Park are not degraded further by a narrow, infrastructure-led vision for landscape development. Given the considerable improvements made in conservation management at the Park in recent years, coupled with strong

local leadership and increasing awareness of the extraordinary biodiversity values of the Park, the future for the Park is promising. Major challenges remain and these can only be addressed if recent progress can be sustained and expanded into the future. This will require a long-term commitment by national, provincial and district authorities to enforce the law, to ensure that infrastructure development does not damage the Park’s ecosystems and to make available the funding needed for appropriate conservation work. Progress over the past few years shows that committed and targeted conservation efforts and financing can achieve tangible impacts. It is hoped that this document will excite and encourage further efforts to conserve the Park, its unique biodiversity and the environmental services it provides to millions of downstream water users. designated, the most pressing threats were probably posed by hunting and trapping by subsistence hunters and wood collectors inside what is now the Park and buffer zone forests; and selective logging of high value species such as Fokienia hodginsii. In recent years, the level of hunting and illegal logging activity within the Park have increased to very worrying levels, associated largely with spontaneous and rapid in-migration of H’mong people into the buffer zone of the Park and driven by stronger market demand for wildlife and rare timber. However, it is now plans for the development of hydropower and roads that pose the major threat to the Park, through direct loss of forests and by ‘opening-up’ pristine forest areas to higher levels of illegal logging, land clearance and hunting.

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Endemics of Central HighlandsFemale Trimeresurus sp.© Nikolai L. Orlov/ BirdLife international in Indochina

The biodiversity of Chu Yang Sin National Park (cont’d.)


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This report details the results of a consultancy to identify, plan and manage forest of high conservation value in six Forest Management

Units, namely, Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, Da Nhim Watershed Protection Forest, D’Ran Watershed Protection Forest, Don Duong Forest Company, Lam Vien Landscape Protection Area and Forest Seedling Joint Stock Company of Central Highland Region, located in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam. Together these Forest Management Units encompass the three Vietnamese Forest categories: Special-use Forest, Watershed Protection Forest and Production Forest.

Forest of high conservation value was defined using a set of criteria developed through a participatory pro-cess involving over 40 stakeholders, including mem-bers of the Project management Unit, management

staff of the six Forest Management Units and Bird-Life technical staff. A number of different methods were used to evaluate forest compartments against these criteria, including literature review, GIS analy-sis and field survey.

A desk study was conducted to identify forest of po-tential high value for biodiversity. The results of this desk study were ground-truthed through an extensive field survey. The field survey rapidly assessed the dis-tribution of a number of indicator species, in order to determine if forest compartments met the criteria for forest of high conservation value. The field surveys validated the results of the desk analysis.

The field survey highlighted the importance of the

project area for globally threatened Gymnosperms. Gymnosperm indicator species were found in all for-est compartments surveyed. Particularly noteworthy was the discovery of more mature individuals of Tax-us wallichiana in D’Ran Watershed Protection For-est than were previously known, and the discovery of this species in Lam Vien Landscape Protection Area.

Indicator species of mammal and bird were found in almost all forest compartments contianing suitable habitat for these species. The field survey discovered three new locations for Grey-crowned Crocias Cro-cias langbianis, a globally Endangered bird species previously known only in modern times from three locations. The new locations in Da Nhim Watershed Protection Forest, D’Ran Watershed Protection For-est and Don Duong Forest Company greatly extend

9© Vietnam Net

Identification, Planning and Management of Forests of High Conservation Value

Citation:Mahood, S. P., Le Trong Trai, Tran Van Hung and Le Anh Hung (2009) Identification planning and management of forests of high conservation value: final consultancy report. BirdLife International Vietnam Programmes, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Lam Dong forest scenery© Jonathan C. Eames

the known range of the species. At one site in Don Duong Forest Company, a herd of the globally En-dangered Banteng Bos javanicus were recorded, this species is now almost extinct in Vietnam, so this re-cord is also of high significance.

Zoning plans for each Forest Management Unit were created following the criteria for forest of high con-servation value. Functional zones were delimited and their distribution and areas of overlap are discussed. Based on these zoning maps, management interven-tions were designed for each of the Forest Manage-ment Units. These management interventions fol-low multiple-use principles, are compatible with the stated management objectives of Forest Management Units and permissible under the laws and regulations of Vietnam. It is recommended that these manage-ment interventions are implemented in each of the Forest Management Units for which they apply.

Bidoup Nui Ba National Park

The zoning plan is characterized by the following:

• Large areas of forest of high value for biodiversity;

• High potential for identifying areas of high landscape value;

• Large areas of forest which protect a watershed;

• High potential for obtaining payment for environmental services;

• Limited potential for exploitation of non-timber forest products.

Da Nhim Watershed Protection Forest


• Significant areas of high value for biodiversity;

• Large areas of forest with high protection value;


• Potential for exploitation of non-timber forest products;

• Areas of broadleaved evergreen forest which protect water sources for local communities.

D’Ran Watershed Protection Forest


• Small, but significant areas of high value for biodiversity;



• Potential for exploitation of non-timber forest products

• Large areas of forest with importance to local communities

• High levels of overlap between zones with little conflict of interests.

Don Duong Forest Company


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Small areas of forest between Bidoup Nui Ba Nation-al Park and Da Nhim Watershed Protection Forest are used for growing horseradish, used to make wasabi. If this venture is successful, will it cause further for-est clearance in the project area?

Credit: Jonathan C. Eames

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• Large area of forest of high value for biodiversity;


• Potential for obtaining payment for environmental services;

• Potential for exploitation of non-timber forest prod-ucts;

• Large areas of forest with importance to local com-munities;

• High levels of overlap between zones.

Lam Vien Landscape Protection Area


• Small area of forest of high value for biodiversity;

• Large areas of forest of high landscape value;

• Small area of forest with high value for protecting dams and reservoirs;

• High potential for obtaining payment for environ-mental services;

• Potential for exploitation of non-timber forest prod-ucts;

Forest Seedling Joint Stock Company of Central Highland Region


• No significant areas forest of high value for biodiver-sity;

• Large areas of forest of high landscape value;

• Small area of forest with high value for protecting dams and reservoirs;

• High potential for obtaining payment for environ-mental services;

• High potential for exploitation of non-timber forest products;

Management measures recommended for FMUs are:

Based on the FHCV zoning plan, a number of mange-ment measures are recommended for each FMU (see Table 1). These management measures must be con-sistent with management objectives of each FMU, and follow current laws and regulations of Vietnam. A total of 14 management measures are recommended for six FMUs in the project area and it is grouped into three groups which is based on forest significances.

Management measures are grouped into three groups as follows:

Group 1: management measures for forest protection and conservation which include forest protection, con-servation, forest inventory, forest researches, fire pre-vention and control, and prevention of pest and dis-eases

Group 2: management measures for forest develop-ment which include establishment of green corridor, forest restoration, expansion of planted forests.

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Group 1. management measures for protection and conservation of forests

1 Strictly protect broadleaved evergreen forest;

2 Strictly prohibit illegal timber exploitation

3 Strictly prohibit hunting and trapping and snaring of wildlife, especially of globally threatened birds and mammals

4 Protect forests of high landscape value

5 Regulate research programmes

6 Proposed protection area for unique Bangten group

7 Conduct additional field survey to extend habitat in broadleaved forest for Grey-crowned Crocias (altitude 900-1,500 m)

Group 2. management measures for forest development

8 Expand area of broadleaved evergreen forests to create green corridor which connect patches of broadleaved evergreen forests

9 Transform forest categories in some compartments

Group 3. management measures for forest utilization

10 Regulate sustainable forest exploitation

11 Apply PES and, REDD

12 Develop sustainable exploitation of non-timber forest products

13 Forest lease for eco-tourism

14 Produce forest seeds and seedlings

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Group 3: management mea-sures for forest utilization which include timber exploita-tion, harvest of NTFP, forest lease for eco-tourism, applica-tion of PES and REDD.

Note: Grey cells indicated that proposed management measures should be applied for FMUs

Management measures recommended for six FMUs in Lam Dong Province


REGIONALNEWS

Febuary 22, 2010 - Provincial authorities of Quang Nam have re-viewed and slashed a number of hydropower projects in the prov-ince after the media carried reports warning these would have

great adverse impacts on the environment.

Nguyen Hong Van, director of Quang Nam Department of Industry and Trade, said on Friday that the department had worked with the depart-ments of Agriculture and Rural Development, Natural Resources and Environment and the Forestry Division to conduct inspections and re-view some of the 60 hydro-power projects planned on the upper sec-tion of Vu Gia-Thu Bon River. Van said after the inspection, the provin-cial authorities had decided to slash eight “infeasible” projects from the province’s investment list.

These include the 3.2 MW Tra Linh 1 Project invested by Construction JSC No 699 in Na Tra My District; the 2MW Trok River Project by Hoang Quoc Construction, Trading and Service Co in Bac Tra My Dis-trict; the 3MW Pa Dong Project by Nhan Luat Energy Co in Nam Giang District; and the 2MW Dak Se 2 Project by Quang Nam Infrastructure Development Co.

Four of five hydropower projects in Tien Phuoc District had been re-jected or revoked, Van said. In addition, the province was considering revoking the licences of 12 other projects which may cause flooding in areas under cultivation and would affect vast areas of watersheds.

Van said investors had to scale down these projects so that they would not affect the watersheds and residents’ arable land or have their licences revoked.

----------Source:http:/ /english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/201002/Quang-Nam-cuts-dam-plans-895466/

Quang Nam cuts dam plans

A hydropower dam in central highlands, Vietnam© Zenith Phuong 13


REGIONALNEWS

Vietnam implements project to save one of the world’s rarest mammals, the shy Saola

February 24, 2010 - Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue has approved a project to save the enigmatic Saola. Listed as Critically Endangered, the Saola Pseudoryx nghetinhensis is

so rare and secretive that it was only discovered in 1992. It is considered by many to be one of the world’s rarest mammals.

The project, funded by the Darwin Initiative, Cambridge University, and WWF, will be largely carried out by forest rangers during the next 33 months in Bach Ma National Park and a Saola preservation zone. The project includes research, raising public awareness, and managing the protected areas to help the Saola’s survival.

“The animal’s prominent white facial markings and long tapering horns lend it a singular beauty, and its reclusive habits in the wet forests of the Annamites an air of mystery,” said Barney Long, of the IUCN Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group, last September at an emergency meeting to save the species. “Saola have rarely been seen or photographed, and have proved difficult to keep alive in captivity…Its wild population may number only in the dozens, certainly not more than a few hundred.”

The Saola’s range extends along the Annamite Mountains in both Vietnam and Laos. The Saola is threatened by poaching, hunting with dogs, and loss of habitat largely exacerbated by road construction.

------Source:http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0224-hance_soala.html

Captive female Saola. No captive saola has survived longer than a few months. Copyright 1996 by W. Robichaud/WCS.

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REGIONALNEWS

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March 11, 2010 - According to local authorities, the communes stand on the boundary of the park and wild

elephants have sometimes been known to enter into residential areas looking for food such as corn, bananas and sugarcane.

“The wild elephants usually appear at the midnight. They have crushed motorbikes, pulled up electricity pylons, damaged crops and even threatened people’s safety,” said chairman of Huong Dien Commune’s People’s Committee Tran Viet Ha.

“People’s lives are being destroyed,” Ha said.

Phan Dinh Ha, a resident in Kieu Village in Huong Dien Commune, said it had taken the elephants only a short time to turn fruit orchards into what resembled a storm-hit area. Another villager, Phan Thi Loan, said a herd of elephants had destroyed her garden several months ago.

“My husband was away from home, so I could do nothing, I just took my little child and ran away. My garden was totally destroyed,” Loan said.

Statistics from the commune showed that there were five cases of wild elephant attacks on residents while they were driving motorbikes in the commune last year and five motorbikes had been completely destroyed. There were several cases of elephants destroying, but no casualties so far had been reported.

Dao Duy Phien, the Vu Quang National Park’s director, said the herd of elephants were found living in the park 30 years ago, but they’ve recently become dangerous due to a shortage of male elephants, especially during breeding season between January and April. Phien said most of local residents used methods such as lighting fires or creating noise to drive the elephants away.

According to animal experts, the elephants were not dangerous, but they could attack people if they wanted to enlarge territory, as their living environment had been seriously encroached upon by human activity.

Chairman of the commune Ha said the methods used to scare the elephants would be no longer effective as the elephants had become familiar with them. However, new scare-tactics involving explosives would require time and effort to train people to use them properly without harming the elephants.

“The authorities have proposed to district-level authorities to use explosives to frighten the animals. We have also warned people not to go out late at night to avoid them,” Ha said.

Ha said the district authority has supplied food for 15 households who had 2 hectares of crops destroyed by elephants some months ago.

Human - elephant conflict in Ha TinhHundreds of households in Huong Dien and Huong Quang communes in the central province of Ha Tinh have raised their concerns over wild elephants who have left nearby Vu Quang National Park to forage for food

Source:http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/201003/Wild-elephants-terrorise-Ha-Tinh-898268/© Photo:Jonathan C. Eames


REGIONALNEWS

March 13, 2010 - The last count of Sarus Cranes Grus antigone in Kien Giang in late February 2010 showed that the number of rare birds reduced sharply, even in the peak season.

Kien Luong district, the major place for cranes, recorded no Sarus cranes during the census. Meanwhile, Giang Thanh, a new site recorded 28 Sarus Cranes a reduction of over 100 compared to early February and equivalent to 13 percent of the 2009 count.

The Kien Giang Department of Science and Technology promised that zooligists and area government officials have made great efforts to maintain and attract more cranes by restoring pastures. Yet the rising impact of industrial and agricultural production, especially in Kien Luong province, has reduced the number of birds.

Sarus Crane numbers down in Kien Giang

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Source:

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/201003/Kien-Giang-Less-redheaded-cranes-arrive-898587/

© Photo:Jonathan C. Eames


REGIONALNEWS

Bears rescued from bile trade in Vietnam

An animal welfare group in Vietnam has rescued 19 bears that were living in cramped containers on an illegal bile farm, the group says.

January 19, 2010 - Hong Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation said on Monday the bears were being driven to the group’s Moon Bear Rescue Center near Hanoi after being discovered in 12-meter cargo containers in Binh Duong province near southern Ho Chi

Minh City.

“The containers were divided into six to seven compartments with one bear per compartment. This is the first time we’ve seen bears kept under these conditions,’’ Animals Asia Vietnam director, Tuan Bendixsen, said in a statement.

The group said the central and provincial Forest Protection Departments asked for its help a few weeks ago after authorities decided to close down the bear farm for not meeting regulations.

A Taiwanese businessman who owned the bears moved them to cargo containers two months ago after authorities warned him about the concrete “cells’’ in which he had kept them for several years, Animals Asia said.

Bear bile is extracted with needles in a process which activists say endangers the bears.

In traditional Chinese medicine it is prescribed as a health tonic, an anti-inflammatory, a cure for liver and heart ailments and an aphrodisiac. It is even found as an additive in shampoo, toothpaste and soft drinks.

Bile farming has been illegal in Vietnam for years but farmers were allowed to keep the bears they already had, and in 2005 thousands were given microchips in an effort to monitor the population.

Bendixsen said staff at the Binh Duong farm told him two of the rescued bears did not have microchips.

Asiatic black bears, also known as moon bears, are under threat of extinction, Animals Asia says.

------Source:http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=54775

The bears were confined to tiny cages and illegally milked of their bile. Photo via Hoang Dinh Nam / AFP

17


REGIONALNEWS

18

March 11, 2010 - Le Van Quy, Vice-Chief of Quang Tri Provincial Forest Protection Department explained that a group of departmental researchers saw this rare orchird during a field trip. This species of orchird is listed in Vietnam’s and the

world’s red books. The flower often grows at heights of over 900 meters. In Quang Tri province, the orchid was discovered at an altitude of between 1,000 to 1,700 meters on Voi Mep Mountain in Bac Huong Hoa Nature Reserve. Quang Tri is the third province where this rare orchid has been discovered, alongwith Thua Thien – Hue and Lam Dong.

Rare orchid species discovered in Quang Tri

As poachers and hunters continue to kill gib-bons, conservation groups are working hard to rescue and protect the existing population.

© Source:http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/201003/Rare-orchid-species-discovered-in-Quang-Tri-898196/

Reducing urban demand for wild animals in Vietnam: examining the potential of wildlife farming as a conser-vation tooVietnam is an established thoroughfare for illegal trade in wildlife and growing urban prosperity is believed to be increasing domestic demand for wild animal products and for wild meat in particular. While the debate about the potential for wildlife farming to reduce incentives to hunt and trade continues, the findings of this study (based on data collected through semistructured interviews with the central Hanoi population) demonstrate that farming is not an effective tool in reducing demand for illegal wildlife products and may in fact stimulate greater demand for wild-caught products. In this context, conservation policy should seek to prevent listed species being farmed for consumption as wild meat; to reduce consumer demand for wild meat through marketing campaigns developed by social marketing experts and based on an in-depth understanding of the drivers of consumer demand garnered using appropriate social science research methods; and to continue strengthening regulation and enforcement actions preventing illegal trade in wild species.

------Source: Drury, R. Reducing urban demand for wild animals in Vietnam: examining the potential of wildlife farming as a conservation toolConservation Letters 2 (2009) 263–270.


Regionalnews

March 23, 2010 - Vietnamese po-lice have seized about 100 kilo-grams (220 pounds) of ivory near

the border with China, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Traffic police made the discovery after stop-ping a car early Friday morning, said Tuoi Tre newspaper, which did not say if any ar-rests were made.

The police declined to comment when con-tacted by AFP.

State-linked media reported last year that Vi-etnamese police had seized hundreds of kilo-grams of ivory. Much of it was tusks illegally imported from Kenya.

There is a booming black market in African ivory linked to Asian crime syndicates, ex-perts and delegates said last week at a meet-ing in Doha of the UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Spe-cies (CITES).

Communist Vietnam banned the ivory trade in 1992 but shops can still sell stocks dating from before the ban. This allows some to re-

stock illegally with recently-produced items, wildlife activists have said.

Separately, security staff at southern Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport on Satur-day confiscated 33 live pangolins, Tuoi Tre reported.

The pangolins, also known as scaly anteat-ers, had been sold to customers in the coun-try’s north at a price of one million dong (53 dollars) per kilogram, Tuoi Tre reported.

Demand for pangolin meat, with its suppos-edly medicinal and aphrodisiac qualities, is widespread in China and Vietnam.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list pangolins as endangered.

--------

Source: http://www.intellasia.net/news/arti-cles/society/111289938.shtml

19

File photo of an elephant at the Tsavo West National Park in southern Kenya. There is a booming black market in African ivory linked to Asian crime syndicates. (AFP/File/Roberto Schmidt)

Nearly 100 kgs ivory seized in Vietnam


REGIONALNEWS

Tiger farming does not help conservation March 22, 2010 - Tiger farms, where

the endangered species are kept in captivity and their carcasses

and body parts later sold at lucrative prices, were the focus of a year-long investigation by law enforcement agencies and local non-government organisation Education for Nature-Viet Nam (ENV). There are 101 captive tigers in Viet Nam, 84 of them kept at one of seven registered private establishments while 17 are at State zoos and rescue centres. The country’s wild tiger population is thought to be as low as 30 individuals.

ENV’s Wildlife Trade Programme co-ordinator Nguyen Thi Van Anh said people who operated tiger farms had often claimed that the farms helped in efforts to protect the endangered animal.

“These claims are contradicted by the results of our investigation,” she said.

“At least one tiger farm owner is directly involved in supplying tigers to the illegal wildlife trade. Police officers have seized 10 illegal tiger carcasses since 2005.”

Van Anh said there were signs, such as wear on tiger paw pads, that the tigers were from tiger farms.

“The results of the investigation showed

that illegal activities could be based on irregularities in tiger birth and death records at some farms,” she said.

“For example, at one farm, 24 tiger deaths were documented since 2006. “However, only 10 of these deaths were accompanied by papers showing that the remains had been incinerated.

“In addition, following the discovery of tigers at six private establishments in 2007, owners were fined and allowed to keep their tigers, though in nearly all cases, owners could not provide documentation showing that the tigers they possessed were of legal origin, as required by the law.”

The investigation showed that irregularities in tiger farmers’ reports to provincial authorities and generally ineffective monitoring of farms opened the possibility that these farmers, many of them obtained their original tigers illegally, continued to engage in illegal trade of tigers.

Le Viet Dung, deputy head of Dong Nai Province’s Forest Management Department, said management of these farms was difficult as owners did not keep adequate documentation on the number of animals they kept and relevant authorities did not have enough staff to make regular checks.

An investigation into tiger farming has found that the practice does not help the conservation of tiger populations in Vietnam.

20

Tiger cubs at a private farm in Binh Duong Province. An investigation has found that the farms provide little help to ensure the species survive in the wild. © Photo: Vietnam Net


REGIONALNEWS

21

According to ENV, enforcement is not supported by effective prosecution and punishment that would deter further violations.

Out of 27 arrests for illegal tiger trading that involved seizure of tigers and tiger parts, only four individuals were imprisoned, with sentences ranging from 16 to 24 months.

Records showed that most tiger traders arrested received sus-pended sentences (12 individuals) or probation (nine individu-als). In two cases involving tigers seized from homes, the of-fenders received no punishment.

Nguyen Ba Bo, a lawyer from the Hanoi Bar Association, said there were sufficient legal provisions to ensure appropriate and effective punishment for offenders. The new amended crimi-nal code that takes effect next January allows for imprisonment of up to seven years and maximum fines of VND 500 million (US$26,300) for selling, trading or possession of fully protected species such as tigers.

However, enforcement of these laws is another issue.

Van Anh said immediate action should be taken to stop the de-velopment of tiger farms in Vietnam and assess the importance of each farm in terms of its benefits to conservation.

“Keeping tigers for non-commercial purposes requires stringent measures to be put in place that assure compliance with the law,” she said. -------

Source:

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/201003/Tiger-farming-fails-eco-cause-900136/

Tiger farming does not help conservation (cont’d.)

© Photo: Education for Nature-Vietnam


Vietnam: Illegal bush-meat wildlife trafficking at alarming levels

An Asiatic Golden Cat Pardofelis temminckii. caught by poachers in Chu Yang Sin National Park - Photo: BirdLife International in Indochina 22

REGIONALNEWS

Febuary 24, 2010 - Urgent action was needed on several fronts to prevent

this destruction of the nation’s wildlife and their habitat, they said.

They called for strengthened, more effective public awareness campaigns against hunting and trafficking in wild animals and for the inclusion of this subject in the school curriculum, especially in rural areas.

Tom Osbon of the Vietnam-based Wildlife Management Office stressed the need to legalise multi-sectoral co-operation in preventing, discovering and punishing forest violations in order to protect wild animals effectively.

“It is also very important to establish special inspectors in localities which record a high number of violations,” he added.

Dr Scott Roberton, head of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said that hunting wild animals for meat and trafficking

had been happening in many countries, especially developing ones.

In Vietnam, hunting and trade in wild animals had been alarming, he said.

A WCS study conducted at 200 restaurants in the central region found they consumed nearly 2 million wild animals per year. Among them, deer and wild pig accounted for around 70 per cent of the consumed meat, followed by turtle, snake, fox and porcupine. The study estimated the demand of wild animal consumption nationwide at nearly 4,500 tonnes per year. The Forest Protection Department discovered 1,042 violations of wild animal protection laws last year, a decrease of 400 cases over 2008, the conference heard.

Dr Nguyen Viet Dung, deputy head of the Centre for People and Nature Reconciliation, said that the real number was much higher.Roberton added that Viet nam was also an important link

in the international wild animal trafficking chain.

Last year, authorities found more than six tonnes of elephant tusks trafficked from Africa to Hai Phong City. And, in 2008, more than 20 tonnes of pangolins and their scales were seized in Vietnam as they were being trafficked from Indonesia to China. The Mong Cai Border Gate was one of places where wild animal trafficking is frequent.

Over the last two years, authorities have discovered 57 cases of trafficking in wild animals involving more than 7,612 individuals including monkeys and Tibetan bears and elephant tusks. -------Source:

http:/ /english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/201003/Illegal-bushmeat-wildlife-trafficking-at-alarming-levels-900130/eco-cause-900136/

Vietnam’s ecosystems were seriously threatened by the widespread consumption of wild meat and trafficking of wildlife, experts said at a recent conference.


May be no tigers left in Asia by next Year of Tiger

23

REGIONALNEWS

Tigers on the Brink: Facing up to the Challenge in the Greater Mekong, states that tiger populations in the Greater Mekong – an area that includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam – have plummeted from an estimated 1,200 during the last Year

of the Tiger in 1998 to about 350 today.

Major decline since the last Year of the Tiger

This decline is reflected in the global wild tiger population, which is at an all time low of 3,200 - down from an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 during the last Year of the Tiger. The report states that increasing demand for tiger body parts used in traditional Chinese medicine and habitat fragmentation from unsustainable regional infrastructure development have driven the decline of the region’s Indochinese tiger population.

Tigers on the Brink, was released leaders meet for the first Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation in Hua Hin, Thailand.

Tigers at the tipping point

“Decisive action must be taken to ensure this iconic sub-species does not reach the point of no return,” said Nick Cox, Coordinator of the WWF Greater Mekong Tiger Programme. “There is a potential for tiger populations in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to become locally extinct by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022, if we don’t step up actions to protect them.”

Indochinese tigers historically were found in abundance across the Greater Mekong region. Today, there are no more than 30 individual tigers per country in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The remaining populations are predominantly found in the Kayah Karen Tenasserim mountain border between Thailand and Myanmar.

Tiger numbers have fallen by more than 70 per-cent in slightly more than a decade in the Greater Mekong, with the region’s five countries contain-ing only 350 tigers, according to a new WWF report.

Photo: Malaysiainfocus.com


regionalnews

There is still time to reverse the de-cline

However, despite these negative trends

experts believe there is still time to save

the Greater Mekong’s tigers. The region

contains the largest combined tiger habi-

tat in the world. This includes forest land-

scapes spanning 540,000km2, roughly

the size of France, are priority areas for

current tiger conservation efforts.

“This region has huge potential to in-

crease tiger numbers, but only if there

are bold and coordinated efforts across

the region and of an unprecedented scale

that can protect existing tigers, tiger prey

and their habitat,” said Cox.

WWF calls on governments to double number of wild tigers by 2022

At the meeting, WWF is calling on min-

isters of the 13 tiger range countries

meeting in Hua Hin to step up efforts

to double the numbers of wild tigers by

2022. Tiger range states include Bangla-

desh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India,

Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,

Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The first Asian Ministerial Conference

on Tiger Conservation, which runs from

27-30 of January, is part of a global po-

litical process to secure the tiger’s fu-

ture. These efforts will culminate in a

Tiger Summit in Vladivostok, Russia,

this September, to be hosted by Russia’s

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and co-

chaired by the World Bank’s President

Robert Zoellick.

“There is an unprecedented opportunity

to galvanise political will and action to

turn the tide on wild tiger numbers,” said

Mike Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Global

Tiger Initiative. “But to do this, we must

stop the trade in tiger parts, rampant

poaching, and secure the tiger’s habi-

tats.” 24

WWF Give A Hand To Wildlife postcard

May be no tigers left in Asia by next Year of Tiger

Source:http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/201002/May-be-no-tigers-left-in-Asia-by-next-Year-of-Tiger-892660/


regionalnews

Two very lucky vultures went home to northern

Cambodia on Tuesday. Febuary 16, 2010.

The Cambodian Vulture Conservation Project (CVCP), a partnership of Cambodian government ministries and international non-governmental organizations, success-fully released two Critically Endangered vultures back to their range in northeastern Cambodia after two weeks of rehabilitation at the Phnom Tamao Zoo and Wildlife Rescue Center, operated by the Forestry Administration of the Royal Government of Cambodia in partnership with Wildlife Alliance. The vultures took flight rapidly after they were released and were soon circling high above the team that had returned them to the release site.

On 1st March, CVCP Manager and Ministry of Envi-

ronment staff member Pech Bunnat received a report of a number of dead vultures in Western Siem Pang (Stung Treng Province), an Important Bird Area in Cambodia, after consuming a poisoned dog. Two surviving birds were also found—one white-rumped vulture Gyps ben-galensis and one slender-billed vulture Gyps tenuiros-tris. The well-coordinated response of the CVCP part-ners ensured the rapid transport of the surviving birds to the Phnom Tamao Zoo and Wildlife Rescue Center. Upon arrival, the weak birds were immediately treated by the Wildlife Alliance team and over the two-week course of recovery, the birds were fed daily and carefully monitored. On 15th March, the Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team, implemented by the Forestry Administration and assisted by Wildlife Alliance, transported the birds back to Western Siem Pang. The Wildlife Conservation Soci-ety, the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity and BirdLife International in Indochina also supported the birds’ rehabilitation.

Mr. Nhek Ratanapich, Director of Phnom Tamao Zoo and Wildlife Rescue Center, was supportive of reintro-ducing the rehabilitated birds to the wild, demonstrat-ing the Cambodian government’s increasing interest in conservation and the positive direction in which wild-life policy is developing. I am very pleased to see that the birds have recovered well after their care at Phnom Tamao. The small, but increasing population of vultures in Cambodia will benefit from their return to the wild,” says CVCP Manager Pech Bunnat.

The population collapse of vultures in Asia in the mid-1990’s—largely due to the use of the drug diclofenac in cattle—created an urgent global need for solutions to this conservation crisis. Cambodia is one of the few countries where populations of Critically Endangered vultures have increased, thanks to the efforts of the Cam-bodian Vulture Conservation Project. Formed in 2004,

25

Forestry Administration, Minis-try of Environment, Wildlife Alli-ance and BirdLife teams prepar-ing for the release of the vultures.


Cambodia: Going Home – Two Rare Vultures Return to the Wild


REGIONALNEWS

the CVCP manages a successful, integrated program of research, monitoring, educa-tion and interventions (where necessary) to ensure the continued existence and growth of vulture populations in Cambodia. Num-bers counted across Cambodia’s Northern and Eastern Plains in 2009 are now over 260, up from 166 only five years before.

“Successful inter-agency collabora-tion saved these vultures,” says Jonathan Eames, Programme Manager for BirdLife in Indochina. “The global populations of these two species are now so low that eve-ry individual counts and putting these two birds back into the wild is very important as the population here in Cambodia is so low.”

”Staff at Phnom Tamao Zoo should be con-gratulated on the successful rehabilitation and release of these birds, as should the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Ad-ministration field staff who reacted quickly to the first reports of a poisoning incident,” added Mark Gately, Director of the WCS Cambodia Program. “In future, it will be vital to expand education activities in ru-

ral communities, so that people are aware of the dangers posed by certain poisons to these very rare bird species.” Led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Cambodia Vulture Conserva-tion Project was established in 2004 as a coalition of Government agencies and NGOs, including Birdlife International in Indochina, the Angkor Centre for Con-servation of Biodiversity (ACCB), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Minis-try of Environment (MoE), and the Minis-try of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). Support for these efforts is pro-vided by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF)/United Nations Development Pro-gramme (UNDP), WWF-US and the Criti-cal Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation Interna-tional, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. A funda-mental goal is to ensure civil society is en-gaged in biodiversity conservation.BirdLife staff trying to save the vulture

Photo: Nicolas Cornet26

Cambodia: Going Home – Two Rare Vultures Return to the Wild (cont’d.)


REGIONALNEWS

On Monday 1 March local vulture and White-shouldered Ibis project staff

member Mem Mai came across a number of dead and dying vultures at the body of a dead dog, whilst on patrol in Western Siem Pang (WSP). Mai called co-worker Lourn Bun Paeng and together they recovered the bodies of one Slender-billed Vulture Gyps teniurostris, one Red-headed Vulture Sacrogyps calvus and five White-rumped Vultures Gyps bengalensis. They also caught two live but poisoned vultures, a Slender-billed and a White-rumped. The following day Paeng together with local Forestry Administration Officer Sok Sidha and found another dead White-rumped Vulture nearby (which they burnt). They removed all dead and dying vultures to the BirdLife office in WSP where they were housed overnight. After obtaining written authorization from the Forestry Administration, facilitated by WCS, on Tuesday 2 March BirdLife Project Assistant Net Norint and Sok Sida transported the vultures by taxi from WSP to the BirdLife office in Phnom Penh. Here the dead birds were examined and photographed and then transferred to the WCS office where

they were handed over to the Field Vet staff for necropsy. The two living vultures, who had both survived the journey well, were given water via syringe, and then taken to Phnom Thmao Zoo by Birdlife vehicle, where they were handed-over to staff of the Forestry Administration (FA) and Wildlife Alliance. The vultures were fed and watered and maintained under observation until the Wildlife Alliance and mobile wildlife enforcement unit transported them back to the BirdLife office at WSP. Before release they were colour-ringed and wing-tagged. The two vultures were released on Tuesday 16 March on the airstrip at WSP. Both birds flew off strongly and landed in a tree some 300 m away to preen and exercise their wings. A buffalo had been placed at the nearby vulture restaurant but it is not known if the vultures fed there.

The man accused of the incident was in fact a nest guard on the ongoing White-shouldered Ibis conservation project at WSP. He claimed his dog had been poisoned in the town and died later in the forest. It was reported that this man was known to have previously carried poison with him on excursions into the forest. It is known

that people sometimes sprinkle termite poison on boiled rice placed on the ground, to kill ants which are a nuisance when people are sitting for long periods in the forest. It was also reported that crows had stolen his lunch so he had placed poison out, which had later been eaten by a dog, which had died, and the vultures had then fed upon the dog. It is also possible that he intentionally set-out to poison wildlife by placing poison around the trapeang which was later eaten by the dog. Believing perhaps that whilst he was being paid to guard the nest he could earn some extra cash from hunting. He would then have either sold the bush meat in the local market (which is unusual at WSP) or consumed it himself, which seems more probable. This is sadly a common practice and the second vulture poisoning at WSP in little over a year. Poisons are cheaply and widely available in Cambodian towns and cities and their control is currently impossible. In order to try and reduce the number of such incidents in the future, an advocacy campaign stressing the potentially lethal dangers people face that consume meat obtained in this way, seems far more likely to resonate amongst the local population.

Other dead vultures in the poisoning incidencePhoto: Jonathan C. Eames

27

Vulture poisoning inci-dent at Western Siem Pang

Jonathan C. Eames reports


Regionalnews

MYANMAR’S porous border with China is allowing free and uninhibited trade in ille-gal wildlife products, according to a report

released by a prominent NGO on March 16.

The border is so unregulated that vendors in Myanmar offer Chinese customers a door-to-door delivery ser-vice for products like tiger bone wine, says TRAFFIC, an NGO that monitors trade in illegal wildlife.

Its report, entitled “State of Wildlife Trade in China 2008”, is the third in an annual series on emerging trends in China’s wildlife trade. It found that the over-exploitation of wildlife had affected many species and was continuing to stimulate illegal trade in China.

“China’s border areas have long been considered a hotbed for illegal trade, with remote locations often

making surveillance a difficult problem in sparsely populated areas,” professor Xu Hongfa, director of TRAFFIC’s program in China, said in a prepared state-ment released on the group’s website.

Priscilla Jiao, TRAFFIC’s East Asian communications officer, told The Myanmar Times that both Myanmar and China could be doing more.

“Both authorities should step up efforts in cross-border cooperation in cracking down on illegal trade. There are a number of small paths without checkpoints on the border and it’s difficult to inspect cross-border transportation from Myanmar,” Priscilla Jiao said in an emailed response on March 17.

“Also public awareness should be raised by setting up information boards on routes to deter law-breakers,”

Ms Jiao added.

TRAFFIC released its report to coincide with the Con-vention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) where 175 countries have gathered in Doha to discuss ways to stop illicit wildlife trade.

This year – the Year of the Tiger – governments will be voting on measures that, if properly enforced, could end the illegal trade in tigers for good.

Last month a prominent wildlife NGO, WWF, said that in the past 12 years the regional tiger population in Southeast Asia had plummeted by 70 percent.

------

Source: http://www.mmtimes.com/2010/news/515/n51508.html

28

File photo of an elephant at the Tsavo West National Park in southern Kenya. There is a booming black market in African ivory linked to Asian crime syndicates. (AFP/File/Roberto S

chmi

dt)

Myanmar: Illegal wildlife trade flourishing on China border

A monitor lizard foot on sale at Mong La market in Shan State, on the China-Myan-mar border. Pic: Supplied, TRAFFIC


regionalnews

3S Rivers Protection Network reports:

Dams on Sesan River polluting water and poisoning downstream communities.

29

Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia - A new report has linked upstream hydropower reservoirs tohigh levels of toxic algae and bacteria found in the

Sesan River, which exceed World HealthOrganisation (WHO) limits for safe drinking water.

Adverse environmental and social impacts caused by hydroelectric damming of the Sesan River are reflected in a report released by STRIVER; a research strategy for improved water resource management jointly coordinated by the Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (BIOFORSK) and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA). The report illustrates how detrimental dams on the Sesan River in Vietnam have been to the quality of water in the Sesan River and the health problems faced by communities living downstream in Ratanakiri province, Cambodia.

These research findings are especially relevant given proposals are in place to construct 5 dams on the Sesan River and its tributaries in Cambodia, including the large 400MW Sesan II dam in Stung Treng, which is anticipated to resettle over 5,000 people, inundate more than 33,000 ha of land, and have large scale impacts on fisheries and the livelihoods of both upstream and downstream communities. The 2009 STRIVER technical brief entitled “A limnological study of the Sesan River in Cambodia in the dry season: focus on toxic cyanobacteria and coliform bacteria” is based

on scientific research carried out by Anna Madeleine Tiodolf, Norwegian University of Life Sciences with field assistance provided by the 3S Rivers Protection Network (3SPN). The report presents the results of a water quality study conducted during the dry season over a two-week period in March 2008 in which water samples were taken in two different locations along the Sesan River in Ratanakiri province; Andong Meas, 30 kilometres downstream of the Vietnamese border, and Vuen Sai, 130 kilometres downstream of the Vietnamese border.

The study confirmed the occurrence of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in the Sesan River mainstream, however no cyanobacteria were detected in the water samples taken in three different tributaries, indicating the polluted water to originate from a more stagnant mainstream source such as an upstream hydropower reservoir. The water is not suitable for human consumption Research by Tiodolf found concentrations of toxic algae (cyanotoxin) and presence of theindicator species E.coli, coliform bacteria, in the Sesan River exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) limits for safe drinking water.

Cyanotoxins are cancerous to the liver after longer periods of exposure, while excessive levels of E.coli concentration are commonly associated with many health problems and present an increased risk to communities through the spreading of waterborne disease.

Results are consistent with the gastric disorders and skin problems experienced by Sesan River communities since the construction of the Yali Falls dam. Approximately 28,000 people rely on the Sesan River for their drinking water, fishing, bathing, and

feeding livestock and according to a report prepared by the Fisheries Office in 2000 entitled “A study of the downstream impacts of the Yali Falls dam in the Sesan River Basin in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia.” The 2000 report stated that 952 people had died along the Sesan River, with large numbers of domestic animals, as a result of diseases believed by local communities to be directly associated with the Yali Falls dam.

A 2007 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report on the Sesan River similarly identified toxic algae as the likely reason for villagers’ illnesses. The EIA report prepared by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research and Nordic hydropower consultants, SWECO Grøner, confirmed that there are strains of toxin-producing cyanobacteria present in the Yali Dam Reservoir, and that water quality in the Sesan River has “seriously deteriorated since the construction of the Yali Power Plant” with the cyanobacteria producing “exactly the same symptoms” as reported by Cambodians downstream.

Mr. Meach Mean, Coordinator of the 3S Rivers Protection Network which works with communities along the Sesan River in Ratanakiri, indicates that this study confirms what villagers have been reporting for years. “The research by STRIVER clearly demonstrates the disastrous ecological and social effects large dams can have on rivers and the associated health problems for downstream communities. We hope this report will help initiate remedy for the communities who have been waiting for mitigation and compensation from the past and present impacts of Vietnam’s dams”.

Construction on Vietnam’s Yali Falls dam began in 1993 by the Electricity of Vietnam on the Sesan River and is located approximately 70-80 km from the border of Cambodia. Since its construction and operation in

2001, villagers living downstream have experienced large-scale social, economic, and environmental impacts. Despite complaints and requests from communities for mitigation no solution has been forthcoming.

Mr. Say Duen, from Koh Peah Commune, in Vuan Sai district confirmed that health problems started approximately 5 to 10 years ago. “When we use the river water to cook, or to wash, we sometimes get a skin rash or diarrhea, and children who swim and drink the water get sick, especially during the dry season. I hope that this message will be received by the government and dam builders and they use their responsibility to find a solution for our people.”


REGIONALNEWS

Delacour’s Langur Trachypithecus delacouri © Jonathan C. Eames

30


Regionalnews

The plight of the Bengal Florican in Cambodia could be eased if the Gulf Arab states that have invested so heavily in dry season rice cultivation

in the Tonle Sap floodplain were prepared to accept responsibility for their environmentally detrimental actions and invest in the Integrated Conservation and Biodiversity Areas.

Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis is a Critically Endangered bustard inhabiting alluvial grasslands in India, Nepal and Cambodia. The global population is estimated at fewer than 1,500 individuals, most of which breed on seasonally flooded grasslands surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia. The estimated Tonle Sap Lake floodplain population of Bengal Floricans may be less than 300 adult males, representing a 30% decline since 2005 (BirdLife International 2009, Grey et al. 2009).

The Tonle Sap grasslands are maintained by a traditional agricultural ecology linked to the flood and retreat of the Tonle Sap Lake waters. This system has existed since the great Khmer Empire of Ankorian times and is in harmony with nature and the system upon which the rural poor depend for their livelihoods.

However, Tonle Sap grasslands are rapidly being lost due to intensification of irrigated dry season rice

cultivation, principally for export, in many cases to Gulf Arab States.

Dry season rice cultivation causes landlessness, replaces a traditional agricultural ecology and does not contribute to food security or livelihoods. The Asian Development Bank’s Cambodia country manager called the food security situation in Cambodia “an unprecedented emergency” WWW.Atimes.com 26 September 2008. Many Gulf States, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates which import between 60-90% of basic foodstuffs, are investing in rice production in Cambodia, for export to their home countries (WWW.Atimes.com 26 September 2008).

In 2008 Qatar officially declared its intention to invest in Cambodia’s agricultural sector, including US $ 200 million in rice farmland in Svay Rieng province where the Bengal Florican is already extinct Mekong Times 8 May 2008. In 2008 reports were received of a Kuwaiti proposal to develop 10,700 ha of dry season rice within and around Veal Srangai Integrated Farming and Biodiversity Area (IFBA). This company also proposed an area of 50,000 ha of dry season rice within and around IFBAs in Kampong Svay, Stoung, districts, Kampong Thom province and in Chikreng district, Siem Reap Province. The current status of these proposals is unknown (Forestry Administration

February 2010).

The head of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), warned in August 2009 that a new kind of “neo-colonialism” could emerge from land deals where poor Southeast Asian countries [like Cambodia] produce food for export to rich Gulf States at the expense of their own underfed people . (HalalFocus.com 30 July 2009).

31

Time for Gulf Arab states to invest in Bengal Florican conservation in Cambodia

© Photo: Jonathan C. Eames


REGIONALNEWS

The Cambodian government’s recently brokered an opaque deal with Kuwait for farmland in Kampong Thom province, which holds the larg-est numbers of Bengal Floricans, has farmers concerned that their evic-tion may be part and parcel of the deal, according to rights activists.

BirdLife, Wildlife Conservation Society and our government and NGO partners have established almost 350 km2 of Tonle Sap grasslands as protected areas (known as Integrated Farming and Biodiversity Conser-vation Areas [IFBAs]), set aside for biodiversity and local livelihoods. On going conservation activities supported by BirdLife in these areas include participatory land-use zoning, patrols reporting new rice de-velopments to government officials, awareness-raising and incentive-led nest protection schemes. BirdLife through the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is also supporting a PhD student from the Univer-sity of East Anglia conduct research to learn more about the population of Bengal Floricans and their movements outside the breeding season when the Tonle Sap grasslands are in flood. The results will guide and inform future management.

Bustards figure as the major quarry species of Gulf Arab falconers. The decline of the Houbara Bustard Chlamydotis undulata has lead to sig-nificant conservation efforts in several Gulf Arab States, and the launch of conservation plans to re-introduce this species and conserve its habi-tat. The current plight of the Bengal Florican and the increasing interest in converting its habitat offers a clear example of a common interest and the potential for a shared cause.

Jonathan C EamesProgramme ManagerBirdlife International in Indochina

Activists and food-security experts have expressed concerns about the lack of transparency sur-rounding deals between Southeast Asian governments and their Gulf area suitors. Details of land areas, locations, lengths of leases and amounts invested have been scant in government statements, and news reports on the deals often present contradictory information. That, they venture, could open the way for abuse and corruption HalalFocus.com 30 July 2009.

Numerous reports have detailed heavy-handed expropriation in Cambodia and the press regularly carries stories of land scandals involving politicians, businessmen and high-ranking army and police officers. Land-grabbing in Cambodian rural areas is rampant, human-rights groups allege, despite a land law that limits economic concessions to less than 10,000 hectares (HalalFocus.com 30 July 2009).

LICADHO, a Cambodia-based rights group, estimated in a May report that over 250,000 people in 13 provinces had been adversely affected by land-grabbing and forced evictions since 2003 (HalalFocus.com 30 July 2009).

32

© Photo: Jonathan C. Eames

IBANEWS

33

Cambodia Protects Key Grasslands


Big birds got a big boost in Cambodia, where a new protected area will safeguard six of the largest remaining tracts of lowland grassland in

Southeast Asia. The wildlife-rich sites, located in and around the Tonle Sap floodplain, are a refuge for the rare Bengal florican and other globally threatened birds. In addition, the grasslands provide a fishing, grazing, and deep-water rice farming resource for local commu-nities.

“Recognizing the importance of these sites as part of Cambodia’s unique natural heritage shows the national government’s great commitment to the conservation of some of the country’s valued landscapes,” said WCS President Steven Sanderson.

The six sites include one in Siem Reap province and five in Kampong Thom province, comprising a total of 76,996 acres of habitat. Provincial conservation orders had offered some protection to these areas but large-scale commercial rice production made them vulner-able to land-clearing and dam-building activities. With these new designations, staff from Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are empowered to prevent such destructive land-use practices. Among the species benefiting from the designations is the endan-gered Bengal florican. Fewer than 1,300 of these large, ground-nesting birds remain in the world. More than half of them live in Cambodia.

Traditional, low-intensity agricultural practices, such as seasonal burning, plowing, planting, and harvesting, help support the needs of the florican in the wild. Il-

legal commercial rice farming, however, destroys its habitat, forcing floricans into ever-shrinking areas. The new declaration represents the strongest step Cambodia has taken to date to protect the habitat of this and other species living in the protected areas – including Sarus cranes, storks, ibises, and rare eagles.

WCS worked in collaboration with Cambodia’s For-estry and Fisheries Administrations, local governments, and community stakeholders to strengthen the areas’ management of natural resource. The protected area designations resulted from this endeavor. As part of that effort, WCS sourced funds and provided technical ad-vice and management support. Other partners involved in this effort include the Centre d’Etude et de Dével-oppement Agricole Cambodgien (CEDAC), the Sam Veasna Center (SVC), BirdLife International in Indo-china and the Angkor Center for Conservation of Bio-diversity (ACCB), and the University of East Anglia.

The collaborative project has been supported by grants from: Fondation Ensemble; the IUCN Netherlands Ecosystem Grants Program; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife Without Borders – Critically Endan-gered Animal Conservation Fund; the UNDP/GEF-funded Tonle Sap Conservation Project; WCS Trustee Ms. Eleanor Briggs; the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, administered through BirdLife International in Indochina and which is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement; Conservation Interna-tional; the Global Environment Facility; the Govern-ment of Japan; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and the World Bank.

-----

Source: http://www.wcs.org/new-and-noteworthy/cam-bodia-saves-key-grasslands.aspx



IBANEWS

Kampong Trach Important Bird Area (IBA) is a seasonally inundat-ed wetland and dominantly covered by Chinese Water Chestnut El-eocharis dulcis (the common food item for Sarus Cranes at the site)

and scattered Melaleuca scrubs. The site is located in the southern part of Cambodia in Kampong Trach district of Kampot province, exists influential tide from Hatien Sea in Vietnam and is home to an annual dry season non-breeding population of Sarus Cranes. Due to the site being regarded as an in-ternational importance, the Forestry Administration (FA) in collaboration with BirdLife International Cambodia Programme has submitted a formal request to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) for establish-ing a Sarus Crane conservation reserve with an area 212 ha, comprising two main Sarus Crane feeding sites such as Koh Treak (UTM: 0448497-1158321) and Veal Daem Snay (UTM: 0449558-1156200). Koh Anse (UTM: 0447908-1154095) is another Sarus Crane feeding site but was already sold to a compa-ny. The area is small and surrounded by many villages and people. Therefore, it is inevitable to have threats occurring within the site including burning of vegetation, poaching of wildlife, use of illegal fishing gear, land encroachment (for the purpose of aquacultural farming, agricultural expansion, land specula-tion and ownership), unsustainable resource exploitation, human disturbance (fishing, vegetation and fuel wood collection, domestic buffalo tending and motor boat traversing once in a while). 34

Above: bird traps and drainage channel at Kampong Trach© Photo: LCG and Jonathan C. Eames (right)

Threats to Kampong Trach IBA in Kampong Trach District, Kampot Province, Cambodia


IBANEWS

35

Through the project implementation since 2004 until 2009, some threats which are purely illegal destructive and unsustainable activities, had been found. Those threats were prevented and stopped including 8 cases of bird trap-ping, 7 cases of land encroachment, one case of vegetation burning. Although the site is not legally established by the Royal Government of Cambodia all illegal activities were enforced under the following relevant legislation such as Forestry Law in 2002, Fisheries Law in 2006 and Land Law in 2003. Regarding human disturbances, Lo-cal Conservation Group (LCG) members had only educated and advised them not to come close to feeding and roosting locations of Sarus Cranes because sub-decree is not yet approved to limit the local people’s livelihood activities at the site

In addition to law enforcement, many education and awareness raising activities on wildlife conservation and protection had been conducted by LCG members and BirdLife counterpart staff in the communal meetings, festi-vals and schools in relevant communes and through signboards, posters, T-shirts etc. Therefore, threats have now almost finished at the site.

Seng Kim Hout

CCK and MB project officer

Awareness raising activity conducted with school chil-dren and a signboard planted at the site.

Credit: Hang Phoeung and Kim Hout

Threats to Kampong Trach IBA in Kampong Trach District, Kampot Province, Cambodia(cont’d.)

The global conservation importance of Western Siem Pang in Cambodia as one of only a very few sites conserving popula-tions of five Critically Endangered bird species is becoming

more widely known although it is best known to support the world’s largest population of the White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davidsoni. However, its importance for another ibis - the Giant – is only now be-coming better understood. Recently a BirdLife survey team recorded an astonishing 16 Giant Ibis over ten days during a rapid survey of the western sector of the site. As a rule during such a time period, one would expect to encounter one or two birds. This is good news for the Giant Ibis, the national bird of Cambodia, whose global population es-timate is believed to be as low as 200 individuals.

“At the height of the dry season one would expect a greater encoun-ter rate as Giant Ibis along with other wildlife become concentrated at seasonal wetlands (trapeangs) in the forest and grasslands, but to record so many birds in such a short period from such a small area suggests the population at Western Siem Pang is much larger than we previously thought.” said Jonathan C. Eames, Programme Manager for BirdLife


IBANEWS

Since 2004, BirdLife International Cambodia Programme in collaboration with the Forestry Administration (FA), has been working at Kam-

pong Trach Important Bird Area (IBA) and carrying out a number of projects, including establishing a Lo-cal Conservation Group (LCG), implementing law en-forcement, environmental awareness and bird survey and monitoring activities. Our shared goal is the es-tablishment of a protected area. On 25 January 2010 a discussion meeting was held in the Kampot provincial office between the representatives of FA, Agricultural Department of the Office of the Council of Ministers with His Excellency Khoy Khun Huor, Kampot provin-cial governor. The meeting focused on the installation of the boundary demarcation posts undertaken by Kam-pot Provincial Department of Environment in Kampong Trach IBA without the participation and cooperation of FA who have been working at the site since 2004 and who proposed the site for sub-decree in 2007.In re-sponse, His Excellency the Kampot provincial gover-nor said that he ordered the Provincial Department of

Land Management, Urban Planning, Construction and Cadastral to systematically register land title to keep that site for a Sarus Crane conservation reserve and in-stalled maker posts to stop further land conflict issue. He also added that regarding the suggestions from FA, there was no problem in case the Royal Government of Cambodia identifies any institution to manage the site and he would support to change terms used on the concrete posts and follow the government’s decision. For the case of non-cooperation with FA in implement-ing the installation of the boundary demarcation posts at the site he would ask His Excellency Heng Vantha, Kampot provincial deputy governor, who led this work for further clarification.

On 04 March 2010 a meeting was held in the Office of the Council of Ministers to discuss the draft sub-decree to establish Kampong Trach IBA as a Sarus Crane re-serve. The meeting was co-chaired by His Excellency Pich Chhun, deputy of the Council of Jurists of the

Royal Government of Cambodia and Her Excellency Ly Vouch Leng, deputy of Economic, Social and Cul-tural Observation Unit and attended by 17 participants representing MAFF; the Council of Jurists; Economic, Social and Cultural Observation Unit; and Agricultural Department of Office of the Council of Ministers. As a result, the draft sub-decree was completed discussed and some small changes and adjustments in the whole document were made during the meeting. However, the meeting had requested FA to search for a response of the Prime Minister to a letter of the Senior Minister, Minister of LMUPC dated on 05 May 2009 regarding the study result of land conflict issue with 11 families living in Boeung Sala Khang Tboung commune. FA has already undertaken some steps following a request from the meeting by working with some relevant peo-ple within LMUPC. When the request is completed an inter-ministerial meeting will be held in the Office of the Council of Ministers to further discuss on the for-mation of Kampong Trach IBA before submitting to the session of Ministers.

36

The national inter-ministerial working group to solve land conflict issue in Kampong Trach IBA.© Photo: Seng Kim Hout

Updated news on Designation of Kampong Trach IBA Seng Kim Hout reports


rarestoftherare

Western Siem Pang – Land of the Giants

37

The global conservation importance of Western Siem Pang in Cambodia as one of only a very few sites conserving popula-tions of five Critically Endangered bird species is becoming

more widely known although it is best known to support the world’s largest population of the White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davidsoni. However, its importance for another ibis - the Giant – is only now be-coming better understood. Recently a BirdLife survey team recorded an astonishing 16 Giant Ibis over ten days during a rapid survey of the western sector of the site. As a rule during such a time period, one would expect to encounter one or two birds. This is good news for the Giant Ibis, the national bird of Cambodia, whose global population es-timate is believed to be as low as 200 individuals.

“At the height of the dry season one would expect a greater encoun-ter rate as Giant Ibis along with other wildlife become concentrated at seasonal wetlands (trapeangs) in the forest and grasslands, but to record so many birds in such a short period from such a small area suggests the population at Western Siem Pang is much larger than we previously thought.” said Jonathan C. Eames, Programme Manager for BirdLife

© Jonathan C. Eames

International in Indochina.

The global range of the Giant Ibis has shrunk and it now only occurs in southern Laos and northern Cambodia. The destruction of dry dipterocarp forest and the associated wetlands in Thailand and Vietnam during the 20th Cen-tury, lead to its extinction in those countries. The same processes continue in Cambodia and the dry forest ecosystem and its wealth of wildlife may be now only seen at remote sites in Preh Vihear, Stung Treng and Mondulkiri

provinces. The forest edge retreats annually, however in the face of clearances for new con-cessions.

“The Giant Ibis shuns people,” continued Eames, “it is a magnificent and enigmatic bird that with its evocative call, will only be saved from global extinction when more people rec-ognize that the economic values of the dry dip-terocarp forests of Cambodia extend beyond cassava plantations and poorly conceived bio fuel projects.”


38

rarestoftherare

Giant Ibis

Thaumatibis giganteaPhotos by Jonathan C. Eames

projectupdates

39

Late January saw the first ever Rare Bird Club trip to Cambodia. The very full itinerary took in the central Mekongh at Kratchie, Western Siem Pang, Prek Toal and Chikreng. We hope to repeat this successful trip in 2011.


Rare Bird Club Trip visit to Cambodia


Projectupdates

Three more large and nine new small grants made in the region

In the first three months of 2010, three more large grants were made, bringing the total number of funded large projects to 17, and nine more small grants, bringing the total number of funded small projects to 33. So far, 49 of 181 applications made to CEPF in Indochina have been approved, with 22 grants to projects in Cambodia, 16 to Vietnam, two to Lao P.D.R., one to Thailand, and nine to projects working in more than one country. In total, about US $4.8 million of grants has now been contracted.

Three more large grants

The first two newly funded large grants in this quarter aim to protect two Critically Endangered primates in Vietnam: Cat Ba Langur Trachypithecus poliocephalus and Grey-shanked Douc Pygathrix cinerea. Münster Zoo (www.allwetterzoo.de or http://www.catbalangur.org) received nearly US$ 58,000 to bolster conserva-tion efforts for the Cat Ba Langur, one of the world’s rarest primates. Recent surveys have shown that there are less than 100 individuals remaining; only on Cat Ba Island, 130 km north-east of Hanoi. The project will work with the national park authorities to help ensure strict protection of the remaining population, reduce habitat fragmentation and destruction of natural forest in the buffer zones of Cat Ba National Park and Biosphere Reserve, strengthen capacity of governmental forest protection agencies and reduce population fragmentation through intensive management.

40

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (www.cepf.net) is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facil-ity, the Government of Japan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conser-vation.

CEPF began a $9.5 million five year investment plan in Indochina in July 2008, in part-nershipwith BirdLife International, who provide the Regional Implementation Team (www.birdlifeindochina.org/cepf). As the RIT in Indochina, BirdLife International will: raise awareness of CEPF; solicit grant applications and assist organisations to make applica-tions; review applications; give small grants and jointly make decisions with CEPF on large grants; and monitor and evaluate progress with the investment strategy.

CEPF-RIT Updates

Cat Ba Langur Trachypithecus poliocephalus

Photo courtesy of the Seacology Foundation.

www.allwetterzoo.de

http://www.catbalangur.org

www.cepf.net

www.birdlifeindochina.org/cepf

www.birdlifeindochina.org/cepf


Projectupdates

41

CEPF-RIT Updates

The World Wide Fund for Nature (www.panda.org/greater-mekong) was granted over US$ 30,000 to attempt sustainable community-based conservation of the largest known popula-tion of Grey-shanked Douc in the world. This species is also endemic to Vietnam, known from only five provinces, and is considered one of the world’s 25 most threatened primates. Focused actions will be taken for the core population of the species in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, as a foun-dation for longer-term conservation interventions, including clarifying the distribution of the population, building capacity of local partners in survey and monitoring, assessing the fea-sibility of ecotourism as a sustainable financing mechanism, evaluating the effectiveness of village patrol teams, and rais-ing awareness among local communities.

The third large grant in this quarter was made to ElefantAsia (www.elefantasia.org), for over US$ 35,000. In the next two years, in order to secure and increase Asian Elephant Elephas maximus populations in Lao P.D.R, the project will develop a national registration scheme, and complete microchipping and registration for domesticated elephants in the country, in an attempt to reduce incentives for capture and trade of wild elephants. The project will also raise awareness and promote law enforcement against illegal capture and trade of elephants, and facilitate sharing of information on registration, killing, capture and trade of elephants with neighbouring countries and concerned organizations.

Grey-shanked Douc Pygathrix cinerea. Photo: Tilo Nadler

www.panda.org/greatermekong

www.panda.org/greatermekong

www.elefantasia.org


Projectupdates

Nine more small grants

In this quarter, five of nine small grants are in Cambodia, one in Vietnam and three working in more than one country.

With a second vulture-focused project, the Wildlife Conservation Society (www.wcs.org) are attempting to increase sustain-ability in efforts to prevent the extinction, and restore population sizes, of the largest Indochinese populations of three Critically Endangered vulture species, in north and northeastern Cambodia: Red-headed Vul-ture Sarcogyps calvus, White-rumped Vul-ture Gyps bengalensis and Slender-billed Vulture G. tenuirostris. The populations of these species have declined by 95-99% in South Asia since the early 1990s. Major project activities will be increasing revenues from ecotourism to vulture conservation, diversifying the funding base for ‘vulture restaurants’, and raising awareness about harmful effects of misuse of poison.

Also in Cambodia, the Wildfowl & Wet-lands Trust (www.wwt.org.uk) will devel-op partnerships and joint-planning with two local organisations in Cambodia, Mlup Bai-tong and Chamroien Chiet Khmer, resulting in submission to CEPF of complementary project plans to establish long term sustain-

able management of Boeung Prek Lapouv and Kampong Trach. These key sites are two of the few remaining representatives of the lower Mekong floodplain wetlands, and hold priority non-breeding populations of Sarus Crane Grus antigone.

Some large threatened mammals are also now receiving greater attention. The Wild-life Conservation Society is attempting to find signs of the survival of Kouprey Bos sauveli, one of the most enigmatic large mammals in Asia, and to improve knowl-edge of the population status of other wild cattle, through camera-trapping and surveys in remote tracts of grassland and open forest in Preah Vihear Protected Forest, Cambo-dia. If Kouprey persist anywhere, this site is thought to be one of the most likely loca-tions.

Closely link with the above project, Glob-al Wildlife Conservation (www.global-wildlife.org) have been funded to analyse all survey reports, camera trap photos of cattle, and data from the range of Kouprey, especially in Cambodia, to assess whether overlooked traces of the species’ persistence exist and to identify places where survey ef-fort has been insufficient for confidence that Kouprey no longer occur, in order to guide follow-up surveys.

42

CEPF-RIT Updates

Red-headed Vulture Sarcogyps calvusPhoto: Jonathan C. Eames

www.wcs.org

www.wcs.org

www.wwt.org.uk

www.globalwildlife.org

www.globalwildlife.org


Projectupdates

43

Another mythical mammal in the region, Saola Pseudo-ryx nghetinhensis, is the target of the project “Launching the Flagship: Collaborative Saola Conservation” devel-oped by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (www.iucn.org/lao), as a follow-up to a previous CEPF grant. In the coming months, the project plans to leverage financial and political support from companies, development agencies, government and civil society to turn the plans resulting from the first ever technical meeting of the IUCN Saola Working Group last year into a strong regional partnership for effective Saola conser-vation.

Asian Elephant in Cambodia will benefit from a small grant given to Fauna & Flora International (www.fauna-flora.org), which is attempting to reduce conflict between human and elephants in Mondulkiri Province, north-east Cambodia, through an awareness raising pro-gramme. Information about elephant conservation and human-elephant conflict will be shared with local com-munities, ethnic groups, agrobusinesses and local gov-ernment to enable them to mitigate the conflict with strategies including deterrents ranging from chilli ropes to watchtowers and fireworks.

CEPF-RIT Updates

Two elephants photographed by a camera trap in

Cambodia. Photo: J. Holden, FFI

www.iucn.org/lao

www.fauna-flora.org

www.fauna-flora.org


projectupdates

The World Pheasant Association (www.pheasant.org.uk) has been funded to conduct “Strategic planning to safe-guard the Green Peafowl Pavo muticus” by identifying im-portant areas for the species across its range and assessing the importance of populations, based on currently available information and expert opinion. Additional activities will include evaluating the likelihood of conservation success across the range, and developing a species conservation strategy aimed at preventing a further deterioration in the species’ status.

The last two small grants in this quarter were made to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to help tackle wildlife trade and wildlife product consumption in Indo-china. In the first project, WCS will work with selected Vietnamese companies to engage them in preventing staff from consuming protected threatened species. WCS hopes

to achieve this by raising awareness at multiple levels within the companies and helping companies integrate a ‘zero-consumption of protected wildlife’ policy within Hu-man Resource and Finance procedures. The project also plans to obtain media coverage of results of these innova-tive actions as a model for other companies operating in the region.

In their second project “Strengthening capacity for wild-life product identification in Indochina”, WCS will work closely with partners to adapt and translate, for Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand, a recently published English and Vietnamese language identification guide to commonly traded wildlife products, tailored for law enforcement offi-cials. Building on the existing guide, they will also develop a web-based service for providing rapid species identifica-tion services to law enforcement agencies in Vietnam.

44

CEPF-RIT Updates

Left: Green Peafowl Pavo muti-cus.Photo: Nguyen Tran Vy

www.pheasant.org.uk


Projectupdates

45

Progress of Funded Projects

From 1st to 6th February 2010, an environmental education training course was held in Hanoi for five staff of the Asian Turtle Program (ATP) of Cleveland Zoological Society (www.ClevelandZooSociety.org; or www.asianturtlenetwork.org). The ATP received a large CEPF grant to conserve threatened turtles across Indochina, of which this training was a part. The training was designed to focus on improving skills in developing, orga-nizing and conducting community meetings and school programs to increase awareness and promote conservation of some of Vietnam’s rarest turtle species. Further information can be downloaded here.

3S Rivers Protection Network (www.3spn.cfsites.org), the first local civil society or-ganisation in Cambodia to receive a CEPF small grant last year has released its first news-letter “Living Rivers” for August to November 2009. The newsletter contains updates from Srepok, Sesan and Sekong (3S) river communities in north-east Cambodia, includ-ing hydropower development issues, and other conservation and environmental news relevant to 3S villagers and the region as a whole. The full newsletter can be read here.

On 17 March 2010, the Wildlife Conservation Society gathered nearly 30 local and na-tional journalists in Mong Cai Province, northern Vietnam to attend a training workshop on, and field investigations into, the illegal wildlife trade through the border crossing to China. Journalists were encouraged to raise their voices and to have a responsibility to the public and relevant authorities in the fight to stop wildlife trade in this area, as well as the rest of Vietnam. This workshop was a part of the CEPF-funded project “Building Aware-ness and Capacity to Reduce the Illegal Cross-Border Trade of Wildlife From Vietnam to China”. A full media release is available here.

CEPF-RIT Updates

Two elephants photographed by a camera trap in

Cambodia. Photo: J. Holden, FFI

Above: ATP trainees practising in a school program. Photo: Dang Minh Ha, ENV

BelowJournalists discussing on tackling cross-border wildlife trade. Photo: Wildlife Conserva-tion Society

www.ClevelandZooSociety.org

www.asianturtlenetwork.org

http://birdlifeindochina.org/sites/default/files/EE training PR 01Mar10.pdf

www.3spn.cfsites.org

http://birdlifeindochina.org/sites/default/files/Living_Rivers_Newsletter_Vol1_Issue1_EN_Final.pdf

http://birdlifeindochina.org/sites/default/files/Press Release_Media WS_Mar 2010 EN(1).pdf


Projectupdates

46

Census of Black-faced SpoonbillJanuary 2010 in Vietnam

Country/

Region

Location Date Total

Number

Immature

birds

Reported by

Vietnam Red River Delta: Xuan Thuy National Park

11/01/10 46* >5 Phan Van Truong (Xuan Thuy National Park)

Vietnam Quang Ninh Province: Ha Nam Island**

09/10/10 0 0 Nguyen Duc Tu

Vietnam Red River Delta: Thai Thuy IBA**

10/01/10 0 0 Nguyen Duc Tu

TOTAL: 46 5

Notes:

* The counts were made on the unsuitable days in northern Vietnam (i.e. low tide entire the day). In Xuan Thuy National Park, the highest number counted was 54 birds (at least 11 juveniles) counted on 22 Novem-ber 2009 (Nguyen Duc Tu pers. obs.) and 27 December 2009 (Phan Van Truong pers. obs.).

** All the counts during 9-10 January 2010 were made possible with support from BirdLife International Vietnam Programme.

Black faced Spoonbills Photo: Jonathan C. Eames


projectnews

Left: Participants of the training course with BirdLife StaffRight Above: Trainees practising RaidsRight Below: Introduction of First AidPhotos: Mai Phuong

47

ENFORCEMENT RANGER – BASIC TRAINING COURSEin Chu Yang Sin National Park, Dak

Lak Province, Vietnam21 March to 3 April 2010


projectnews

48

Left: A trainee receiving a prize for a night patrol activity

Right Above: Trainees practising movements through different terrains

Right Below: Certificates were given to all trainees

49

profile

Understanding why a particular waterbird is so rare and what can be done to save it is what drives

Hugh Wright, a PhD researcher from University of East Anglia, UK. Hugh has spent the last two and a half years focus-ing his studies on White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni , a critically endan-gered bird of which little is known. A lot of sweat poured through three fieldwork seasons in the hot Cambodian dry season is producing results that conservationists can act on.

White-shouldered Ibis once occurred across South-East Asia in a variety of open and wetland habitats and it was even considered a “common” bird in some places. Since the 1930s it experienced a severe decline and went almost unre-corded in the 1980s and 1990s. Thank-fully, conservationists rediscovered pop-ulations in southern Laos, northern and eastern Cambodia and southern Vietnam and started raising questions about why this species had become so rare. In 2008, Hugh began a long-overdue research project to reveal this species’ require-ments and began implementing conser-vation activities specifically targeting this species.

“I want to provide evidence for the most important aspects the species’ ecology

and the effectiveness of different con-servation techniques”, explains Hugh, “the foraging and breeding ecology are particularly crucial factors that conser-vationists could enhance to benefit this species”. Hugh’s work involves a wide range of activities including monitoring population size, assessing feeding habi-tat quality and the role of domestic live-stock, monitoring and protecting nests and camera trapping nest predators.

The last year has been particularly re-warding, as Hugh and his survey team have found record numbers of ibis and record numbers of nests. In July 2009, a coordinated roost count across north and east Cambodia found 310 birds. Im-proved knowledge like this is helping BirdLife International to make a more accurate assessment of the species’ sta-tus. At Western Siem Pang IBA, where Hugh undertakes the majority of his work, the team found over 20 nests this year. This is further evidence that West-ern Siem Pang IBA is the most globally important site for this rare species. Half of the nests were guarded by local people to learn whether nest protection is a fea-sible and effective conservation action for improving breeding success.

Studying this species and its environ-ment in such detail requires dedication

and high motivation. Working in the for-est for many months continuously can be tough both physically and mentally. Hugh admits that before studying White-shouldered Ibis he had no tropical field-work experience and was a little nervous about starting. “I first came to Cambodia to do MSc research in 2008. I was lucky to be given the option of a PhD before I even started that work, but accepting it was a tricky decision - I’d never been to a developing country before or even a tropical environment so I didn’t know what to expect. In retrospect though, tak-ing on the PhD was a great decision”.

Hugh’s research goes further than species ecology to explore the potential role that local people can play to help conserve the ibis. “Studying the habitat dynam-ics within dry forest landscapes has re-vealed that traditional land management by local communities is relevant to the species’ survival”, says Hugh. “The ex-tensive grazing of wetlands and seasonal pools by cattle and buffalo, the routine burning of forest understorey and the availability of abandoned rice fields are all important factors for creating suitable ibis habitat”. Hugh expects that his PhD thesis will draw upon the theme of sus-tainable conservation that directly ben-efits from the activities of local people.


Hugh Wright is ibis crazy


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profile

Cambodia contains approximately 90% or more of the remaining White-shouldered Ibis population. Conserving this species will require coordinated action within and outside the existing Cambodian protected area network. The two largest known sub-populations in the country are in currently unpro-tected sites: Western Siem Pang IBA and the central section of the Mekong River. Hugh is working closely with BirdLife International, Wildlife Conser-vation Society, World Wide Fund for Nature and the Forestry Administration and Ministry of Environment of Cambodia to share the results of his work and make plans for implementing more effective conservation.

Hugh Wright’s study has received funding from a range of donors including Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund; the Mohammed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund; Rufford Small Grants for Conservation; Oriental Bird Club; British Ornithologists’ Union; Angkor Centre for Conservation of Bio-diversity, BirdLife International and the Natural Environment and Economic and Social Research Councils of the British government.


Hugh Wright is ibis crazy

Mem MaiLocal hunter to local hero

The call of an Eld’s Deer resonates around the forest at 3am. The survey team are collapsed asleep in their ham-mocks after an exhausting hot day of nest finding. Mem

Mai, however, leaps from his hammock with excitement, wak-ing whoever else has the energy to go and take a look. His un-stoppable enthusiasm and highly-trained senses compel him to find wildlife at any time of day and night.

Mem Mai is a key member of Birdlife International in Indo-china’s Local Conservation Group (LCG) at Western Siem Pang IBA, northern Cambodia. Now 39, Mai spent 13 years hunting wildlife in this dry dipterocarp forest to support his family. His tracking and trapping skills were so adept that his perfect mim-icry of a young sambar deer even brought a tiger into his line of fire. Like other members of the native Khmer Kheh community, hunting was a part of his family’s survival.

Photo: Nicolas CornetHugh and Mem MaiPhoto: Nicolas Cornet

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profile BirdLifeInternationalin Indochina The Babbler 33 - March 2010


Mem MaiLocal hunter to local hero (cont’d.)

When BirdLife arrived in Western Siem Pang in 2003, Mai was offered an alternative livelihood as a LCG member. Overnight, Mai turned his proficient tracking skills and exceptional knowledge of the landscape to the monitoring and protection of wildlife. Since then he has been helping BirdLife to understand and conserve Western Siem Pang’s 5 critically endangered birds; two ibis and three vulture species. Wildlife censuses, patrolling, assisting police operations and raising local awareness are his key contributions now.

Mai’s talents have made him an invaluable part of other project work, most recently the research into White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni (undertaken by University of East Anglia in collabora-tion with BirdLife).Everyday in the breeding season he and the survey team go in search of White-shouldered Ibis to learn more about this species’ breeding and feeding ecology. Nesting success is a main theme of this study and requires weeks of dedicated nest finding. This season Mai has found 5 nests of this severely threatened bird, nearly a quarter of all nests found throughout Cambodia. Mid-day temperatures exceeding 40°C are no barrier to his dedication when he suspects a particular part of the forest contains a nest.

Climbing skills more often used for harvesting coconuts have also come in useful for this work. Specially-constructed nest cameras are being installed to understand which predator species are taking White-shouldered Ibis eggs and chicks. Camera installations take place at night to minimise disturbance to the ibis and to prevent crows opportunistically removing the nest contents after installation. Mai and his colleagues bravely climb these 15-20m dipterocarp trees in the dark to install the first ever nest cameras deployed in Cambodia.

Western Siem Pang IBA’s rich fauna now mean a lot more to Mai than just a livelihood. Spend any time with him in the forest and you can get a sense of his personal passion for finding, watching and understanding the wildlife in his home environment. When he comes across a Giant Ibis or a Red-headed Vulture (for the several-hun-dredth time) he can barely contain his excitement. This enthusiasm is infectious and inspires his colleagues, members of the local com-munity and visitors. The Rare Bird Club visit to Western Siem Pang in January 2010 gave Mai the chance to show off his skills, including his fast-growing knowledge of English-language animal names.

Mai’s family have also been at the receiving end of his animal in-terests. A Common Palm Civet and a Changeable Hawk Eagle have become household members following confiscations from illegal wildlife traders. The eagle was raised at his home and successfully re-released; “I still miss the eagle” Mai says, despite it having devoured uncountable volumes of his chickens and shrieking pre-dawn, eve-ryday, for three months. Mai trains his sons in various aspects of his work in the hope that they too will follow him into conservation; al-ready they are assisting the ongoing White-shouldered Ibis research.

BirdLife International in Indochina Cambodia Programme is now in a position to make significant progress for conservation in Western Siem Pang IBA. Mai, with his talents and exceptional knowledge, will be the backbone of BirdLife activities as it moves into a new era at this site.



review

Although Vietnam has one of the richest herpetofaunas in the world, study of its amphib-ians and reptiles was long overshadowed by interest in India, China and the East Indies. This book remedies any documentary gap that may have existed. It provides a compre-

hensive checklist of species with Latin, English and Vietnamese names, followed by 200 pages of colour plates. The introduction describes the geography and ecology of the country and the history of Vietnamese herpetology.

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Source: http://www.nhbs.com/herpetofauna_of_vietnam_tefno_157162.html&tab_tag=desc

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Herpetofauna of Vietnam

FRANKFURT CONTRIBUTIONS TO NATURAL HISTORY 33Nguyen Van Sang, Ho Thu Cuc and Nguyen Quang Truong

PhotoSpot

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Indian Spotted Eagle Aquila hastata is a recently described species with a poorly known distribution. Its range in Cambodia is imper-fectly known and it is not known whether the birds photographed

in Cambodia may represent an undescribed taxon of the species. These two photographs were taken at Western Siem Pang on 6 March 2010.

Indian Spotted Eagle Aquila hastata

Photos: Jonathan C. Eames



PUBLIcations

White-eared Night Heron Gorsachius magnificus is a very poorly known, globally En-dangered species, occurring mainly in southern China, with recent records from nine provinces, but with only two records prior to 2008 from Vietnam (BirdLife Interna-

tional 2001, 2009, Pilgrim et al. 2009). It is the most threatened and geographically restricted of all herons (Li et al. 2007). In 2008 targeted surveys by BirdLife International, in collaboration with Vietnam Birdwatching Club and the National Natural Museum, addressed the status and distribution of the species in four provinces in northern Vietnam, which resulted in observations from two sites in Bac Kan province, including Ba Be National Park. In 2009 the first breeding record of the species from Vietnam was made (Pilgrim et al. 2009) in Ba Be National Park and is documented here.

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In the same issue:

John D. Pilgrim, Jonathan C. Eames and David Gandy BirdingASIA 12 (2009): 53-55

The newly described Bare-faced Bulbul Pycnonotus hualon

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White-eared Night Heron Gorsachius magnificus in in Ba Be National Park, VietnamJONATHAN C. EAMES & LE MANH HUNG

BirdingASIA 12 (2009): 58–61

White-eared Night Heron Gorsachius magnificus© Photo: Jonathan C. Eames


publications

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BirdLife International in Indochina - Cambodia Programme (2009) Operational management plan for Boeung Prek Lapouv management and convservation area for sarus crane and other birds 2009 - 2014. BirdLife International in Indochina - Cambodia Programme

Sarus Crane Grus antigone© Photo: Jonathan C. Eames

Nuon Vanna and Melanie Mott (2009) Monitoring Protocol for Boeung Prek Lapouv management and conservation area for Sarus Crane and other Birds in Takeo Province and Kampong Trach Important Bird Area in Kampot Province Cambodia. BirdLife International in Indochina - Cambodia Programme

Hugh L. Wright, Bou Vorsak, Nigel J. Collar, Tho-mas N. E. Gray, Iain R. Lake, Sum Phearun, Hugo J. Rainey, Rours Vann, Sok Ko & Pa Ul M. Dolman (2009) Establishing a national monitoring programme for White-shouldered Ibis in Cambodia.Ibis The International Journal of Avian Science


Staffnews

John Pilgrim has been with BirdLife Indochina for four years, trying to build capacity in BirdLife staff and partners across Cambodia, southern China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam on a range of projects as diverse as development of a new Biodiversity Law, protected area man-

agement, Strategic Environmental Assessment of hydropower plans, and biodiversity monitoring. For most of the last two years, he has led the BirdLife Regional Implementation Team for the Criti-cal Ecosystem Partnership Fund, an important conservation grant-making mechanism for Indochina. John has greatly enjoyed his time in Indochina and will be staying in the region, but leaves BirdLife to spend more time on field research and conservation action, and to escape the Hanoi traffic!

56© Photo: Jonathan C. Eames

John Pilgrim

Nuon Vanna spent several years with BirdLife based at the Phnom Penh office. During his timie with BirdLife Vanna worked on a number of projects including the Asian Devel-opment Bank’s Biodivesrity Corridors Initiative and the Darwin-funded Ramsar project.

Vanna made an important contribution to the monitoring protocol for Boeung Prek Lapouv.

Nuon Vanna


fromthearchives

These two astonishing photographs form part of a series, together with a lengthy article that appeared in the May 29 1905 issue of La Vie Illustree. They are taken at a Parsi temple in Bangkok. Until recently in India, dead Parsis were to be taken

to the Towers of Silence where the corpses would quickly be eaten by the city’s vultures. The reason given for this practice is that earth, fire and water are all considered as sacred elements, which should not be defiled by the dead. Therefore, burial and cremation have always been prohibited in Parsi culture.

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Nuon Vanna

the babbler 33

Documents

cambodia programme office

biodiversity report

vietnam programme office

rare bird club trip

country programme

important report

kampong trach iba cambodia

chu yang sin forest