the babbler 24 and 25

BirdLife International in Indochina

The Babbler 24/25 – March 2008

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March 2008 Number 24 & 25

The BabblerThe Babbler BirdLife International

in Indochina

Welcome

Jonathan C. Eames

Features

Has BirdLife made a difference at Xuan Thuy National Park?

Beuong Prek Lapouv Local Conservation Group: The inside story

Regional news

Important Bird Area News

Rarest of the rare

Project updates

Conserving Bengal Floricans and

improving rural livelihoods around the

Tonle Sap, the world’s largest floodplain lake, Cambodia

Latest search fails to find the Pink-headed Duck

Integrating watershed and biodiversity

management at Chu Yang Sin National Park, Vietnam

First Herpetile survey in Chu Yang Sin

National Park yields dramatic results

White-shouldered ibis research project

Searching for the Critically

Endangered White-eyed River-martin in Cambodia

White-eared Night Heron rediscovered in Vietnam

Publications

Book reviews

Staff news

Profile

BirdLife International in Indochina is a

sub-regional programme of the

BirdLife Secretariat 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 Street, Ba

Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam. Tel: +84 (0)4 514890

Cambodia Programme Office

#25B Street 294, PO Box 2686 Tonle

Basac, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Tel/Fax: + 85523993631

www.birdlifeindochina.org

Welcome to the latest issue

of The Babbler where we

present a summary of our

work over the last six

months covering the period

October 2007 to March

2008. This issue contains

two features examining

BirdLife’s conservation

success and failures at Xuan

Thuy National Park in

Vietnam and at Boeung Prek

Lapouv Sarus Crane Reserve

in Cambodia. At both sites

we have supported

traditional protection and

enforcement measures combined with the establishment of local conservation groups.

It is clear that the results have been very mixed and both sites still face enormous

management issues. The bottom line is that the importance of both sites for the species

they were originally created to conserve has diminished since BirdLife involvement

began, because of increasing human pressures that we have been powerless to resist.

There are fewer Black-faced Spoonbills at Xuan Thuy because of conversion of the

inter-tidal area to mangrove plantations and aquaculture. Sarus Cranes now leave

Boeung Prek Lapouv in February now instead of April, because the site dries-out as a

result of too much water being drawn off by rice farmers in he surrounding landscape.

To be successful at conserving species and sites we need to explore new ways of

working. In future we need to work more within the market system rather than against

it. We need to move away from always advocating approaches that seek to support

state institutions and desist from peddling novel utopian approaches to co-management

as first response approaches. How more effective would we have been if we had joined

the land-grab and bought patches of grassland within the Ton Le Sap floodplain four

years ago? We should not therefore rush to condemn the Government of Cambodia’s

decision to lease its national parks but embrace this as a conservation opportunity we

can’t afford to miss.

Jonathan C. Eames

Programme Manager


The Babbler is the quarterly newsletter of BirdLife International in Indochina and is compiled and edited by Jonathan C. Eames [email protected]. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of BirdLife International.



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Features

BirdLife has been supporting conservation at Xuan Thuy National Park for more than ten years. In that period annual monitoring has revealed there are now fewer Black-faced Spoonbills Platalea minor and Saunders’s Gulls Larus saundersii wintering at the site. This is despite increased al location of resources for conservation by the Forest Protection Department, Nam Dinh Province and BirdLife and has included the establishment of a Local Conservation Group (LCG) and increased awareness amongst local stakeholders. Have BirdLife’s interventions made a difference and what should we do next – if anything? In this article, Wetlands Officer Nguyen Duc Tu reviews BirdLife’s track record and a presents a personal view on the way forward.

Beginning in 1995, BirdLife and the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute (FIPI) with support from Danida, began a project entitled the Conservation of Key Wetland Sites in the Red River Delta. The project a imed to assist the identification, evaluation and conservation of key wetland sites in the coastal zone of the Red River Del ta . Seven priority sites were identif ied, and amongst them, Xuan Thuy Nature Reserve (only later was it upgraded to national park) was evaluated as the most important site for biodiversity conservation in the delta . Beginning in 2001 and continuing into 2002 the Danida-funded project Improved conservation planning through institutional strengthening in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam identified six Important Bird Areas (IBAS) in the Red River Delta and confirmed the global importance Xuan Thuy National Park.

S ite-based conservation began at Xuan Thuy in 2000 and continued into 2003 through a Keidanren Natural Conservation Fund-funded Project entitled Conservation Monitoring at Xuan Thuy Nature Reserve. The project a imed to enhance the technical capacity of the site staff in biodiversity monitoring. This was the first time, reserve staff had received tra ining in basic monitoring skil ls and, even more important, established a monitoring protocol for the IBA. This project was fol lowed by a second Keidanren project that ran through 2003 and 2004 entitled Generating community support for the conservation of Xuan Thuy National Park. This project a imed to establish a foundation of stakeholder support for and management of the Xuan Thuy National Park. The project raised the conservation awareness of local people about the need for conservation activities (especia l ly bird-protection activities) in the Xuan Thuy area. A h ighlight of this project success was the establishment of the “Con Lu Bird Conservation Club”, currently with 38 members. The LCG that was established under the project involves the participation of the protected area managers, the commune people’s committee, the police, shrimp-pond owners, shellf ish cultivators, border soldiers, and representatives from mass organizations in the local communities. With inputs from BirdLife in terms of tra inings in conservation monitoring, alternative income generation and the provision of awareness materia ls, the SSG members are now actively supporting the park managers in monitoring and awareness raising activities.

In 2004 the Japan Fund for Global Environment (JFGE) and Wild Bird Federation Taiwan (WBFT) funded project Furtherance of Bird-ecotourism and community-based conservation which focused on Xuan Thuy National Park was initiated. The project a imed to integrate bird-ecotourism activities at the IBA amongst the LCG. By the end of the project, the awareness of the local authorities, park staff and local communities on the potentia l

Has BirdLife made a difference at Xuan Thuy National Park?

Black-faced Spoonbills Platalea minor at Xuan Thuy National Park. Nowhere now left to roost except shrimp pond banks. Photo: J C Eames



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for eco-tourism as a tool for environmental protection and an alternative source of income had been raised. A feasibil i ty study undertaken by this project was later used by park managers and other donors for new initiatives that focused on the development of ecotourism in the park.

In 2005 Keidanren funded yet another project entitled Conservation of Important Bird Areas in Asia - Follow-up actions for IBAs in Vietnam, Timor-Leste and Mongolia. The main objectives of this project in Vietnam were to review the current status of Important Bird Areas in the Red River Delta and review current and planned conservation interventions in the area; to conduct awareness activities to ra ise the profi le of the IBAs; and to establish a LCG to address the conservation at an IBA in the Red River Delta. Under this project, a review of the six IBAs in the Red River Delta was undertaken which confirmed again the importance of Xuan Thuy National Park. Some support for Xuan Thuy LCG was also was provided. The LCG continued contribute to the park management though monitoring and awareness ra ising activities.

The United States Ambassador’s Fund funded project Strengthening Community Support for Conservation at Xuan Thuy Important Bird Area began in 2006. This project a imed to strengthen support for conservation among local stakeholders in Xuan Thuy IBA. The project focused on working with the LCG. Under this project, a series of tra ining courses were provided to the LCG members on biodiversity monitoring and ecotourism development. A birdwatching hide was build to assist monitoring and birdwatching activities, and some equipment was provided. This project was an important step to ensure the sustainabil i ty of the LCG as a foundation for community support for the biodiversity conservation of the site.

From 2007 to date, BirdLife in collaboration with Vietnam’s Environment Protection Agency has implemented a Darwin Initiative and Ministry of Environment, Japan funded project entitled Strengthening partnerships for Ramsar implementation in South-East Asia. This three year project aims to strengthen government-civil society partnerships to support the implementation of the Ramsar Convention in South-East Asia. As a part of th is project, several activities are planned to strengthen the LCG. The project plans to support Xuan Thuy National Park management board to design and implement a revised monitoring programme that involves the local communities. This project wil l last unti l March 2010.

In the last twenty years and since its designation as Vietnam’s first Ramsar Site, Xuan Thuy National Park h as passed several important milestones. These have included the establishment of a nature reserve in 1991 and its la ter upgrading to a national park. However, under the dual severe pressures of population increase and economic development, there has been significant habitat loss at the site over the last decade through continuing afforestation of mangrove on he intertidal mudflats and loss of dune vegetation on the sandy islands due to afforestation with the exotic Casuarina equisetifolia. Extensive low input aquaculture has now been replaced with intensive aquaculture resulting in a major reduction in the size of individual shrimp ponds. In turn this has means increased area of bunds, greater human and disturbance by dogs, and a reduction in the mangrove areas within the shrimp ponds. In addition what was arguably the largest reed-bed in northern Vietnam was also lost to aquaculture intensification.

No room for spoonbil ls - intensive human-use of the inter-tidal area with in Xuan Thuy National Park. Photo: J C Eames



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Sets against this are a number of conservation achievements: Hunting of shorebirds and waterfowl using nets has declined significantly in the last decade, at least in the core zone protected area. As a result, the site continues to be the most important location in the Red River Delta for migratory water-birds, and sti l l hosts significant populations of several globally threatened species, a lbeit in reduced numbers from those reported a decade ago, and regionally important numbers of several commoner species, with thousands of ducks and shorebirds dependent on the site. Notably, Xuan Thuy regularly hosts several Globally Threatened and Near-Threatened species, including a population of c. 50 Black-faced Spoonbil ls, the largest wintering population in Vietnam (although this is down from over 100 birds in the mid 1990s), and, most significantly, one of very few sites in Vietnam sti l l regularly supporting a small passage and wintering population of the Spoon-bil led Sandpipers Eurynorhynchus pygmeus. I believe that BirdLife’s efforts have significantly contributed to those achievements in terms of enhanced management, capacity building (especia l ly in conservation monitoring and law enforcement), and establishment of a foundation for community support for the park.

In future, I believe that BirdLife should commit to continuing to support the park management board to conserve and sustainably manage this globally important site. Ideally, BirdLife would work with the park managers and other stakeholder to develop and adopt a management plan for the national park that wil l help balance the economic, coastal protection and biodiversity values of different habitats whilst at the same time promoting environmentally sustainable development. This plan should also assist the park managers in law enforcement in terms of capacity building so as to provide them the most up-to-date enforcement and monitoring techniques. Whilst at the same time continue to strengthen community support for conservation at Xuan Thuy National Park through the LCG established in 2003 and work towards its self-sustainabil i ty.

Nguyen Duc Tu Wetlands Officer,

BirdLife International Vietnam Programme

Where’s the birdie? The rate of coastal deposition is so great that new islands are continuously formed at Xuan Thuy and the key areas for wader roosts now lie beyond the boundary of the national park, further frustrating site management. Photo: J C Eames



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The canal asserts itself as a stra ight-edged gully through rice fields, l ined by bare earth banks too high to look over from the boat. These walls are broken occasionally by cuts that hold a black hose, humped over the bank to spew sil ty l ife-giving, yet chemically-compromised water into the paddy fields. If we stand we can see the plain stretch for miles---a checkerboard of squares of soil, some already green with seedlings.

It is the beginning of the dry season rice crop in Boeung Prek Lapouv, a river floodplain in the south-east corner of Cambodia. Although the landscape is mostly empty of people, their impact on this seasonally inundated grassland is seemingly absolute. What were once soft hi l locks of reeds and grasses bounded by meandering streams and pools full of fish and waterfowl have been turned into a flat grid of fields mono-cropped with rice and the only waterfowl thriving here is the domestic duck. Looking at the landscape it is hard to believe th a t we are on our way to a refuge newly designated by sub-decree of the Prime Minister as the “Beung Preak Lapouv Sarus Crane and Various Other Birds Management and Conservation Area.”

The seasonally inundated grasslands that once covered large areas of the Mekong delta were prime feeding habitat for many migrating species, including the now-endangered Sarus Crane. In Boeung Preak Lapouv the land is inundated three to six months of the year, at depths reaching 4-5 meters above sea level. During the dry season the waters recede, leaving a wet grassland that was formerly rich in fish, crabs, vegetation adapted to this regime, and small mammals. An environment ideal for migrating waterfowl, cranes and storks. The natural grasslands sti l l scattered throughout this area support over 2% of the global population of the Sarus Crane in the dry season, a benchmark set by conservation scientists for designation of sites important for the survival of a species. The designated conservation area consists of agricultural lands interspersed with grasslands in a ‘buffer zone’, and a protected ‘core area’ where no agricultural is al lowed, though commercial fishing concessions are given in the dry season. Yet the crane must compete against a voracious human appetite for land and other natural resources.

After what seems like many miles of canal under the hot sun we come to Banteay Sleuk vil lage. A small group gathers to tel l us about how they l ive near these wet grasslands. The people here are mostly Kampuchea Krom, a Khmer ethnic group that is often socia l ly and economically marginalized, while a few are Kinh, the majori ty ethnic group of Vietnam. All households have more rice land than they can cultivate, but they are not prospering. The soils are acidic, they tel l us, made worse by the intensif ied digging of canals which releases acidity into the water. To gain any yield at a l l they must borrow money to apply five bags of ferti l izer and ten bottles of pesticide per hectare per season. Most families cultivate two crops a year but after repayment of the loans may be left with only enough rice for half the year of the household consumption needs. Some families fa l l into debt, and have to rent or sell their lands to others. For additional income households catch rats in the grassland with a flashlight at night, and fish in the day. Now the rats are becoming scarce, as are fish in the buffer zone. But fish in the core area are plenty, they tel l us.

Later, the men in charge of protecting the conservation area tel l me that i t is vi l lagers l ike those in Banteay Sleuk who, together with seasonal migrants, devastated the natural grasslands in the past. In those days fire was the top threat. Hundreds of grass patches would be burned by local people to catch snakes, rats and sma l l animals; feathers and poisoned dead birds l ined the channels; and il legal fishing gear—small mesh nets and vertical sl i t traps---was set everywhere. Burning in the dry season changed the ecology because the grass species specif ical ly adapted to seasonal inundation could not recover, and the conditions required for a thriving diversity of fish, bird and vegetation were lost.

In 2003, with the support of the BirdLife International, a team of five men came together to protect the area and its species. This local conservation group consists of government staff from the forestry and fisheries departments, the head of a commune, and police officers from two districts. Their chief, f isheries officia l Seng Van Na, has a gentle manner but smiles through the gaps of lost teeth that indicate a l ife of hardship. His men also look worn; the police have the tough wrinkled features of those who have spent time toil ing under the sun.

Boeung Prek Lapouv Local Conservation Group: The inside

story



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The group started their conservation campaign by visiting vil lages to inform them of the regulations in place under the fisheries law: i.e. to convince people to stop burning the grasslands, stop snaring and poisoning birds, bury used pesticide bottles instead of throwing them into the water, and use sustainable fishing practices. They visited classrooms to teach about birds and the environment, and handed out study materia ls. They now patrol the core area and buffer zone 8-12 times per month to enforce the regulations, both by night to discourage burning of the grasslands for hunting and by day to monitor fishing practices. And they count the number and species of birds--- including the movements and feeding behaviors of the cranes. They stay in rotation at the project office, a concrete building on high sti l ts that show the high water mark of seasonal inundation at twice my height. The team is empowered to confiscate equipment, and because they are police they may carry weapons. After a few years of greatly reduced disturbance in the dry season, ta l l grasses and diverse vegetation have returned, along with the birds. A local species of fish that was thought to have been lost was recently recorded. Even the Lesser and Greater Adjutant Stork have been seen here in recent years. “In the past, the core area was bare as the ground here under the off ice” Chief Seng Van Na tel ls us ‘There were empty pesticide bottles and nets everywhere. But we have protected it and now it is recovered. That is what I am most proud of.’

But even as the grasslands in the core zone began their slow recovery, the human pressures on the surrounding area intensified. The greatest threat to the crane and the species that share its habitat is land encroachment-unauthorized land cla ims in the buffer zone of the conservation area. Although the soil is poor, an influx of seasonal migrants who rent land for dry-season rice cultivation, combined with the anticipation of regularized land tenure systems, is leading to the large scale conversion of the buffer zone to agriculture—often without legal backing. As a result of land speculation and the ensuing drawn-out struggle between provincial and centra l authorities, the conservation area finally sanctioned by the Prime Minister was reduced from the origina l recommended 10,787 ha to 8,305 ha, and the core area from 1,694 ha to only 919 ha. The team’s annual report documents several cases in which they stopped bulldozers on the ground, including a recent incident that sent a close relative of a high-ranking provincial off icia l to jai l, and impounded a bulldozer.

Now that the prasak, or ministeria l sub-decree has been passed, and the conservation area f irmly established under the management of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the conservation team can keep people out of the core area, and has a bit more clout in the struggle against land encroachment. But management regulations on the buffer zone, on which the integrity of the core area, as well as the vil lagers, seasonal migrants, and the cranes rely, is not clear. According to the decree, rice cultivation and fishing is permitted in the buffer zone, but the activity ‘must not destroy or imbalance the ecology’. The big question is, who wil l decide which uses are consistent with a balanced ecology, and how? As a next step, the team will work wi th

Sarus Cranes Grus antigone sharpii are now spending less time at Boeung Prek Lapouv Sarus Crane Conservation Area because the site is drying-out earlier each season, perhaps due to water off-take. Photo: J C Eames



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provincia l officia ls, local vi l lagers, and a wide array of stakeholders to design a conservation management plan that detai ls regulations and institutions that wil l support a ‘balanced ecology’. In the creation of th is plan, it wil l be up to the local conservation group, and BirdLife International, to speak for the cranes.

But even with a clear management plan, and the local conservation group in place, how sustainable wil l the implementation and enforcement of the plan be? As in many developing countries, government pay scales are not sufficient to support the families of the Local Conservation Group members, currently supplemented by stipends provided by BirdLife, not to mention their activity costs. The maintenance of the conservation area infrastructure such as the off ice and marker buoys, and the equipment used by the team also costs money, th is too has so far been provided by BirdLife International donor funds. But how long will donors be wil l ing to fund these activities? How can the conservation area start paying for itself? Some say that the government of Cambodia is about to come into mill ions with a new oil concession, and that part of this money will go to shoring up personnel salaries, as well as to conservation. Another idea is to promote ecotourism; yet another idea is to capture some of the funds gained from lucrative core area fishing concessions, which now go to the fisheries department, and put them back to conservation. After a l l, i t is the conservation of the area, and the local conservation group activity, that keeps the fish catch high. Back in the boat, we follow canals to find the cranes. We climb on the bund to spot them feeding in the grasslands beyond the rice fields. We count 17 at first, and then more fly in; in the distance another group spirals up on thermals, head and feet lower than the ir wings each crane forming an arc like a ra ised eyebrow in the sky. The final tota l count of 43 cranes is not bad for mid-February.

We continue through the canals, choke through areas of water hyacinth and rev the motor to skim over areas clogged with mud. But soon the vegetation thickens and the bunds become sloping banks, widening into pools of water li ly. Just next to us a shal low pond harbors a Sarus Crane, a Purple Heron and an egret. The stream narrows and deepens and the grass grows higher, whipping at us as we pass; the channel bends and loops, now no longer straight. Spotted Doves begin to flush from the grass and then ducks—wild ones. The tel l ta le wh i te wing flanks of the Spotbil l Duck bursts forth, and I see the yellow spot on the bil l, green speculum and red feet. Lesser Whistl ing Ducks follow, l ittle dark ducks that show spots of buff-yellow on the flank, and deep rusty backs. Bitterns flush from the grass, legs dangling long from wildly awkward flapping wings. A Common Kingfisher zips turquoise diagonals across the stream while a Black-shouldered Kite perches at the top of a thin snag, the sun glowing in the red of its eye. In the distance a flock of Painted Storks are moving, and then more groups of cranes. This then is the core area, a haven for birds, fish, grasses and floating vegetation, and other creatures. These 919 hectares in the heart of the Sarus Crane conservation area represents nearly al l th a t is left of what was once a vast area of seasonally- inundated grasslands in the Mekong delta.

I ask Seng Van Na what he is happiest about in his job. He says “What makes me want to work as Chief of th is team is that I am proud to take part in the protection of natural resources. I see a good result so far. What we have lost in terms of birds and fish, in vegetation, now I see it appearing again. And in the past, I didn’t know how to ta lk about conservation. Now when I ta lk with people I can explain to them why we want to conserve the natural environment, why they should protect nature. Finally, the supplemental salary a lso makes me happy. Although it is not much, it helps. For example, each time I visit my family in Takeo town, it costs 40,000 riel (US$10), and if family members or I are i l l and need to pay medical expenses, the supplement helps. But this is not a big thing; what is most important for me is to protect the natural environment, and that makes me happy. The crane is rare, and I am proud that they are present in this area.”

Karin Eberhardt

Consultant

Long-time consultant to the Indochina Programme, development and conservation specialist Karin Eberhardt recently visited Boeung Prek Lapouv Sarus Crane Conservation Area to review and consider what conservation impact BirdLife’s local conservation group activities, as funded most recently under the TMF programme have had. This article was commissioned as part of the Trail by media assessment.

Ed.



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Regional news

Sightings of 84 Spoon-bil led Sandpipers Eurynorhynchus pygmeus at two coastal wetland sites in Myanmar have cast new light on the winter distribution of thi s Endangered species, and confirmed that these wetlands are of international importance for their biodiversity. The known global population of Spoon-bil led Sandpiper has plunged alarmingly in the last few years to only 200-300 pairs.

“The number of breeding pairs in Chukotka, S iberia, fel l by 50 percent between 2006 and 2007, and no birds have been seen this year at their traditional wintering sites in Bangladesh”, says Evgeny Syroechkovskiy, Vice President of the Russian Bird Conservation Union (BirdLife in Russia). The Spoon-bil led Sandpiper Recovery Team, which found the birds, included staff from Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA), BirdLife International’s Partners in Russia and Thailand, and members of ArcCona Consulting (Cambridge, UK and Kiel, Germany) and the Japan Wetlands Action Network (JAWAN). ArcCona’s analysis of satel l i te images, combined with the experience of previous surveys in India, Bangladesh and Thai land, and with historical records of the species in Myanmar, suggested that potentia l ly suitable habitats existed in the south-western state of Arakan (Rakhine) in the Bay of Bengal, and Martaban (Mottama) Bay.

“Thirty-f ive Spoon-bil led Sandpipers were counted at one high-tide roost in Arakan, including one juvenile ringed at the breeding ground in Chukotka last summer. The team at Martaban found a total of 48 Spoon-bil led Sandpiper, scattered over the huge mudflats of the bay but included a flock of 39 birds. The Arakan coast h as never been surveyed before, and Martaban Bay only marginally in 2003,” explained Christoph Zöckler of ArcCona Cambridge. "...no birds have been seen this year at their traditional wintering sites in Bangladesh " said Evgeny Syroechkovskiy, Vice President of the Russian Bird Conservation Union.

“Our surveys have covered only a small section of the promising Arakan coast,” Christoph Zöckler added. “Although small-scale reclamation of the mudflats for prawn ponds has been observed, the coastal zones are largely healthy ecosystems, which provide both crucial habitat for tens of thousands of arctic waders, and l ivelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people.”

Wintering Spoon-billed Sandpipers found in Myanmar

Pushing out the boat for Spoon-bil led Sandpiper at Nantha Island along the Arakan coast of Myanmar where 10 Spoon-bil led Sandpipers were counted on 13 March, in the company of a bird trapper who had only that morning taken down his nets. Photo: J C Eames.



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Htin Hla of BANCA said he was surprised and delighted by the findings. He said that BANCA would work with the international community to provide a more secure future for the species. “This is an important piece of the jigsaw,” said Simba Chan, Senior Conservation Manager at BirdLife’s Asia Division. “If present trends continue, Spoon-bil led Sandpiper faces extinction in the next few years. If we are to save the species, we need to identify and conserve not only its breeding sites, but its migration stopover sites and wintering grounds too.”

The Arakan team also recorded Indian Skimmers, several pairs of Sarus Crane and a huge number of wintering Bar-headed Geese. At Martaban, an estimated 50,000 waders are believed to include globally signif icant numbers of Broad-bil led sandpiper, Lesser Sand-plover and Pallas’s Gull. "This work provides further i l lustration of the global importance of Myanmar for biodiversity conservation” —Simba Chan, Senior Conservation Manager at BirdLife’s Asia Division. Simba Chan added: “The coast of Myanmar is st i l l relatively intact, but most of the tidal area a long the east Asia flyway is under very heavy development pressure. This work provides further il lustration of the global importance of Myanmar for biodiversity conservation.” The surveys would not have been possible without the full support of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism of Myanmar. The survey team logistics were managed in Myanmar by WATT (Wildbird Adventure Travel and Tours). The Main sponsor for the survey work is Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund. Additional contributions by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife in the UK), Asia Bird Fund of BirdLife International, the Manfred Hermsen Foundation (Bremen) and private Russian sponsors.

BirdLife International press release 14 February 2008

A recent visit to the Arakan coast turned-up two large flocks of Pallas’s Gulls Larus ichthyaetus including 175 at S ittwe on 11 March (above) Photo: J C Eames. This flock of 26 Indian Skimmers Rhychops albicollis includes immature birds (below). Photo: Htin Hla



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The 2008 Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor census was carried-out during the second weekend of January. In total a record 2,065 birds were counted in nine countries and territories in Asia. The breakdown by country and territory was as fol lows: China Mainland: 313 (another 26 birds recorded outside the census period), Deep Bay (Hong Kong and Shenzhen): 369, Japan: 224, Macao: 50, South Korea: 28, Taiwan: 1030, Thailand: 2, Vietnam: 49.

This is the first time that the 2,000 ceil ing has been breached and therefore a historical moment in the conservation of the species. The global census reached 1,000 birds in 2003 and it took only another five years to double. The high count is believed to reflect genuine increases in the population as a result of conservation measures at a number of sites. Only 49 birds were counted in Vietnam, which represents a further decrease. Loss of habitat inside Xuan Thuy National Park is believed to be the main reason.

Yu Yat-tung Coordinator

International Black-faced Spoonbill Census Hong Kong Bird Watching Society

Global census reveals record count of Black-faced Spoonbill

Vietnam’s natural treasures revealed at Tam Dao

Dr. Alexander Monastyrskii ( left) and Mr. Mekki Sala h at the recent launch of Birds of Tam Dao at Tam Dao. This book is reviewed on page 40 and Sasha is featured on page 46. Photo: John Pilgrim



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On 9 November 2007 a juvenile White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis was released in western Siem Pang IBA. Participating in the release ceremony was Mr. Sok Sida (chief of the Local Conservation Group), South Sovann (SSG member) and Sou Noun, a vi l lager from Lakay vil lager. The vulture had been trapped and Mr. Sou Noun rescued the vulture and brought it to Mr. Sovann. This act a lone is a good indicator of people’s increasing awareness of the value of and the need to conserve vultures fol lowing Forestry Administration/BirdLife activities at the IBA. Meanwhile, the SSG has encouraged Soun Noun to share his thoughts with other vil lagers.

Pran Prich Phirun Wildife Protection Office Forestry Administration

In August 2007, Quang Nam Provincial Forest Protection Department notif ied BirdLife that a dead colour-ringed White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis carrying wing-tag 8 was found at 14h00 on 13 August 2007 in a cassava fie ld near vil lage 3, (15°25'N 108°20'E) Tien An Commune, Tien Phuoc District, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. Tien Phuoc police reta ined the transmitter.

This vulture was trapped on 23 April 2006 and marked with color rings (Black left and yellow right) and a yellow ting tag number 8. It was a lso fitted with one of the Platform telemetry transmitter (PTT) unit 29561 provided by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) for the Cambodia vulture project a joint initiative of BirdLife International, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (Please see The Babbler 18).

Dr. Martin Gilbert commented, “The last positions I received for this bird were from 18 July 2006, so this confirms that the lack of data f low during the intervening period has related to a transmitter fa i lure rather than earl ier mortali ty of the bird or from the transmitter becoming detached. A body weight of 2.9kg is exceptionally low for the species, so if accurate does indicate that the bird was emaciated. I'd need to check our capture weight

on this bird, to see if he was already a l ight-weight bird but would be surprised if a Gyps bengalensis could drop so low without dying some time earl ier. Obviously it is diff icult to infer much from a single bird, but the timing is interesting. During the wet season farmers in Cambodia tend to keep their l ivestock closer to their vi l la ges, letting them wander more widely when fodder becomes scarcer in the dry season. With humans and vultures in direct competition for fa l len stock it wouldn't be surprising to see food availabil i ty for Cambodian vultures dropping in the wet season.”

Compiled by Jonathan C Eames from contributions from Nguyen Duc Tu and Dr Martin Gilbert.

Satellite-tagged White-rumped Vulture recovered in

Vietnam

Trapped White-rumped Vulture released in western

Siem Pang IBA, Cambodia

White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis GB8 found dead in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. Photo: H! Tr"ng

Sou Noun (right) presents South Sovann with the rescued White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis: Photo: Sok Sida



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The start of this year saw a record long period of cold weather in northern Vietnam, with daytime temperature during January and February consistently below ten degrees Celsius and in some cases reaching one degree Celsius. These conditions prevailed until early March. This resulted in significant impacts, including around 60,000 cattle and buffalo deaths and extensive crop damage. Near the end of February, impacts on wildli fe were a lso starting to be noticed. BirdLife is trying to compile data from observers, and so far know of the fol lowing species being found dead at two national parks near Hanoi (Cuc Phuong and Tam Dao): 3 Black-crested Bulbuls Pycnonotus melanicterus, 2 Red-whiskered Bulbuls Pycnontus jocosus, 3 Mountain Scops Owls Otis

spilocephalus, 3 Blue-rumped Pittas Pitta soror, 1 Red-headed Trogon Harpactes erythrocephalus, 1 White's Thrush Zoothera dauma, 2 Green-bil led Malkoha Phaenicophaeus chlorophaeus, 1 Magpie Robin Copsychus saularis, and 1 White-rumped Shama Copsychus malabaricus. Mass butterfly deaths (and presumably thus of other less obvious insects) in Tam Dao National Park, where temperatures were only 1-2 degrees Celsius at some points were reported. As most birds found were insectivores (though some are at least in part frugivores), and were found emaciated, the logical conclusion has been that they died of starvation owing to insect mortali ty from prolonged cold weather.

Richard Craik, Director of Vietnam Birding commented, "It was really worrying how few birds there were at Tam Dao and Cuc Phuong and we

wondered how many birds have perished in the exceptionally cold conditions in northern Vietnam. We reckoned the temperature hovered between 2 and 5 degrees Celsius in Tam Dao and Cuc Phuong didn't feel much warmer. Mekki Salah of Tam Dao’s Mela Hotel said it was the coldest weather recorded in Tam Dao for over 20 years. There were very few flocks of birds to be seen at either site and we didn't record any yuhinas, flycatchers or drongos at a l l at Tam Dao. Even birds that usually respond well to tape l ike Grey Laughingthrush Garrulax maesi only responded half-heartedly and weren't seen at a l l in three full days of birding.

Things weren't any better in Cuc Phuong where in the space of a couple of hours on one morning we found fresh corpses of three Mountain Scops Owls, a Blue-rumped Pitta, a Red-headed Trogon, two Green-bil led Malkohas, a White's Thrush, a Magpie Robin and a Shama on the tra i ls we had walked the previous day. We could only assume that they had died from the cold during the night. There were very few insects about so I guess many birds would have been struggling to find enough to eat.”

John Pilgrim Conservation Advisor


Bird mortality during cold winter weather in Vietnam

Mountain Scops Owl Otis spilocephalus at Cuc Phuong National Park. Photo: Dan Brown



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Bird flu has kil led four endangered civets in northern Vietnam; the first time the H5N1 virus has been confirmed in the species, officia ls said Tuesday. Four Owston's palm civets Chrotogale owstoni a species that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature l ists as Endangered, died between February 7 and 18 at Cuc Phuong National Park, 120 kilometres south of Hanoi, said Truong Quang Bich, director of the park.

"Tests on the civets' samples showed earl ier this month that the animals were positive for H5N1," Bich sa id, referring to the strain of bird flu that can also be deadly in humans. The civets are the first mammals, other than humans, to have died from bird flu in Vietnam, said Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the Ministry of Agriculture's Animal Health Department.

"We haven't been able to confirm that the virus has mutated to easi ly infect mammals, but we are afraid i t has," Nam said.

The H5N1 virus has been found in numerous animal species other than birds in other countries, including ca ts, pigs and tigers. Bich said the civets, which were being kept in a semi-wild enclosure at the park's conservation centre, had not been fed poultry but he suspected that infected wild birds might have entered their habitat and spread the disease.

"Another civet died at the centre earl ier this month, but tests showed it was negative for H5N1," Bich sa id. "The remaining eight civets at the centre are in good condition."

Vietnam lists the Owston's palm civet in its Red Book of endangered species, which are il legal to trade or transport. However, an il legal trade in body parts for traditional medicine threatens the civets’ population. Civet meat, particularly if caught in the wild, is thought to be an aphrodisiac in some regions. Fresh avian-influenza outbreaks among birds [domestic poultry ed.] have been detected in 10 provinces in Vietnam since the beginning of the year, prompting local authorities to cull tens of thousands of ducks and chickens, according to the Animal Health Department. Bird flu has infected 105 people in Vietnam and kil led 51 of them since it first appeared in the country in late 2003. H5N1 mainly affects poultry and wild birds but can infect humans who have close contact with sick fowl. Scientists fear that if it spreads unchecked, the disease could mutate into a form that could be transmitted between humans, leading to a worldwide pandemic that could kil l mil l ions.

Precise News, 11 March 2008

The information being given by various agencies reporting this event varies significantly in its quality, and in at least one case (above) the park director is quoted as suggesting that wild birds had spread the disease to the captive civets. A logical action to take would thus be to test wild birds for H5N1. Unfortunately, the national park tried to cover-up the news of the civet deaths and any testing of wild birds for H5N1, presumably fearing a drop in tourism revenues. Thankfully, the news leaked through the media and they have been pressured into allowing testing in the park. A captive Common Palm Civet has been tested already, with negative results, but further test results from the Department of Animal Health on Black-crested Bulbuls and other species have not been widely publicized. It may transpire that the captive, mostly non-native (e.g., Indian Peafowl) birds caged near the civets have H5N1. Otherwise, the leading theories are that the civets obtained the disease from either cross-contamination of food with infected poultry in the local butcher's shop, or contamination by rodents defecating in the civet enclosures. These appear to be the main potential loopholes in the strict biosecurity protocol that has been implemented by the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program since 2005.

Ed.

H5N1 kills Owston’s Palm Civits at Cuc Phuong National Park



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The Kouprey Bos sauveli, an enigmatic Asian ox believed to be a hybrid — and so, unworthy of conservation efforts — is in fact a distinct species related to the Banteng Bos javanicus (a wild ox)1. The conclusion contradicts earl ier findings2 that the horned beast is a cross between the Banteng and domesticated zebu cattle. First identif ied in 1937 and last spotted in the 1980s, the Kouprey has become a symbol for conservation in South-East Asia. Some experts think that it is a lready extinct. Gary Galbreath, a biologist at Chicago’s Field Museum in Il l inois who concluded that the Kouprey was a hybrid, told CBS News: “It is surely desirable not to waste time and money trying to locate or conserve a domestic breed gone wild.” He based that conclusion on the observation that Kouprey and Banteng shared several sequences of mitochondrial DNA. Now, Alexandre Hassanin and Anne Ropiquet of the National Natural History Museum in Paris have sequenced three regions of mitochondrial DNA and five of non-coding nuclear DNA from seven related species, including Kouprey. The pair found that Kouprey have unique sequences of both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Their data suggest that Kouprey should indeed be a conservation priority — if anyone can find one.

1. Hassanin, A. & Ropiquet, A. Proc. R. Soc. B doi:10.1098/ rspb.2007.0830 (2007).

2. Galbreath, G. J., Mordacq, J. C. & Weiler, F. H. J. Zool. 270, 561–564 (2006).

Ewen Callaway Nature, Vol. 449:13, September 2007

The publication of this paper, contradicting previous published findings, is a vindication of our view that the Kouprey is a good species. Without the publication of the Hassanin and Ropiquet paper it would have been so much harder for conservationists to argue for further resources for the conservation of the Kouprey.

Ed.

In a recent paper1 Julie Feinstein, Xiaojun Yang and Shou-Hsein Li claim that the Black-browed Barbet Megalaima oorti comprise four monophyletic species. Below we reproduce the abstract from that paper.

Although South-East Asia is a global biodiversity hotspot, the tempo and mode of avian diversification there has not been well studied. We investigated the history of the diversification of an endemic Asian tropical bird, the Black-browed Barbet Megalaima oorti, by reconstructing its intraspecif ic molecular phylogeny wi th mitochondrial cytochromeb Gene sequences. Our molecular phylogeny suggests that the f ive subspecies of th is montane barbet comprise four deeply divergent clades with strong geographical associations: M. o. oorti in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, M. o. annamensis in Vietnam, M. o. nuchalis in Taiwan and M. o. faber/ M. o. sini in Hainan and the southeastern Chinese mainland, respectively. Climate changes from the mid-Pliocene to the Pleistocene may have influenced their diversif ication through repeated contraction and expansion of Asian tropical forest. Moreover, our data indicate that th e Black-browed Barbet complex is not monophyletic: M. asiatica is embedded in our phylogeny as the sister taxon to M. o. annamensis. The present taxonomic treatment has combined evolutionarily distinct taxa into a single paraphyletic species. Based on our molecular data and previously published plumage characters, we suggest a revision of traditional M. oorti into four monophyletic species: M. oorti, M. nuchalis, M. annamensis and M. faber.

1 Feinstein, J, Xiaojun Yang and Shou-Hsein Li (2008) Molecular systematics and historical biogeography of the Black-browed Barbet species complex Megalaima oorti. Ibis 150: 40-49.

The Kouprey is a good species

Black-browed Barbet Megalaima oorti is really four species



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In a recent paper1 authors Phil ip D Round and George A Gale suggest that in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, the increased number of Siamese Fireback Lophura diardi records may reflect its increased abundance as a result of climate change.

Long-term bird population changes in response to natural or anthropogenic factors have been relatively well documented in the temperate zone, but rarely in the tropics, where there are few long-term data sets. The authors analyzed a 25 year sequence of records of two species of Lophura pheasants, Siamese Fireback L. diardi and Silver Pheasant L. nycthemera in Khao Yai, Thai land’s oldest national park. These data suggest that the number and proportion of detections of the lowlands-inhabiting L. diardi have increased significantly in relation to those of the higher elevation inhabitant L. nycthemera. Environmental factors mediated by changing climate are the most plausible explanation for the changing proportions of sightings of the two species. Further work is needed to explore in detail microhabitat selection of these birds and whether changes in micro-site conditions on the forest floor or other factors are driving the observed distribution. Long-term monitoring of the avifauna along an elevational gradient is a lso recommended in tandem with increased monitoring of local climatic conditions.

Round, P. D., and Gale, G. A. 2008 Changes in the Status of Lophura Pheasants in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand: A Response to Warming Climate? Biotropica 40(2): 225–230.

The photograph below shows at least four Rufous-necked Hornbil ls Aceros nipalensis and four Great Hornbil ls Buceros bicornis in captivity at Mandalay Zoo. All of the hornbil ls in the photograph are clearly juveniles and were reported recovered from nests by loggers following large-scale timber operations in eastern Myanmar. They were subsequently confiscated and by staff from the Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division. The ir

current whereabouts are unknown. Rufous-necked Hornbil l is currently considered to be Vulnerable by IUCN. Its dependence on large trees for feeding and nesting makes i t especia l ly susceptible to deforestation and habitat degradation through logging, shif ting cultivation and clearance for agriculture. Furthermore, viable populations require vast tracts of forest to survive, exacerbating its susceptibil i ty to habitat fragmentation. These problems are compounded by widespread hunting and trapping for food, and trade in pets and casques. Trade in the species is therefore known but documented cases are rare. We thank Douglas Hendrie of the Wildlife Conservation Society for providing this information.

Jonathan C Eames

Programme Manager


Is the Siamese Fireback Lophura diardi benefiting from climate

change?

Rufous-necked and Great Hornbills confiscated in Myanmar

Four Rufous-necked Hornbil ls Aceros nipalensis and four Great Hornbil ls Buceros bicornis in captivity at Mandalay Zoo. Al l are juveniles. Photo: WCS/Douglas Hendrie



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Between 1997 and 2005, increased survey effort and closer examination of natural history collections have resulted in the description of 53 new species of amphibians and 27 new species of repti les from Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam)1. Over that same time period, range extensions into Indochina of 36 amphibian species and 33 repti le species were recorded. Despite this increase in knowledge, the diversity of the region remains imperfectly known, as new discoveries continue to be published at a rapid pace; in 2006 (up unti l mid-November) six species of amphibians, one species of snake, and one species of l izard were described from the region, along with 37 new country or provincial records. The authors provide one novel country record and 60 novel provincia l records for Vietnam. They feel that specific locali ty and voucher data is crucial to understanding patterns of diversity, so include species that have been reported in the l i terature, but without reference to specific locali ty or voucher materia l. They comment on those records that have been reported on in only a general way, and provide novel natural history information for recently described species that are very poorly known.

1Bain, R. H., Nguyen Quang Truong and Doan Van Kien (2007) New Herpetofaunal records from Vietnam. Herpetological Review, 2007, 38(1), 107–117.

Asian turtles face an extinction crisis, and so it is imperative that systematists accurately determine species diversity in order to guide conservation strategies effectively. In a recent paper 1The authors surveyed mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (mtDNA and nuDNA) variation of the heavily exploited Mauremys mutica complex, a clade of Asian turtles that contains the endangered M. mutica from Japan, Taiwan, China and Vietnam, and the critica l ly endangered Mauremys annamensis from central Vietnam. They discovered extensive mtDNA and nuDNA variation among samples that did not correspond to the currently recognized taxonomy. Both nuDNA and mtDNA data suggest that M. mutica is paraphyletic with respect to M. annamensis. Surprisingly, M. annamensis exhibits a previously unknown mtDNA structure in the form of two clades that are paraphyletic to M. mutica. These data reveal that the currently recognized taxonomy of the mutica complex does not reflect the genetic diversity of our samples. Unfortunately, many conservation-oriented captive-breeding efforts for turtles are a lso based on trade samples such as the ones studied here. These efforts include plans to breed trade-rescued individuals and release their progeny into the wild. Because there genetic survey reveals that the taxonomic identity of these samples does not reflect genetic diversity, the authors ra ise serious questions about the efficacy of these programs. In order to address conservation issues and provide more accurate estimates of evolutionary l ineages with in Mauremys, the authors recommend continued surveys for wild populations of the mutica complex to provide new genetic materia l and additional distributional da ta , a ttempts to extract DNA from historic museum specimens and a shift in conservation focus to in situ preservation of wild populations and associated habitat.

1 Fong, J. J., Parham, J. F., Shi, H., Stuart, B. L., and Carter, R. L. 2007. A genetic survey of heavily exploited, endangered turtles: caveats on the conservation value of trade animals Animal Conservation 452 10 452–460

New Herpetofaunal records from Vietnam

Caveats on the conservation value of turtles acquired in trade



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Important Bird Areas News

The Yuzana Company is polluting a river in the world's largest tiger reserve in northern Myanmar, sa id local sources. The watercourse of the Tanai River in the Hukawng Valley in Kachin State is fi l led with logs and roots disposed of by the company, according to natives. Locals and eyewitnesses told KNG, the heavy logs and roots have been trashed into the river after the company started to clear thousands of acres of natural forests a long both the left and right sides of Ledo Road for cultivating crops since 2006. It has not only led to pollution but massive deforestation in the world's largest tiger reserve.

"The regular ferry transport service has stopped in the Tanai River since October last year because of trash and there has been a significant fa l l in the water level. I can see several damaged ferries in the river. In the past we could travel by ferries in al l seasons—in the monsoons, winter and summer," a resident in Tanai Town told KNG.

Currently, the company has cleared the areas at least 10 miles inside both the left and right sides of the Ledo Road which is over 50 miles long and stretches from Warazup Vil lage to Tanai Town. The company has been using bulldozers and excavators in areas where it grows mainly sugar cane and cassava plants. The company h as temporari ly constructed a new paralle l road 100 feet wide, the vil lagers said. Wild animals l ike elephants, deer, and foxes can no longer be seen along the road. The local people have lost their pasture leading to logs and bamboo being in short supply for building traditional houses as well as firewood, the locals added.

According to locals, the company has confiscated their paddy fields, cemeteries and church compounds. The vil lagers in Nawng Mi, Warazup, Banggawk (Bangkok), Shahtuzup (Shaduzup), Ting Kawk, Nam Hpyak and Nawnglung-Kawng Ra are among the victims. The company has left only the small areas where vil lages are located. Myanmar's former capita l Rangoon-based Yuzana Company chaired by U Htay Myint is close to the country's ruling junta vice Senior General Maung Aye. The company has bought over 200,000 acres of land in Hukawng Valley by backing local Burmese Army bases but the company cultivated sugar cane and cassava crops in about 4,000 acres last year. Last year, the company signed a contract with the ruling junta to reconstruct the over 100-miles long Ledo Road between Myitkyina Township and Tanai.

The United States-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) declared Hukawng Valley as the world’s largest tiger reserve in 2004. However, tigers and other wild animals in the areas are seriously threatened with extinction because of heavy gold mining by the ruling junta and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and extension of crop fields by the Yuzana Company, said locals.

Source: Kachin News Group, 16 January 2008 We have reproduced this press release as posted on the Kachin News Group web-site with only slight editing for clarity. Although the style is somewhat sensationalist, in January I travelled from Mytkyina to Tanai and back and the above account conforms to my observations. The forest has now been almost entirely clear-felled back from the road up to 2 km along this entire length of the Ledo road, except where one wildlife corridor remains. The cleared land has been planted with sugar cane and jetropha plantations. Navigation along the Tanai River was not an issue during Janaury. The Wildlife Conservation Society has worked together with the Forest Department to have Hukaung Tiger Reserve established.

Ed.

Forest cleared and plantations established within Hukaung

Valley Tiger Reserve, Kachin State, Myanmar (MY05)



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A recently published paper1 recommends extending Hkakabo Razi National Park, connecting it to Hpongkan Razi Wildlife Sanctuary. Land cover in the northern forest complex in Myanmar was recently classified using satel l i te imagery (MODIS/NDVI) and field surveys carried out in 2001, 2004 and 2005. Using Landsat TM/ETM+ images from 1991 and 1999 deforestation rates were determined. The c. 22,000 km2 Northern Forest Complex, including the Hkakabo Razi National Park in northern Kachin State, is characterized by tropical to subtropical pristine forests with low human impact. The area studied, which includes land beyond the boundaries of Hkakabo Razi National Park, is of specia l conservation importance because it provides a refuge for many rare plant and animal species. Less than 1.4% of the area is affected by humans (excluding hunting) and deforestation rates are low at less than 0.01% annually. The authors observed several bird and mammal species that are considered threatened elsewhere. Based on their data, those of previous surveys, and the fact that more than 10 new vertebrate species have been described in the region since 1999, it is l ikely there are sti l l undescribed vertebrate species to be discovered. The authors recommend extending the boundaries of Hkakabo Razi National Park to the south and west, connecting it to Hpongkan Razi Wildlife Sanctuary, and/or adding an additional sanctuary in the Naung Mung area, to protect the vast yet sti l l pristine ra inforest habitats th a t are home to many of the most important aspects of the region’s biodiversity.

1 Renner, S.W., Rappole, J.H., Leimgruber, P., Kelly, D. S, Nay Myo Shwe, Thein Aung and Myint Aung (2007) Land cover in the Northern Forest Complex of Myanmar: new insights for conservation. Oryx 41,1: 27-37.

Hkakabo Razi National Park should be connected to Hpongkan Razi

Wildlife Sanctuary (MY01, MY02)

Definitely worth joining-up: A view within Hponkanrazi Wildlife Sanctuary. Photo: J C Eames



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The Tonle Sap Lake water bird colonies, discovered in the mid-1990s at Prek Toal, are of global conservation importance. The colonies include the largest, and in some cases the only, breeding populations in South-East Asia of seven species of conservation significance: Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis, Milky Stork Mycteria cinerea, Painted Stork Mycteria leucocephala, Lesser Adjutant Leptoptilus javanicus, Greater Adjutant Leptoptilus dubius, Black-headed Ibis Threskiornis melanocephalus and Oriental Darter Anhinga melanogaster. The birds are reliant on the unique Tonle Sap ecosystem, the largest freshwater lake in South-East Asia and one of the world’s most productive fisheries.

When first discovered the colonies were heavily threatened by annual harvesting of the eggs and chicks by nearby vil lagers, mainly for trade and local consumption. This led to the establishment in early 2001 of the Prek Toal conservation team. Beginning with the initia l four and expanding to the current 28 rangers, this team has conducted annual monitoring and protection of the breeding bird colonies since 2001. The team has been remarkably effective: collection incidences declined in 2002 and 2003, and since 2004 all species have bred successfully. The rangers’ skil ls at bird identification and counting led to the development of a simple counting system based on weekly observations of al l nesting birds visible from the observation platforms.

By 2003 it became clear that the colonies were being effectively protected and possible increases in the population of one species, the Oriental Darter, were observed. In order to measure these population changes more accurately a monitoring program was developed and implemented over four years, from 2004-2007. The monitoring program aimed to provide scientifically robust estimates of the bird populations each year, both to measure individual trends and to provide accurate information on the total number of birds present. If the annual egg and chick collection were the major threat to the target species, then increases would be expected at a rate consistent with the species’ ecology. Conversely, constant or declining populations would be indicative of unknown threats elsewhere in the species’ range. Under the program design, the platform count data recorded by the rangers is taken as a random representative sample of the species present and their densities. These are then extrapolated across the entire area known to be occupied by each species, based on detailed tree mapping by boat surveys during the wet season and aerial surveys at the peak colony breeding time. High-resolution overlapping digital photographs taken during these aerial surveys allow accurate determination of the total colony extent and the number of trees occupied.

The monitoring program has fulfilled its original objectives and has provided robust scientific estimates of the populations of three species (Spot-billed Pelican, Painted Stork and Asian Openbill) since 2004, and for Oriental Darter since 2001. In addition, partial population estimates for three further species (Greater and Lesser Adjutant and Milky Stork) have been possible, based on the platform counts. Estimates are based on the number of breeding pairs.

Number of breeding pairs (confidence Interval) Species 2001 2004 2007

Notes

Asian Openbill 959 (611-1,307) 7,682 (6,286-9,078) Complete estimate Greater Adjutant 56 (49-63) 77 (65-89) Partial estimate Lesser Adjutant 158 (127-189) 253 (222-284) Partial estimate Milky Stork 2 10 (6-14) Partial estimate Oriental Darter 241 (118-364) 1,125 (819-1,431) 4,053 (3,463-4,643) Complete estimate Painted Stork 1,707 (1,523-1,890) 3,121 (2,854-3,388) Complete estimate Spot-billed Pelican 1,117 (977-1,258) 2,592 (2,301-2,883) Complete estimate The results indicate that the Prek Toal conservation program has been extremely effective. All species have recorded significant increases, with populations in some cases as much as 20 times greater than when the program was initiated. Some species, such as Oriental Darter and Painted Stork, are now colonizing new nesting sites in Cambodia and Thailand. Similar range expansions might be expected for other species (e.g. Spot-billed Pelican) in future years. The colonies do not appear to be currently limited at Prek Toal, either for food or for nesting locations, although this may change as the populations continue to increase. The success of the Prek Toal program has contributed to recent proposals for revisions of species status, such as down listing of Spot-billed Pelican based on the observed population recoveries. The Prek Toal monitoring program is time-consuming and requires significant technical resources. Future monitoring may use a number of indicators, which can be expected to correlate with changes in total population size, and will be simpler to collect. Further research is required to investigate breeding ecology and to monitor species migrations to feeding sites. Little is currently known about how species disperse from Prek Toal and how populations interchange with those breeding at other sites (such as nesting Adjutant storks in northern Cambodia). Over the next twenty years significant changes in the hydrological and ecosystem processes of the Tonle Sap are expected as a consequence of development

Monitoring of Large Waterbirds at Prek Toal, Tonle Sap Lake,

Cambodia 2001 – 2007 (KH003)



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initiatives upstream in the Mekong River. Recent modeling suggests that these may substantially alter water levels and sedimentation rates, which may see a decline in the distribution and abundance of the emergent trees that the birds use as nesting habitat. Monitoring the impact of these changes on the birds’ habitat will be a significant challenge in future years.

Hannah O’Kelly, Tom Clements,

Sun Visal Wildlife Conservation Society, Cambodia Programme

We here reproduce the Executive Summary from the report, Monitoring of Large Waterbirds at Prek Toal, Tonle Sap Great Lake 2001 – 2007 by Hannah O’Kelly, Tom Clements and Sun Visal. This report was published by the Wildlife Conservation Society, Cambodia Programmme in 2007.

Ed.

Some of Indochina’s last protected areas are being opened to mineral extraction with few protections in place. Cambodia’s once-abundant natural resources, whose timber reserves already were stripped to fund its disastrous civil war, are ripe for more exploitation. Saddled with a weak and often corrupt government, it is now in danger of seeing its mineral rights looted, as even officials charged with protecting the environment say the time has come to sacrifice some protected areas to mining development.

Environment Minister Mok Mareth said in a recent interview that a balance must be struck between conservation and development, hinting that the balance would fall on the side of development. "There are too many people worried that it may destroy all the resources, all biodiversity, all ecosystems," he said. "Of course, it's right. It destroys some part, not all. We have to understand that."

In considering exploitation, the ministry obtains binding guarantees that companies will respect the environment and not harm indigenous rights, he claimed, adding that Cambodia was in the process of changing from "100 percent conservation" to a system that can accommodate development. "We're in the phase of what we call transition," he said. The issue of how that transition is handled came to the fore in recent weeks when, through a little-known Australian firm, Indochine Resources, two flamboyant Australians won the right to explore for unnamed minerals in 180,000 hectares, or 54 percent, of Cambodia’s Asean-heritage listed Virachey National Park. The concession itself was as big as 254,600 hectares. Both the Cambodian Environment Ministry and the World Bank, which has funded the management and conservation of the park to the tune of nearly $5 million, were caught by surprise. The two are geologist Jeremy Snaith and David Evans, who in April became known across Australia as the “bananas in pajamas” after their nude antics aboard a Sydney-Abu Dhabi flight and subsequent arrest for sexual harassment and drunkenness forced them out of their company, Jupiter Mines. That an area so large and so sensitive was now in the hands of men ensnared by a drunken slapstick scandal gave pause to some. The World Bank, for one, announced it was seeking clarification from the government.

“[W]e continue to encourage the government of Cambodia to make good choices when they pick business partners… to ensure that their partners are committed to socially and environmentally responsible development,” a World Bank official wrote in an email.

A rumor in Phnom Penh held that a more reputable Australian mining firm also seeking the concession had been beaten out by Indochine Resources. The case is only one chapter in an unfolding story in Cambodia, which devotes a surprisingly large share of its territory to conservation. According to a 1992 review by the UN's World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambodia's set-aside level of 26.3 percent was far higher than the land reserved for conservation in Thailand (16.3 percent), the US (11 percent), Indonesia (10 percent) or Australia (5.3 percent).

The country’s 32 environmentally protected areas, such as Virachey National Park, cover more than a quarter of its landmass. These areas also contain gold, copper, chromium and bauxite, creating the potential for Cambodia’s regulators to see dollar signs without foreseeing desolation.

Critics question whether Cambodia has the means, or even the desire, to control how and where mines are dug, or to determine whether the environmental damage they cause is acceptable. Global Witness, the environmental watchdog, has contended that the country’s natural resources until now have formed little more than a cash cow for the country’s elite and that exploiting Cambodia's resources in the absence of the rule of law will not necessarily lead to development or increased prosperity. For their part, government officials have in recent months repeatedly and rather ominously from the point of view of environmentalists, said that riches to help lift Cambodia out of poverty should not

Cambodian national parks now open for business



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be beyond reach simply because they lie buried beneath the turf of an endangered species. Environment chief Mok Mareth maintained that the 47,845 square kilometers of land devoted to protecting the environment are hardly sacrosanct. Critics who feel his ministry is weak and routinely shoved aside in favor of more muscular industria l interests simply do not understand, he added.

"When we developed that," Mok Mareth said of Cambodia's system of protected areas, first created in 1993 around the time that the UN mandate period ended, "we didn't know all the potential of our natural resources, our richness. So we need to have the exploration.”

Cambodia is hardly different from much of the rest of the world, where many protected areas are also routinely open to mining. Authorities permit mining in about 78 percent of South Australia's 332 protected areas, according to the state's regional government. In Cambodia, however, the matter comes down to a question of management. At a 2004 workshop, Environment Ministry officials and conservation NGOs found that mining was already occurring in nine protected areas and threatening 13 of them. Since then, the government has lifted a prohibition on mining in protected areas and has invited companies like Indochine Resources as well as BHP Billiton, Southern Mining Company and Oxiana Ltd to explore for minerals sometimes in parts of sanctuaries believed to be crucial for protecting biodiversity. All four companies have promised to be good to Cambodia's environment. But such deals are being struck even though many of the country's protected areas are under-funded, understaffed, lack comprehensive management plans and most importantly, do not have zoning to protect their most environmentally sensitive areas. These problems, outlined by the 2004 workshop, persist to this day, NGOs say. Seng Teak, country director for the Worldwide Fund for Nature, said last week that certain core zones must be protected from mining, as the viability of other ecosystems depends on them.

It's called a core zone, he said, "You can't touch that area from a biodiversity point of view."

Mok Mareth said, however, that a consensus with other ministries had emerged that even future core zones were not necessarily off limits for exploitation.

"We got already the reaction, even from the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Agriculture and others," he said.

"They also raised the concern: If I accept conservation of this area, a core zone, if we can find a billion dollars for the mining there, how can we exploit these millions of dollars in this area?”

“We did not define any core zones to date," he added.

However, Seng Teak said Cambodia is simply not yet ready to deliver its protected areas into the hands of mining companies.

"I think it may be too early to bring the companies in to invest in the protected areas. It has to have clear zoning," he said. "The right to use the resources should be based on a clear land use plan first."

In weighing development against conservation, the government is poised to make a fateful decision, Seng Teak said.

"The crossroads is balancing the two, because the government sees economic development as a priority and conservation second," he said. "It's a challenge to make that decision."

Douglas Gillison www.AsiaSeninal.com

21 September 2007



– 22 –

The Government of Cambodia has recently signed a 99 year lease with a private developer for Phrea h Monivong National Park. The contract was made in April 2007 between Royal Government of Cambodia, and the Sokha Hotel Company. In the agreement the government aims “to develop Preah Monivong Bokor National Park to become a tourist site for the goal of preserving, strengthening and protecting environmental nature, providing job opportunities, and creating opportunity in developing quality and effective tourism. The proposed investment and development wil l include the construction of asphalt road from the mountain foot to the top as first priority. The site lease, “refers to the entire site of Preah Monivong Bokor National Park which covers an area of 140,000 ha through Royal Decree dated November 1, 1993.” The contract goes on to list eleven specific projects comprising;

1. Construction of asphalt road from mountain foot to top

2. Construction of roads on mountain top

3. Construction of sewage system

4. Construction of water and electricity supply station

5. Construction of international standard hotel and casino

6. Construction of motel, restaurant, club, vil la , golf club, resort and park

7. Construction of emergency hospita l

8. Creation of fruit tree, vegetable and flower farms and other crops

9. Construction of water disti l ler system

10. Together with other constructions and business related that could be developed according to economic and market growth and

11. Request for the creation of Bokor national park town

With in the terms of the agreement the government wil l reta in mineral extraction rights and the Sokha Hotel Company retains logging rights. A minimum lease fee of “thirty thousand US dollars per annum and then the fee wil l be increased by ten thousand US dollars in every 5 years unti l the termination of the contract” is specified but “From the 1st year to the 20th years, the company is exempted from paying the lease fee.” BirdLife views the development with concerned interest. We expect that any development inside or impacting any protected area would conform in every case to both the letter and spirit of national protected areas law. We note that several of the above listed projects are totally incompatible with national park management objectives and we believe they should not go ahead within the national park. We would expect environmental impact assessments to be conducted for all project developments proposed and these to be conducted openly and fairly with due consultation of all stakeholders. BirdLife recognizes the potential value of tourism development in relation to promoting sustainable management of protected areas. One major benefit of which is using tourism revenues to meet the management costs of the protected area. It is not clear from this lease agreement, however that provision for this has been made in this case.

Ed.

Preah Monivong Bokor National Park leased to developers

(KH031)



– 23 –

As part of a recent three day patrol a team of 16 rangers from Bi Doup Nui Ba and Chu Yang Sin National Parks arrested nine of 13 hunters at their camp at 08h30 on 14 February 2008. In the camp the rangers found three Sambar Cervus unicolor, a Large-antlered Muntjac, Muntiacus vuquangensis, two Wild Pigs Sus scrofa, two Common Palm Civits Paradoxurus ! hermaphroditus, a Douc Langur Pygathrix sp. and a Macaque Macacca sp. The rangers also found a range of hunting equipment including knifes, four guns and 44 rounds of ammunition. A torch and telescopic sight were found mounted on one of the confiscated rifles. Following their arrest the hunters were taken to Lat town, Lac Duong District, Lam Dong Province.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, head of the Forest Protection Department of Bi Doup Nui Ba National Park reported that the poachers worked mostly at night and spent the day fishing and finding animal tracks in the forest.

This party of poachers comprised ethnic minority Kho from Lac Duong District and other hunters from Xuan Tho commune, a suburb Da Lat City. Nghiem Xuan Dung, 44, was reported the head of this hunting group.

Nguyen Hang Tinh, Tuoi Tre Newspaper, 17 February 2008

Whilst the state controlled Vietnamese media never misses a chance to point-out that many infractions of forest law in the central highlands involve ethnic minorities, these actions must be seen in the context of the demand from the wider Kinh dominated society for the timber and wildlife procured on their behalf.

Ed.

Rangers arrest nine poachers in Bi Doup Nui Ba and Chu

Yang Sin National Parks (VN036, VN037 and VN030)

Chu Yang Sin National Park is no place for vegetarians. Photo: Tuoi Tre Newspaper



– 24 –

One of the most globally important sites for the South-east Asian race sharpii of Sarus Crane Grus antigone – the fastest declining of the three races of this Vulnerable species – has been declared a reserve after several years of active lobbying by the Wildlife Protection Office of the Forestry Administration in partnership with BirdLife International in Indochina. The Council of Ministers of the Government of Cambodia has now approved a proposal to protect nearly 9,000 hectares, comprising 919 ha of core area and 8,305 ha in total, of seasonally inundated grassland in Takeo Province in south-eastern Cambodia. The process to complete the notification of the Boeung Prek Lapouv Sarus Crane Conservation Area was recently completed upon signing of a Prime Ministerial Decree by His Excellency Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The site is used by up to 300 Sarus Cranes, nearly 40% the global population of the race sharpii. The Sarus Cranes arrive in December and remain until February when the site dries-up. There are only three other sites regularly used by this sub-species during the non-breeding season. Of these two are in Cambodia and the third in Vietnam. All three of these sites are under conservation management but only two are currently protected by law. BirdLife and the Forestry Administration are now working to have the third Cambodian site at Kampong Trach, also protected by law.

“BirdLife has been working with our colleagues at the Forestry Administration to establish Boeung Prek Lapouv as a protected area for about five years,” said Jonathan C. Eames, Programme Manager for BirdLife International in Indochina.

“This is the first protected area in Cambodia that we have proposed and succeeded in having the government gazette. We are proud of this achievement.” Said Bou Vorsak, Acting Programme Manager for the Cambodia Programme.

The Forestry Administration (FA) is part of Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the work which has resulted in the “gazettement” of the IBA as a protected area was led by Mr. Seng Kim Hout, who was seconded to BirdLife from the Wildlife Protection Office of the FA, and his colleague Mr. Men Phymean, Director of the Wildlife Protection Office. Seng Kim Hout is also first author of the Directory of Important Bird Areas in Cambodia: key sites for conservation, where a fuller description of Boeung Prek Lapouv IBA is available.

Jonathan Eames said that the proposal had been through much iteration, and the final area approved was smaller than BirdLife had lobbied for. “However, the site is located in one of the poorest and most densely populated parts of Cambodia. It is a tribute to the Cambodian Government that they put conservation first over allocation of the land to rice cultivation, which they could easily have done.” Bou Vorsak, Cambodia Acting Programme Manager for BirdLife’s work in Cambodia, said this was a landmark decision for BirdLife. “This is the first protected area in Cambodia that we have proposed and succeeded in having the government gazette. We are proud of this achievement.”

Since 2003, Boeung Prek Lapouv has been patrolled by a Local Conservation Group established by BirdLife, which has successfully prevented incursions by dry season rice farmers and hunters (particularly from Vietnam as the sites lied very close to the international frontier), as well as raising awareness of the importance of the area’s biodiversity, and the benefits of sustainable use, among the local communities. Other threats faced by the site include water draw-off for rice irrigation and the spread of the invasive plant Mimosa pigra.

BirdLife International press release, 5 November 2007

Government of Cambodia declares Sarus Crane Reserve at Boeung Prek Lapouv (KH039)



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Rarest of the rare

Populations of one of the world’s strangest birds have crashed over the last decade, and surveys this summer (2007) of its breeding grounds in the remote Russian province of Chukotka suggest that the situation is now critical. The charismatic, and rather aptly named, Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus, is now worryingly close to becoming extinct. With only 200-300 pairs left, conservationists are calling for urgent help to tackle the decline. “We’ve seen a 70% drop in the number of breeding pairs at some sites over the last couple of years. If this decline continues, these amazing birds won’t be around for much longer,” says Evgeny Syroechkovskiy, Vice President of the Russian Bird Conservation Union (BirdLife in Russia). The reasons for these losses are complex, involving changes to habitat during migration and loss of breeding areas. What is clear is that nest predation by foxes and disturbance by people and dogs could prove to be the final nail in the coffin for the few birds left. “Action to safeguard the remaining breeding pairs needs to be taken now for there to be any chance of saving them. We are planning to put wardens in place at these critical sites. Once they are protected and the birds are successfully fledging young, we can get on with the task of trying to save areas that they use whilst on migration,” Evgeny adds.

Spoon-billed Sandpipers’ spoon-shaped bill is still something of a mystery, the exact use for which is still unknown. They breed during June–July in a small strip of coastal Arctic tundra in Chukotka, north-east Russia. They then migrate thousands of kilometres to winter along coasts in South and South-East Asia. Spoon-billed Sandpipers are one of several species to depend on the rich tidal coasts of the Yellow Sea in East Asia, where they stop to refuel on their way to and from their breeding grounds. “Coastal reclamation in South Korea is currently destroying over 40,000 ha of habitat; coastal habitats are being converted into saltpans and shrimp farms in Bangladesh and Chinese coasts have been rapidly developed in recent years,” says Christoph Zöckler, international coordinator of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Action Plan, “They are just running out of places to stop and feed on migration.” What seems certain is that if these changes continue there will soon be no place left for Spoon-billed Sandpipers. “The recent declines have shocked those concerned about the species, but with investment and the dedication of those involved we can still save the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.” says Richard Grimmett, BirdLife’s Global Conservation Manager. BirdLife International has launched the Preventing Extinctions initiative to try and turn the tide for Spoon-billed Sandpiper and species like it, and is looking for companies, institutions and individuals to step up and provide funding by becoming BirdLife Species Champions. With the right conservation action plan in place it is possible to save a species. It has been done before, but it takes hard work and hard cash but aren’t we all the better for knowing that a bird with a spoon for a bill exists out there, somewhere?

BirdLife International press release, 12 October 2007

Spoon-billed Sandpiper facing extinction?



– 26 –

Project updates

This report covers the period January-December 2007, which was the first year of this two-year project. Each section begins by comparing actual implementation to the original timetable in the project proposal. Overa l l , the project is on track for al l objectives, with some slightly behind and some slightly ahead of schedule.

Study on the values of grasslands to local livelihoods and the impacts of dry season rice systems on local livelihoods now completed As part of a dual component sub-project named “Community based livelihood improvement project in/near by the IFBAs” the Centre d’Etude et de Développement Agricole Cambodgien (CEDAC) conducted a community l ivelih ood study, the basis of which was a cost-benefit analysis of the traditional use of grasslands (i.e. wet season (deepwater) and recession rice cultivation, vegetable cropping, plant collection, livestock grazing, and fisheries) and the more recent land use being extolled by companies and certain members of the local government, namely, dry-season rice cultivation. CEDAC conducted in-depth studies of the economic benefits local communities derive from grasslands in 8 vil lages near by IFBAs. Detailed information on the economic benefit from dry season rice cultivation was also obtained from several dam owners that have been growing rice in the floodplain for over a year. The second component of this project, namely agricultural extension, will be discussed under point 5, below.

In order to build further support for the IFBAs provincial workshops to feed back the results of the socio-economic research have been planned but have been delayed due to extensive analysis of study results. As soon as the above report has been finalized and the results can be confidently presented to government officia ls and circulated in the national media, presentations wil l be given to the provincial IFBA commissions. As the study h ighlights the benefits of grasslands to the local communities it is hoped that this wil l further persuade the government to support the project and other community based natural resource management initiatives in th is area. The report wil l be widely disseminated and the national media encouraged to use some of the key findings. Some site visits by key decision makers have been conducted to the IFBAs already, others are to be held in dry season of the second year. Government officia ls including a deputy provincia l governor visited Chikreng IFBA, Siem Reap in May to take part in placing the officia l signposts. The event was featured in the national press. Visits were a lso subsequently organized for government officia ls in Kampong Thom to witness the establishment of signposts along boundaries of IFBAs there. Further visits to IFBAs will be conducted in this dry season, between February-May 2008. Although more visits to the IFBAs were intended in 2007 the extensive flooding and diff iculties in accessing the IFBAs made the project decide to postpone visits ti l l la ter in the dry season in 2008. As part of the assessment of community support for dry season rice proposal in Stoung, members of the Kampong Thom provincia l administration conducted a survey in September among vil lagers in Stoung district, together with the project team.

Conserving Bengal Floricans and improving rural livelihoods around

the Tonle Sap, the world’s largest floodplain lake, Cambodia

Wh ich way to the nearest IFBA? Male Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis Photo: J C Eames



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Awareness-raising activities for local communities on schedule IFBA extension meetings were held throughout January-May in target communes relevant to the IFBAs and people were invited to attend from the vil lages, especia l ly from those identified as major users. Extension activities involved explaining to communities about IFBAs and the Provincial Declaration (Deika) as well as other relevant laws, such as the Land, Forest and Fisheries laws. A large colour reference map of the IFBAs was given to district governors and Commune Council members that attended and copies of the Deika with an attached map of the IFBAs were distributed to everyone. Discussion was encouraged and questions from the attendees were answered by the project team. The extension program covered 14 communes, 61 vil lages and over 1,235 people. The extension reached all communes with vil lages that are known to use the IFBAs. From June – December further extension on IFBAs was integrated into CEDAC farmer tra ining meetings, while the first round of wider extension activities conducted by the project in 2007 was being evaluated.

Following the first round of extension, a questionnaire survey was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of extension work carried out and to assess what sort of follow-up may be needed. The survey was conducted around Baray, Stoung and Chikreng IFBAs in four communes. This review found that although many people had heard about the IFBAs, understanding of the exact location and the objectives of IFBAs sti l l needed improvement, as the extension information had not reached everyone. In future the extension activities wil l be conducted at a vi l lage instead of commune level, concentrating on target vi l lages that are known to use the IFBAs and encouraging a large attendance at each vil lage meeting so that the project can reach people directly. We wil l a lso go into greater detail than before about the location and objectives of the IFBAs. Other topics are about the Bengal Florican nest protection programme laws (especial ly fisheries and wildlife laws), the endangered status of certa in species globally, and the importance of taking care of our environment. Although the revised extension programme will be largely implemented starting in the first quarter of 2008, some emergency extension was done in December in an area where hunting activities were seen to increase signif icantly over a short period of time. Five thousand exercise books have been produced that have a picture of Bengal Florican on the cover and contain information about the IFBAs for handing out to children and young adults in next year’s extension meetings.

Five IFBAs now exist in law under Provincial Declarations (deikas) The four in Kampong Thom province were declared in August 2006; the one in Siem Reap Province was declared shortly after the start of the Fondation Ensemble funding, in January 2007. BirdLife, WCS and the Wildli fe Protection Office continue to have a very close and effective working relationship and this has been extended to involve the key l ine agencies at provincial level (notably the Departments of Agriculture and of Fisheries, and local offices of the Forestry Administration). In Siem Reap Province much progress has been made in the establishment of an IFBA commission and executive secretariat. The composition and function of the executive secretariat as executing agency of the Deika has now been formally approved. Four commission meetings have been held on various topics and several key decisions have been made. Signposts have been placed at a l l major access points into the IFBA. Most importantly, the commission successfully asserted its authority and stopped a major development project by a private investor that would have damaged a large part of the IFBA – a landmark decision and one that sets a precedent for other similar threats in this province. The decision was featured in a national Khmer-language newspaper article.

In Kampong Thom Province several dams, irrigation channels and tree plantations have been built, marked out or had contracts signed within the IFBAs after they were declared. Resolving this has become the focus for much of the efforts of the project team. Data on the extent and legality of existing land concessions/developments have been compiled and reported to the authorities, first to the IFBA provincia l commission and subsequently to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). Soon after receiving the report from the project the Minister held a meeting with provincia l governors and in this meeting he ordered the governors to immediately suspend all the activities of companies that had been awarded economic land concessions by the provinces. He has since ordered an investigation into dam construction throughout the floodplain of the Tonle Sap Lake, wh ich includes the IFBA areas. Investigative visits have a lready been made. The current standpoint of the Fisheries Administration that is leading the investigation (as the f loodplain fa l ls under their jurisdiction) is that al l the dams must be destroyed, as they are completely i l legal. This is encouraging news for the IFBA project and will hopefully result in a clear policy statement th a t removes the root cause of the threats - il legal issuance of land concessions.

The IFBA commission in Kampong Thom now operational First a meeting was held resulting in the formal approval for the placing of signposts at entrance points to the IFBAs. Thereafter the deputy-governor chaired two meetings. The first was to discuss the proposal made by the Stoung district governor to build a dam and grow dry season rice inside Stoung IFBA. The district governor



– 28 –

asked the IFBA commission to consider this proposal and conduct a study on the community support for th is idea. The second meeting was a presentation of the results of the survey that showed that most local people opposed the construction of a dam in the grasslands. So far this looks encouraging as it reflects a change in atti tude by the Kampong Thom government whereby they are now treating the commission as a legitimate decision making body that should be consulted on planned activities that might seriously affect the IFBAs.

Our seven months progress report was handed over to IFBA commission members, as wil l be our first year’s progress report, the report on economic benefits from grasslands and the 2007 status report on the Tonle Sap Bengal Florican population. We have also started ta lks with our partners in the Forestry Administration to prepare a strategy for finally requesting a higher level of designated status for the IFBAs, which involves consultations with government agencies (especia l ly the Fisheries Administration), district governments, commune councils and vil lage chiefs and eventually with the provincia l governors of Kampong Thom and Siem Reap before submitting a proposal to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

An officia l patrol team was established in Kampong Thom and has been active since February across al l four IFBAs there. The provincia l IFBA commission has approved the establishment of a second team for Siem Reap. We are currently looking for a suitable patrol leader and in the interim, are conducting observation patrols there by a team without the power to make arrests. To conduct patrols effectively joint patrols are conducted by a Forestry Administration officer, a policeman and a community counterpart (a different person for each IFBA). The forestry officer has authority in relation to natural resource management, such making case reports and prosecution under the Forestry, Fisheries and Land laws while the policeman provides backup and can make arrests. The vil lage counterpart provides local site knowledge and forms a bridge to local communities.

The leader of the existing patrol team has received training in planning patrols, data collection and reporting according to the project’s requirements. The information collected on patrol is vita l to maintaining the project’s information database on human use, dam developments and wildlife observations. Each month the database is updated and new maps are produced for the patrol team to take to the fie ld. The results are also used to present to the provincia l commissions, especia l ly those pertaining to il legal developments inside the IFBAs. Once the new patrol team has been formed both teams will undergo further tra ining in the above as well as in establishing information networks among local people, so that they can more effectively remain aware of any i l legal activities occurring in the IFBAs.

The patrol teams have dealt directly with four cases of il legal hunting (especia l ly setting of bird traps and including one case of a florican being caught by using a f ishing net) and three cases of il legal f ishing practices (electro-f ishing). They lack the power to directly stop dam developments inside the IFBAs themselves and are required to report these to the Provincia l Commissions for action. As noted above, this has been more immediately effective in Siem Reap Province than in Kompong Thom.

The establishment and training of community consultation committees ongoing A strategy for the formation of a network of community volunteers with l inkages to their commune councils and to the provincial IFBA commissions has been developed. Volunteers are invited to cooperate with the project in protecting the Bengal Florican and ensuring the grasslands are used sustainably. An initia l selection of twelve volunteers has been made in three communes (Prolay, Lveang Russei, Spean Tnaot) bordering Stoung and Chikreng IFBAs. This wil l be expanded in 2008 to include the other IFBAs. Training will be “on the job” and gradual at first with the project involving participants more and more according to their wil l ingness to participate. Volunteers wil l be a part of a l l vi l l age consultations and other meetings and will play an important role in facil i tating the participatory zoning process, which is expected to lead naturally into the formation of formal committees to cooperate on management of the zones. It is expected that the volunteers wil l be key members of these committees and will eventually become the representatives and guardians of the ir IFBA with in the community.

On-the-ground demarcation of IFBA boundaries underway A total of 53 signposts had been put along boundaries of IFBAs where main access roads lead into the grasslands. The number of signposts per IFBA depends to some degree on size of the IFBA, but a lso on the level of use of that IFBA by people and the resultant number of access roads. At each site a l l relevant local authorities were informed of the meaning of the posts and consulted over locations.

The signposts are crucial in informing people that they are entering an IFBA. Specifical ly they contain the name and size of the IFBA and a warning to companies not to build new or extend old dams within the IFBA. The majority of the signs have been broken since they were put in place. It is not clear who broke them or why but it is suspected that i t was the proponents of new dam projects. It is planned to erect new signs that are more



– 29 –

diff icult to damage, check them frequently on patrols and increase awareness of their role as part of the extension programme.

The process for the participatory zoning of IFBAs, involving local communities was initiated early, but actual zoning to take place in at least two IFBAs in year 2. Mapping of land cover has already been done and is updated regularly through field surveys and satel l i te image analysis. As noted under Sections 2.3 and 3.3 an extension programme has been implemented that covers laws concerning natural resource use in the IFBAs and vil lage volunteers have been identified who can assist in this process. Zoning consultations wil l commence in the first or second quarter of 2008 and will form the basis of preparing management plans and registering use rights.

Demonstration of livelihood improvement activities In relation to the demonstration of livelihood improvement activities tra ining in SRI techniques in selected vil lages sl ightly delayed, but is now underway. This started in June 2007, implemented by CEDAC under the ir sub-project named “Community based l ivelihood improvement project in/near by the IFBAs”. It focuses on three vil lages that use the Stoung IFBA in Prolay commune in Stoung district, Kampong Thom and four vil lages th a t use the Chikreng IFBA in Spean Tnaot and Lveang Russei communes in Chikreng district, S iem Reap. This is an increase of the number of target vi l lages from four to seven due to an increase in the amount of its own resources that CEDAC is able to contribute.

The main reasons for the IFBA project to get involved in improving agricultural systems in nearby vil lages are:

1) To al low vil lagers to produce more from their existing farmland using tested techniques in organic farming, which wil l hopefully lead to increased welfare, wh ile fostering ecological awareness and minimizing the impact of farming on the environment as well as reducing the immediate pressure on land

2) To cooperate with people from key vil lages and foster relationships with them

Trainings have been given to selected farmers from target vi l lages around IFBAs on: low input rice intensification techniques (SRI), ecological chicken raising, composting, home gardening and the operation of savings groups as credit providers. Commune and vil lage introductory meetings were held in 10 vil lages with 631 people attending. A selection of 63 farmers (including 26 women) was then made from the group of those interested in receiving training from CEDAC. The programme was later expanded to include additional tra inings in each of the vil lages, whereby a further 62 farmers participated (54 women). Currently 28 farmers are tria l ing SRI, 11 have adopted ecological chicken raising techniques, 18 farmers are about to bui ld composting sites and 80 people have joined five savings groups. The tra inings are sti l l ongoing. In order to motivate the interest of both CEDAC trained and un-trained farmers, farmer exchange visits have been organized. Four exchange visits brought 85 farmers l iving near IFBAs to areas where the SRI techniques have a lready been applied so that they could hear from others about SRI, see how they are implementing these techniques, and learn about the results other farmers have gotten. Two intra vil lage exchange visits have a lso been organized whereby a total of 33 un-trained farmers came to take a look at a “model” farm from someone who is implementing the recently learnt SRI techniques. See details in the appended CEDAC progress report. Further exchange visits wil l occur in the second year.

Approval of large scale commercial concessions within IFBAs The project has worked hard to prevent this and has by al l appearances succeeded in Siem Reap and is making progress in Kampong Thom against a much higher level of threat than was evident in 2006. Considerable pressure has been put on the Kampong Thom governor and the issuance of economic concessions in this province is under intense scrutiny by national government agencies. It is therefore expected that the second year of the project wil l see a significant reduction, if not a complete halt, on new concessions being awarded in floodpla in grasslands and within IFBAs in particular.

The key diff iculty has been the slow pace of action in Kampong Thom Province to deal with large-scale i l legal land encroachment. This is a politica l ly diff icult issue with powerful people involved on al l sides. The main approach of the project has been one of direct cooperation with the provincia l authorities, building trust and relationships, ra ising awareness of the legal, l ivelih ood and conservation issues, presenting regular updates on issues observed in the field, and making appropriate officia l requests for action. In this province that approach has not yet borne fruit. A second approach has been to request action at Ministeria l level, which has been done, and this now appears to be increasing the pressure on the provincia l authorities to enforce the law. A th ird approach has been to quantify traditional l ivelihood values; and these data wil l be widely disseminated soon strengthening the arguments we make for grassland conservation.



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Outlook for 2008 The outlook in Siem Reap Province is positive and we expect to move ahead rapidly with establishment of community consultation committees, participatory zoning etc. In Kampong Thom we expect progress to improve again soon and around Stoung IFBA we will move ahead quickly with community work. At the other three IFBAs the focus wil l presently remain on dealing with large-scale i l legal land threats, combined with patroll ing to detect new threats, re-establishing signposts, and raising awareness about the IFBAs among communities. We will a lso try to ra ise more funds, for instance to expand the farmer training given by CEDAC to include communities l iving around the other three IFBAs. We are a lso looking to set up new floodplain IFBAs in Kampong Chhnang province and upland IFBAs, where the Bengal Floricans move to in the wet season in Kampong Thom. We are convinced that with continued Ministeria l support the long-term prospects are good. This project is a joint initiative of BirdLife International Cambodia Programme, the Wildlife Conservation Society -

Cambodia Program and the Forestry Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries with financial

support from Fondation Ensemble and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Ed.

Male Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis Photo: J C Eames



– 31 –

In January 2008, and for the fifth consecutive year, a BirdLife/Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association team conducted a search for the Critical ly Endangered and possibly extinct Pink-headed Duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea in the lowlands of northern Kachin State, Myanmar. For the fifth consecutive year they fa i led to find the species or any convincing evidence of its existence there. This year the search concentrated on three previously surveyed locations from where the species had been cla imed or reported in the recent past. For the third time a team visited the grasslands at Nawng Kwin, where some members of the 2004 team believed they had seen a Pink-headed Duck on 1 December 2004. Despite the higher water levels than in previous visits in 2004 and 2006 and the presence of flocks of Spot-bil led Duck Anas poecilorhyncha haringtoni and Eurasian Teal Anas crecca there were no tantalizing glimpses of any unidentified ducks. As in 2006, the team again visited the oxbow lakes along the Indaw River north of Chaung Wa vil lage. This year the team could not even relocate the mysterious Maung Maung who had cla imed to see the species there in 2006. The team did find the active nest of a Dusky Eagle Owl Bubo coromandus, the f irst record for Kachin State. Th is was followed by a return to a selection of the larger ox-bow lakes along the Tanai River including Se Hnaung In where local fisherman Win Bo had reported the species in 2003. Again, no sightings of Pink-headed Duck although the team did observe a pair of White-winged Ducks Cairina scutulata. The wetland had changed considerably with a screen of trees now blocking a view over the adjacent grasslands. At Lamaung In there was a similar story: A site that had been good for duck and geese in previous years had become overgrown in the absence of domestic Water Buffalo to keep the grass in check. At Hin Kaw In the presence of larger numbers of fisherman than in previous years did not appear to have diminished the importance of the site for birds and on two visits the team recorded two White-winged Ducks, three Masked Finfoots Heliopais personata (clearly proving the residency of the species in northern Myanmar during the northern winter) and a first winter Wh ite-ta i led Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla.

Unlike previous surveys, the January 2008 trip was marked by bad weather, including snow in the Hukaung Val ley and heavy rainfall , high winds and low daytime temperatures. At least the presence of cloud cover on many days kept the winter fogs at bay. The team met with various misfortunes during the trip including a coll ision with a bridge support that catapulted the cook (who could luckily swim) out of the boat and into the river, a camp being flattened due to high winds, a boat that broke its moorings and floated off down river and a mammoth trek back to Mytkyina from Tanai that took nearly 17 hours rather than the usual six as a result of collapsed bridges. To cap it al l an aircraft under carriage fai lure on a re-fueling stop in Mandalay caused further anxiety and delay.

Latest search fails to find the Pink-headed Duck

One of three Masked Finfoots Heliopais personata recorded during the survey. Photo: J C Eames



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This expedition concludes our attempts to search for the Pink-headed Duck in Kachin State. Future BirdLife searches wil l focus on Mandalay Division, the only part of Myanmar from which specimen records of the Pink-headed Duck were obtained historically.

Jonathan C Eames

Programme Manager


Wh ite-winged Ducks Cairina scutulata were again recorded on Hinkaw In (Above). Large numbers of Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus were recorded at the northern end of the Indawgyi (Below) Photos: J C Eames



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Between October and December 2007, the project focused on the repti le and amphibian surveys (see next report), preparation of a coordinated enforcement programme with other agencies, contacting training institutions for sending rangers to training courses and recruitment of consultants for various activities. In general, the speed of implementation has been quite slow due to unfavorable weather conditions (i.e. abnormally long rainy season), shortage of human resources (i.e. in the later half of this quarter, al l park staff were deployed in the forest to combat rampant i l legal logging) and diff iculty in recruiting suitably qualif ied and affordable short term consultants for a number of activities.

It was decided that providing financial support for park staff to attend ready-made courses delivered by forestry schools in the south are the most efficient way to implement tra ining in forest and land-use laws and regulations. The project and the park management have contacted Forestry School number 2 (located in Trang Bom district- Dong Nai Province) and with the school of Agriculture and Rural Development Manageria l Staff No. 2 in Ho Chi Minh City to look for relevant courses. These two schools promised to send CYS NP the ir tra ining schedule soon. In this reporting quarter, at the request of CYS national park, the project provided financial support for eight park rangers to attend a six-week training course on using patrol dogs at a professional dog tra ining centre in Hanoi.

The Ede language classes have been maintained with h igh interest by both the teacher and students. However, due to the high pressure of il legal logging during this time of the year, the classes wil l probably have to be interrupted to al low park rangers to concentrate on patroll ing and combating il legal logging.

Two big development projects – the Krong Kmar’s hydroelectricity dam and the East Truong Son road – are being built on part of the CYS NP without the park’s consultation or engagement. Currently, another two hydropower projects are planned within CYS NP boundaries, which the park has strongly objected (the park director did send a petition to the Prime Minister). Hopefully, those projects won’t be approved.

S ince receiving training on Biodiversity Monitoring Programme by the project in June 2006, park rangers h ave conducted monthly patrols in the forest fol lowing tra i ls assigned for each guard station. Data collection has focused on species and il legal activities encountered during the patrols. These data were entered in diary and survey sheets and then stored in computer (in Excel fi les) by the project officer. To the end of December 2007, data collected cover eight of the twenty-eight tra i ls in core zone and seventeen of the total twenty-f ive tra i ls in the buffer zone. This is a regular activity, however not much data were collected along the line of impact indicators during this reporting quarter because of unfavorable weather conditions (abnormally long rainy season) and manpower shortage (as in December most of rangers from all guard stations were deployed in the forest to combat il legal logging). During this period, nine cases of il legal logging and hunting were arrested.

Nina Ksor, Project Field Manager

Le Trong Trai, Programme Officer

Pham Tuan Anh, Vietnam Programme Manager

Integrating watershed and biodiversity management at Chu

Yang Sin National Park, Vietnam



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Chu Yang Sin National Park (IBA VN030) is well known for its ornithological riches. These include al l of the eight species which define EBA 145, the Da Lat plateau; it is one of only two sites known to support a population of Collared Laughingthrush Garrulax yersini. In contrast, unti l la te last year, its herpetofauna was poorly known. In October-November 2007 Nikolai Orlov and a small team spent 26 days surveying repti les and amphibians within the National Park, as part of BirdLife’s World Bank and Global Environment Fund financed project: Integrating Watershed and Biodiversity Management in Chu Yang Sin National Park.

The team surveyed eight sites from 500 to 1,600 m. on the north-western slopes of mountain ridges in the Krong K’Mar River basin, including the slope of peak after which the national park is named. The team recorded 80 species of amphibians and repti les, including 25 species which are considered endemic to the central highlands of Vietnam, and 16% of the species recorded in the country. The haul included 37 frogs, one caecil ian, 22 l izards and 20 snakes, and eight of these species may prove to be new to science. Nikolai is now in the process of describing these species, which include one pit viper, Trimeresurus sp. and seven frogs: three Ophryophryne, two Philautus one Rhacophorus and one Sylvirana. Even if some of them prove not to be new for science, they are a l l l ikely to be new for Vietnam. Montane evergreen forest is critical for these species - seven of the eight possible new species were found only between 900 and 1,600 m.

The results of this survey highlight the critica l importance of Chu Yang Sin National Park for maintaining herpeti le diversity in the central h ighlands, and the global importance of the region as a centre for cross-taxa endemism. Together with data on the distribution of restricted range birds, there is now a very persuasive case for the effective protection of the remaining montane evergreen forest in the h ighlands of Vietnam. However these habitats continue to be degraded through logging and infrastructure development projects. The proposed hypro-power project (Eaktour) planned for part of the National Park where this survey took place is l ikely to destroy a signif icant area of amphibian habitat.

The team found that the herpetofauna of Chu Yang Sin was broadly similar to that found on other mountain peaks in distant parts of Vietnam, such as Mt Fan Si Pan, despite the high percentage of central highlands endemic species recorded. Also, the community composition was more similar to that found in those areas than to that which might be expected in lowland forests closer by. The high percentage of localized and newly discovered species recorded on the survey point to the presence of more as yet undiscovered biological riches and patterns of

First Herpetile survey in Chu Yang Sin National

Park yields dramatic results

One of five similar Sylvirana sp. recorded in Chu Yang Sin NP. Photo: BirdLife/Nikolai Orlov

Rhacophorus sp. nova? Many new species have been described from this genus in recent years. Photo: BirdLife/Nikolai Orlov



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diversity which l ie hidden in other under surveyed and oft neglected taxonomic groups; both in the centra l h ighlands, and elsewhere in Vietnam. Many of the species which may prove to be new to science were cryptic, species which look very similar to a congener, and wh ich might indeed be considered the same species were i t

not for the fact that they occur sympatrical ly and mate assortively. Genetic analysis of cryptic species pairs often reveals that the species involved are not in fact each others closest relatives, but instead a neat example of convergent evolution. Under Nikolai’s expert eye, these mysteries are being unraveled and the true patterns of diversity revealed.

Of the 37 frogs recorded, there were one Vulnerable, one Endangered and five Data Deficient species (the IUCN Red List has not been completed for the other taxonomic groups). All but one of the Data Deficient species were recorded at more than one study site, indicating that they may not be uncommon at Chu Yang Sin and that the site is potentia l ly of global importance for these poorly known species. The Endangered species, Vibrissaphora ngoclinhensis, was only described in 2005 (by Nikolai) and its discovery at Chu Yang Sin represents one of very few records of the species.

Nikolai and colleagues hope to return to Chu Yang Sin in 2008 to continue training of National Park staff and increase their survey area and effort. They plan to survey at h igher elevations and at a different time of year next time, since there can be almost complete community turnover in herpeti les in different seasons. The team may therefore record almost as many species again, and if past survey efforts and patterns of bird species discovery over the last 15 years are anything to go by, there should also be plenty more surprises in store.

Simon Mahood Conservation Advisor


Considered Vulnerable globally, Rhacophorus annamensis is restricted to the southern part of the central highlands of Vietnam, and has a lso been recorded in the extreme east of Cambodia. Photo: BirdLife/Nikolai Orlov

Trimeresurus sp. nova? Vipers typically rely on visual crypsis to avoid detection, but it was taxonomic crypsis which kept this viper hidden from science until this survey at Chu Yang Sin. Photo: BirdLife/Nikolai Orlov



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The White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni has at last become the subject of detai led research thanks to collaboration between BirdLife International Cambodia Programme and the University of East Anglia, UK. Over the next four years, UEA student Hugh Wright wil l be working to reveal many of the unknowns regarding the ecology and status of this critica l ly endangered species.

The research began this spring with a three-month fieldwork visit to Western Siem Pang IBA in northern Cambodia, a location that boasts the highest numbers of White-shouldered Ibis ever recorded. Th is preliminary study, forming part of an MSc dissertation, is focusing on the foraging ecology of the species around their preferred feeding sites, the seasonal pools within dry dipterocarp forest known as trapaengs. This research a ims to uncover the influentia l factors in the selection of the ibis’ favored foraging habitat, and consider the habitat dynamics at trapaengs between the early and late dry season. Days spent closely observing Wh ite-shouldered Ibis wil l develop the understanding of this species’ feeding strategy and prey resource use.

Through a PhD programme, which begins this autumn, Hugh will be examining the influence of traditional land management practices on both the foraging and breeding ecology of White-shouldered Ibis. An investigation into the l ivelihoods of local people wil l enable the identif ication of the crucial interactions between humans, White-shouldered Ibis and the dry dipterocarp forest ecosystem. This wil l draw upon evidence from several sites across Cambodia and work in cooperation with the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Forestry Administration of Cambodia.

This project wil l be fundamental to the development of effective conservation strategies based upon sound ecological knowledge of the species and an understanding of community needs. Such strategies have the potentia l to benefit many endangered water birds and local l ivelihoods, as both are under imminent threat from planned land concessions and infrastructural projects. The findings of the research wil l a lso demonstra te the importance of sites such as Western Siem Pang IBA. If these sites cannot gain urgent protection, South-East Asia wil l witness the loss of some it’s only remaining, ecological valuable wetlands.

Hugh Wright University of East Anglia

White-shouldered ibis research project, Cambodia

Wh ite-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni copulating Photo: J C Eames



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The White-eyed River-martin is probably the most poorly known bird in mainland Asia. It was discovered in January 1968 in central Thai land. Even the precise location birds were first collected remains unclear but seems l ikely to have been at, or near, Bung (Lake) Boraphet. Further birds were collected up to 1971, but after th a t the species effectively disappeared, despite surveys in 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1988, with subsequent reported sightings only in 1978 and 1980, and a report of a bird trapped by locals in 1986. Bung Boraphet is artif icia l, and thus essentia l ly nothing is known of the true natural habitat, range, or ecology of the species. Its closest relative, the African River-martin, nests colonially in sandbar burrows on large rivers in the Congo and feeds over forests and grasslands. The larger eyes and bil l of White-eyed River-martin suggest different ecology, perhaps including a crepuscular or nocturnal nature. It has a lso been suggested that it may nest in tree holes or caves. Virtually a l l that is known about this species is that it must be extremely rare and – given its rapid disappearance – l ikely under high threat of extinction. Hirundines at Bung Boraphet are under sever pressure from bird trappers. An urgent need thus exists to find the breeding and (if the species is migratory, as has been supposed) non-breeding grounds of the species, and implement conservation action. To date, few such surveys have been attempted owing to the complete lack of knowledge (surveys in northern Thailand in 1969 and northern Laos in 1996 were unsuccessful), but the longer searches are put off the less l ikely they are to be successful.

The only possible sighting of White-eyed River-martin away from Bung Boraphet has come from the Sre Ambel river in the lowlands of south-east Cambodia in March 2004, an area with very l ittle survey effort to date, relatively large amounts of remaining forest habitat, and relatively low population density and disturbance (the Sre Ambel is a lso notable for supporting one of the few remaining South-East Asian populations of the Batagur turtle, a species very affected by human over exploitation). Although a lot of uncertainty surrounds this sighting, it is currently the only real lead to the possible location of the species. Forestry Administration and BirdLife staff wil l visit the area of the 2004 report, in March/April 2008, with the a im of ascerta ining the reliabil i ty of the 2004 report and rediscovering this ‘lost’ species. It is a gamble, but with a species of this rarity and mystery, we have few other options.

We will search for possibly suitable locations (e.g., reed beds along the river) and interview local people to see whether any recognize pictures of the species (compared to potentia l confusion species). If the species is found, a l l efforts wil l be taken to obtain photos in order to verify the record. The BirdLife International-Cambodia Programme has a very keen interest in putting in place conservation action for the species if we can refind it.

This project wil l address part of the priority conservation action identified by BirdLife: “Conduct surveys for the species along al l major rivers with in its putative breeding range (northern Thailand, southern China, Myanmar and Laos) and search a lternative habitats such as forests and limestone cave systems.” Note that the search country, Cambodia, was not previously envisaged as a priority search area, but the only recent possible lead on the species’ whereabouts has been from Cambodia. If the species is found in Cambodia, and it only proves to be a non-breeding area, such a finding will nonetheless raise enormous publicity and reinvigorate the search for the species’ breeding grounds, which has currently largely been given up on.



Searching for the Critically Endangered White-eyed River-

martin in Cambodia



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The rare and enigmatic White-eared Night Heron Gorsachius magnificus known only from China and Vietnam has been found in northern Vietnam by a team from BirdLife International Vietnam Programme and the National Museum of Nature, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Between February and April the BirdLife and National Museum of Nature team is spending six weeks surveying sites in northern Vietnam for the White-eared Night Heron, a globally Endangered species which breeds in south-east China and for which there are just two previous records from Vietnam. Following a poster campaign offering a reward for information on the species, the team traveled to Xuan Lac Commune in Bac Kan Province, the area from where an earl ier BirdLife team recorded the species in April 2001.

On 4th March, the team received information that a White-eared Night Heron had been seen regularly a long the river just south of Ban O. The following evening, the bird, a male, was heard call ing at dusk from trees near the river before flying away from its roost down the valley to feed. The bird was seen again on 7th March. The team was told that a pair had bred in the area in 2007, although the juveniles were subsequently collected for food. A female bird shot this year is said to have contained four eggs.

On 11th March a different individual was heard call ing at dusk near the hamlet of Coc Toc, just inside Ba Be National Park. The bird was seen to fly away from its roosting site to feed in an area of smal l ponds and fields. The two sites are 8 km apart and both are at lower alti tudes (150-

200m) than is usual in China. These discoveries represent the third and fourth records for Vietnam and indica te that a small breeding population exists in Bac Kan Province. The second phase of the survey, in Bac Giang Province, starts on March 17th.

“The recent records in Bac Kan Province are very important as it is the first time this species was confirmed as a breeding resident in Vietnam. Because of this species’ rarity, Ba Be is more el igible to be designated under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands,” said Nguyen Duc Tu, BirdLife’s Project Coordinator. This project is funded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) the BirdLife Partner in the United Kingdom and the Oriental Bird Club.

Nguyen Duc Tu Wetlands Officer,

BirdLife International Vietnam Programme

White-eared Night Heron rediscovered in Vietnam



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Publications The historical and current status of Pink-headed Duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea in Myanmar

Andrew W. Tordoff , Tim Appleton, Jonathan C. Eames, Karin Eberhardt, Htin Hla, Khin Ma Ma Thwin, Sao Myo Zaw, Saw Moses and Sein Myo Aung

Bird Conservation International (2008), 18:38-52 Cambridge University Press

Abstract

Pink-headed Duck Rhodonessa caryophyllacea is a Critical ly Endangered species that has not been confirmed in the wild since 1948–1949. Historical records of the species are concentrated in India, a lthough there are a lso a few from Myanmar. Between 2003 and 2005, BirdLife International and the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA) conducted a series of field surveys of wetland habitats in the lowlands of Kachin state, an area with a cluster of historical records of the species. These were the first targeted efforts to assess the status of the species in Myanmar. These surveys were complemented by reviews of museum specimens and l i terature relating to the species in Myanmar. Two specimen records represent very strong evidence that the species occurred in Myanmar historically, a lthough they shed l i ttle l ight on its seasonal status in the country. The surveys conducted by BirdLife International and BANCA were unable to confirm the continued occurrence of Pink-headed Duck in Myanmar. However, they did generate a l imited amount of equivocal direct evidence, most notably two possible but unconfirmed sightings. There are several reasons for believing that the species may sti l l persist in the lowlands of Kachin state and, perhaps, elsewhere in Myanmar. Shyness, combined with rarity, possible nocturnal habits and the impenetrabil i ty of its habitats, means that the species tended to be under-recorded historically, and may continue to be so currently. Further surveys are required to confirm th is.

Species-level changes proposed for Asian birds

Nigel J. Collar and John D. Pilgrim

Birding ASIA (2007), 8:14-30 Oriental Bird Club

In this article the authors summarize avian taxonomic changes that have been proposed in the l iterature in the years 2005 and 2006.



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Book reviews

Birds of Tam Dao: Vietnam’s Natural

Treasure

Mekki Sala h, 2008. Van Hoa - Thong Tin 142 pages, colour photographs. ISBN - 5-077-04362-4

Mekki Salah is a man of many ta lents – formerly an Algerian diplomat and restaurant owner, he is now a hotel ier and bird photographer. His most recent achievement has been to produce this resplendent new book on his passion; the birds of Tam Dao National Park in northern Vietnam. Mekki took al l the glossy full-colour photographs of more than one hundred species in this book, over his last seven years in Tam Dao. Anyone who has spent time birdwatching in Tam Dao, often shrouded in fog or drenched by rain, wil l know what a remarkable achievement it has been for him to capture so many of the bird species of the park on fi lm. With his photos, he effectively conveys the wonder of Tam Dao’s wildlife and scenery. With the snippets of text about individual bird species that have caught his attention, his infectious enthusiasm for this specia l place is brought to life.

As Jonathan Eames, Programme Manager of BirdLife International in Indochina, stresses in his foreword to the book, Tam Dao is a park under siege. Despite considerable donor support, hunting and il legal infrastructure and inappropriate infrastructure projects have continued in the park (see previous issues of the Babbler). Mekki h as long been an advocate for conservation of the park and the well-deserved success of this new book, with the first edition already almost sold out but a second edition in planning, suggests that his message is final ly reaching a much wider audience. Let us al l hope that he achieves his a im and Tam Dao’s biodiversity l ives on in more than just the pages of this book.



A Field Guide to the Mammals of South East

Asia

Charles M Francis. 2008. New Holland. 392 pages, colour plates, distribution maps. ISBN-13: 9781845377359

South-East Asia is one of the richest parts of the world in terms of mammals, with species new to science sti l l being described on a regular basis. The first comprehensive guide to the mammals of this region, "A Field Guide to the Mammals of South-East Asia" covers a l l the mammals recorded from mainland South-East Asia, from Myanmar through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and south to Malaysia. A detailed account with key identification characteristics, habitat and behavior is included for each species, from large mammals such as big cats, the elephant, rhinoceroses and cetaceans, through bears, langurs and badgers, to bats, flying-foxes and rodents. Detailed l ine drawings amplify details of anatomy and other aspects. Seventy-two magnif icent specia l ly commissioned colour plates by top wildlife artists show nearly 500 major species, and thumbnail maps give information on distribution.

http://www.nhbs.com, 21 March 2008



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Rare Birds Yearbook 2008

Edited by Erik Hirschfeld. Mag Dig Media Ltd. 2008. 273 pages, colour photographs, maps. ISBN-13: 9780955260735.

The vision of the Rare Birds Yearbook is to improve the chances of survival of the world's most threatened birds in two ways. Its primary purpose is to describe the situation of the 189 Critical ly Endangered Species in a comprehensible and popular way. The Rare Birds Yearbook should be equally engaging for dedicated ornithologists and birders, and for general readers. In the book, the spotl ight has been placed on the often-dramatic circumstances, which have pushed a large number of species to the brink of extinction. But it a lso highlights the good examples, cases where active commitment and hard work have improved the bird's prospects. The second way the Rare Birds Yearbook improves the chances of survival for this species is by raising funds for BirdLife International, donating £4.00 for each book sold. The main part of the book is a directory of the 189 critical ly endangered species with history, the latest information on the status of the species, wha t measures are being taken to protect them, and more than 500 photos, paintings and maps. Photographers from all over the world have

contributed with often unique images of these rarely encountered species. The book also contains a number of special ly written feature articles on issues related to threatened birds such as climate change, the people who find rare birds, and ecotourism. The book also has sections of statistics and lists, a directory of regional organizations and commercial bird tour companies arranging travel to see critica l ly endangered birds, and much more.


Life in the Valley of Death

The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold,

and Greed

Alan Rabinowitz. Island Press. 2008. 230 pages, i l lustrations. ISBN-13: 9781597261296

Alan Rabinowitz’s la test book, “Life in the Valley of Death,” describes the controversia l efforts of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to establish the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Burma’s Kachin State. In 1993, WCS became the first international non-governmental organization to establish a project inside Burma. Rabinowitz is the executive director of the New York-based organization’s Science and Exploration Program.

The book offers readers a rare look at how large-scale conservation programs unfold in Burma, where efforts involve cooperation among mili tary officia ls, ethnic army commanders, dedicated local staff , foreign nature conservationists and local vi l lagers. Instead of opening a window onto the Burmese regime’s decision-making process and the country’s complex environmental politics, however, the book strays far

too often into Rabinowitz’s personal struggles. Passages detail ing the author’s childhood speech impediment, which he rose above by turning to animals as an escape, his struggling marriage and his diagnosis with cancer, add little to readers’ understanding of Burma’s environmental issues.

The reader can only wish that Rabinowitz had focused more on his hard-working Burmese colleagues, the poor vil lagers dealing with new hunting and access regulations, and the junta leaders and government ministers who ultimately made the f inal decisions. Giving a voice to these groups, which are either too marginalized to be heard or too powerful to gain access to, would have helped to give a clearer picture of the state of environmental governance in Burma.



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Unfortunately, the book also lacks insight into Burma’s culture and politics and says li ttle about the diverse ethnic minorities who inhabit the Hukawng Valley. Given Rabinowitz’s privileged access to this restricted area of the country, it is a pity that he didn’t reflect more on the socio-cultural factors of his conservation work. One exception is his brief description of the fascinating religious beliefs of the Naga regarding tigers.

Rabinowitz’s cla im that the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve represents “a pivotal conservation model for our time” demands closer inspection. Rabinowitz now eschews the outdated “people-less” approach to conservation in Burma that had earl ier earned him and WCS-Burma much criticism: “I would be courting fa i lure if I did not consider the l ives and livelihoods of the local people who l ive with that wildlife.” But some readers wil l remain skeptical about the abil i ty of the WCS to put i ts newly branded rhetoric into practice.

Although it is commendable that WCS has managed to get the Burmese regime and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)—which controls part of the valley, with headquarters at Aung Leuk—talking about conservation, i t is doubtful that a multi-stakeholder approach is possible in Burma. For example, the park got the go-ah ead from the government before the KIA was properly consulted. When Rabinowitz tried to get the KIA to sign off on the reserve, he did so without tel l ing them about new restrictions that would be placed on their territory and then tried to convince them that it would ultimately help to “preserve their land and their cultural heritage.” When the KIA continued to hesitate, the regime’s northern commander simply told them that they “had to accept the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve.” Thus the world’s largest tiger reserve—paraded by WCS-Burma as a new model of conservation—was established.

Another significant issue is the relationship between the establishment of the tiger reserve and the increasing mili tarization of the area. Rabinowitz denies that WCS is directly a iding increased mili tarization in nature parks in Burma. But WCS—through its repeated meetings with mili tary officia ls—has inadvertently raised the profile of specif ic high biodiversity areas as a new resource-rich territory for the mili tary to exploit.

Despite Rabinowitz’s denial, he notes that there are now more Burmese mili tary bases being established along the Ledo Road through the Hukawng Valley, more mili tary activities around Tanai, and increased mili tary presence in Naga areas in the valley. He is forced to admit that “clearly the mili tary is tightening its grip on the area.”

A further sign of the regime’s growing hold on the region was the introduction of Burma’s first wildlife police task force, created specif ical ly for the tiger reserve and subsidized by WCS. Interestingly, this was recommended by former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, the “most powerful a l ly [the WCS has] ever had for the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve.” Rabinowitz’s Burmese colleagues do not, however, share his enthusiasm for housing Burmese police in the reserve, as they know too well that “the police wil l take advantage of the situation in any way possible.”

Although Rabinowitz has done an admirable job of communicating to the regime the importance of protecting the Hukawng Valley from the impact of gold mining and plantation development, the measures being taken to preserve this awesome cultural and ecological landscape are perhaps too little, too late.

The book ends seemingly unfinished, leaving a fragile tiger reserve being squared off into gold-mining concessions, plantations and road upgrades, managed only by WCS and Burma’s mercurial mil i tary rulers.

Zao Noem, The Irawaddy, Vol. 16: 3 March 2008



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Forest Environments in the Mekong River

Basin

Edited by H Sawada, M Araki, N.A Chappell, J.V La Frankie and A Shimizu. Springer-Verlag 2008. 299 pages, 100 i l lustrations. ISBN-13: 9784431465003

Until now, there have been few research works on Cambodian forests because of the long period of civil war, which restricted forest researchers and surveyors in the area. This book presents many new topics of research in forests such as those of Cambodia, which were unavailable unti l now.

One of the most attractive features of the volume is that i t fi l ls the gaps in data about the world's forests. The book consists of three parts: forest hydrology, forest management, and forest ecology, designed to provide an understanding of continental river basins. The latest data are presented here, as derived from advanced observation systems for atmospheric flux, ground water level, soil water movement, and stable isotope variation as well as remote sensing, which are used for continuous measurements of forest environments.


Keeping Asia’s Spoonbills Airborne: Proceedings of the International

Symposium on research and Conservation

of the Black-faced Spoonbill, Hong Kong

16-18 January 2006.

Hong Kong Birdwatching Society 2007. Hong Kong Birdwatching Society, Hong Kong.

The Globally Threatened Black-faced Spoonbil l is a flagship species for water bird and wetland conservation across the Asia region. Its population is over 1,700 according to the international census in January 2007 and it is sti l l considered Globally Endangered. To concentrate the effort to protect the Black-faced Spoonbil l and their natural environment, the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, the BirdLife International aff i l ia te, organized a 3-day international symposium between 16 to 18 January 2006. The main goal of the symposium was to ensure long-term future of Black-faced Spoonbil ls and their habitats to prevent its extinction. We reviewed the research and conservation effort in Hong

Kong and in east Asia and identified measures for future action, as well as to strengthen the existing network and to identify a wider partnership for Black-faced Spoonbil l Conservation. With the support from BirdLife Asia Division, the symposium also reviewed the Action Plan for future conservation of the Black-faced Spoonbil l. About 50 spoonbil l experts and conservationist from Korea, Japan, mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Vietnam and the Netherlands participated in this symposium.

CHEUNG Ho-fai Chairman, Hong Kong Bird Watching Society

Above we have reproduced an edited version of the Foreword from the report.

Ed.



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Staff news During this period we have seen three staff leave and have employed several short-term consultants. Le Quynh Giao the Administrative Officer in the Hanoi office left us at the end of March. Our driver in Cambodia, Sok Phally a lso left us to start his own business. Prach Pich Phirun, seconded from the Forestry Administration to our Cambodia programme returned to his post. We would like to thank them for their hard work and wish them well for the future.

Karin Eberhardt once again worked for us as a consultant, this time bravely venturing beyond Myanmar to Cambodia. In Cambodia we engaged Richard Lloyd and Seth Theng on a component of the Biodiversi ty Conservation Corridors Initiative we implemented for WWF in Lomphat Wildlife Sanctuary (more on th a t project in the next issue).

Vietnam Programme

Tran Thi Phuong Lan

Born in Hanoi in 1974, Tran Thi Phuong Lan graduated from Hanoi Banking Institute with Bachelor of Economy, major in Finance and Accounting in 1997. Following that she worked for the United Nations Population Fund Program in Vietnam as a Financial Officer. Lan recently joined the BirdLife International in Indochina – Vietnam Programme Team as a accountant. She is currently dedicated to working on the Asian Development Bank funded project entitled Initiating a Local-Stakeholder-Based Monitoring Programme for the BCI Priority Sites. “I realize that I’m lucky having the opportunity to work in a friendly and fresh working environment at BirdLife. I hope to further develop and improve my skil ls so that I could contribute more to the development of BirdLife in the future. Lan is married and lives in Hanoi.

Simon Mahood

For the past eighteen months, Simon has been working for BirdLife International, Cambridge, in a number of different contracts. During this time he worked on a species range mapping project, co-ordianted their work on avian flu, and most recently, completed the 2008 Red List Update Assessment. Since the inception of the Red List, Simon had always wanted to work at BirdLife, and so taking part in the 2008 update was a small l i fe-time goal achieved. Prior to working at BirdLife, Simon dabbled in ecological impact assessment, and achieved a distinction in the Applied Ecology and Conservation MSc at the University of East Anglia. His dissertation, which examined the novel avifaunal assemblage of the cattle ranchlands in the Brazil ian Amazon, was the first study to fully investigate the birds of this habitat.

Simon has had an interest in birds for as long as he can remember, and this has manifested itself in a passion for birding, particularly in the tropics. Unti l his university days much of this was done vicariously, as a ch i ld he read the Where to watch birds in… series and trip reports in the same way that most people read novels.



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Since then he has enjoyed birding in many countries throughout the world, often combining this with assisting scientists with their studies. Much of his time was spent in South America, where he a lso worked as a guide in a lodge in the Brazil ian Amazon for four months. Working on the Red List re-ignited Simon’s passion for conservation, and this provided the impetus for his move to Vietnam. There he hopes that by working as Conservation Advisor to a number of BirdLife’s projects, he can contribute to species and habitat conservation in the region in a way that he could not do from an office in Cambridge.

Cambodia Programme

Hugh Wright

Hugh Wright is currently studying for an MSc in Applied Ecology and Conservation at the University of East Anglia, UK. The course encourages fieldwork abroad and members of staff a t the university have a strong commitment to the research of endangered birds in South-East Asia. Prior to this course Hugh studied for a BA degree in Geography at St. John’s College, University of Oxford, achieving the h ighest overall mark of his year. Hugh’s undergraduate dissertation, ‘The avifaunal biogeography of the Blackdown Hills, England: a comparative evaluation of incidence functions’ studied the influence of landscape habitat fragmentation on woodland birds. This work has recently been awarded the prestigious 2008 Alfred Steers Prize by the Royal Geographical Society and Institute of British Geographers.

Hugh has had a passion for birds since childhood, which he has expressed through his hobby as a birdwatcher. In his home county in England, he greatly enjoys visiting the nationally important wetlands of the Somerset Levels, and the Exe Estuary Ramsar site in Devon. Hugh has a lso displayed his enthusiasm through voluntary conservation work. As well as becoming involved in practical conservation, Hugh was elected onto the teenage council of the RSPB where he contributed to

RSPB publications and took guided walks at the British Bird Fair, amongst other locations.

Outside of academic work Hugh has found the time to seek work experience with BirdLife International science, policy and information department, Cambridge, and Natural England Somerset Team. During the summer of 2007 he a lso trained as an ecological consultant doing a mixture of habitat, bird, bat and repti le surveys and translocations. Hugh now hopes to make a signif icant contribution to the conservation of a critica l ly endangered species by researching White-shouldered Ibis in northern Cambodia. His current MSc research and forthcoming PhD project on this species wil l significantly improve the scientific knowledge of this water bird and hopefully bring it a step closer to safety.

Hugh is not strictly speaking a member of staff but the research project on which he works forms part of collaboration between BirdLife and the University of East Anglia, and we are supporting his research costs.

Ed.



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Profile

Dr. Alexander L. Monastyrskii is the world’s leading authority on the butterfly fauna of Vietnam. In th is profile we look at the career and life of this well-known and dedicated scientist who has worked closely with BirdLife in Vietnam over many years and who has been responsible for the discovery and description of many species new for science.

Fifty-three years old Alexander Monastyrskii, or Sasha to h is friends, has made Hanoi his home for the last 17 years. Born in Russia, Sasha graduated from the plant protection department of the Moscow Agricultural University in 1976. From then until 1989 he researched microbiological techniques for controll ing Lepidoptera pests. In 1983 he went on to defend his doctoral dissertation on the mass-rearing of moths using artif icia l diets and the maintenance of Lepidoptera colonies. S ince 1989 Sasha has worked at the Vietnam-Russia Research Tropical Centre (VRTC) in Hanoi. From 1990 to 1996 he studied on integrated rice-pest management techniques. Since 1995 he has been Head of the Ecology Department at VRTC.

In 1994 Sasha began his long-term study of butterfly fauna of Vietnam. This work has included making a new inventory of the butterfly fauna, the collection of data on butterf ly ecology and biology, including habitat use and distribution. The work has a lso involved the study of butterfl ies as indicators of the status and condition of tropical forest ecosystems and the biogeographic origins of the ecosystems.

One of the most important aspects of this work are his taxonomic studies, involving the description of new butterfly taxa. During for more than 13 years of study Sasha has visited and collected data on the Vietnamese butterfly fauna at more than 40 sites across the country. Sasha has participated in a number of scientif ic expeditions, organized by the VRTC, BirdLife International and WWF Indochina Programmes. During the 1990s Sasha participated in several BirdLife and Forest Inventory and Planning Institute expeditions to li ttle known or unexplored parts of Vietnam, particularly in the central highlands. This programme of collecting resulted in Sasha f inding and collecting about 100 butterfly taxa new for science. He has personally authored or co-authored type descriptions of more than 60 butterfly taxa new for science. Sasha has been responsible for adding 50% of a l l butterfly species to the national l ist. He is an author of more than 60 scientific reports and papers. Most recently Sasha has begun the drafting and publication of a monograph of the butterfl ies of Vietnam. Of volume 2 covering the Papil ionidae, world Lepidoptera authority Dick Vane Wright commented, “For the first time, with this outstanding new book, we will have a coherent description of the swallowtails of Vietnam.” This series, with two volumes already published will occupy Sasha’s time for several more years.

Sasha collecting in Na Hang Nature Reserve, July 2002. Photo: J C Eames

the babbler 24 and 25

Documents

xuan thuy national park

cambodia programme office

birdlife secretariat

cambodia telfax

birdlife involvement

chu yang sin national

national parks

vietnam programme office