her
SundarBans Bangladesh
By Dr.Fourkan Ali
The Bangladesh and Indian
Sundarbans, a UNES CO World Heritage Site, is the largest mangrove forest in
the world and has been identified as a tiger ‘Source Site’. On the Bangladesh side, the
Sundarbans is classified as a Reserved Forest and totals
6,017 km2, of which
4,267 km2
is
terrestrial habitat, and the remainder a network of waterways. The area includes
three wildlife sanctuaries: Sundarbans West, Sundarbans South, and Sundarbans
East. The Sundarbans ecosystem contains perhaps one of the most unique tiger
populations in the world. While the tigers are classified as the Bengal subspecies,
they are considerably smaller and survive in a very unusual habitat – a
mangrove swamp that is flooded by tides twice daily. In this habitat tigers
have been known to rest in trees when the ground below is flooded. The
Sundarbans is also unique in that more people are killed by tigers there each
year than anywhere else in the world. While people do not live inside the
Sundarbans forests, tens of thousands enter the forest each day to collect
honey and to fish. Tigers kill people as they crouch on the ground collecting
honey or as they paddle their small boats along narrow waterways. In 2014,
Panthera partnered with Wild Team to work with the Bangladesh Forest Department
to protect tigers starting in the West Sanctuary on the Indian border. First
steps include training and equipping forest guards, introducing SMART , and
monitoring tigers and prey. That the sanctuary is a system of islands presents
a unique set of challenges and opportunities, but because it is accessible only
by water and no human access is legally allowed, it should ultimately be easier
to protect.
The
Vision
The
tiger is one of the most iconic animals on earth. They are a symbol
of
everything that is wild and they personify our natural world. It is hard
to
imagine that over a century ago, more than 100,000 tigers roamed the
forests
of Asia and that today, fewer than 3,200 remain. At
this rate, wild
tigers
are faced with a future of being confined to a small number of isolated
reserves
and as captive animals, existing in zoos and private holdings.
In
2006 the world’s leading tiger experts came together in India
to resolve
why
tiger numbers were continuing to plummet, despite years of seemingly
robust
efforts to save them. Led by Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, Panthera’s CEO ,
and
Michael Cline, a founding Director of Panthera’s Board, the group determined
that
tiger conservation activities were too expansive, suffered from
limited
financial and human resources, and projects were failing to monitor
the
effectiveness of their actions. These issues diluted conservation efforts
and
prevented them from having sufficient impact to stem the tiger’s decline.
To
be effective, conservationists needed a razor-sharp focus on activities that
would
mitigate the most critical threats to tigers. We had to “stop the bleeding”,
and
thus the Tigers Forever strategy was born.
Based
on a consensus from tiger biologists, Tigers Forever makes the
unique
commitment to increase tiger numbers by at least 50% at key sites
over
a 10-year period by mitigating the most critical threats to tigers, and
improving
the effectiveness of conservation actions. Utilizing rigorous
science
to maintain constant vigilance on conservation efforts and on the
tiger
itself, this transformative program is the first of its kind to guarantee
success
– the recovery of the wild tiger.
The
Problem
Tigers
have undergone a severe range collapse and today, the
main
breeding populations representing 70% of the world’s
population
occupy only 0.5% of their historic range. The decline
is
being driven by the following threats:
•
Wild tigers are directly hunted, primarily to meet the demands
of
illegal wildlife trade, but also because local people kill tigers
out
of fear for themselves, and to protect their livestock.
•
Tiger prey, such as deer and wild pigs, has been over hunted,
making
it difficult for tigers to survive and reproduce. This
lack
of wild prey also increases the chances of human-tiger
conflict
because it forces tigers to prey on livestock.
•
Tiger habitats are being destroyed and fragmented leaving
only
isolated areas that are insufficient for the long term survival
of
significant populations.
Tigers
Forever specifically addresses these core threats and is
therefore
the best, the most practical, and hands-on approach
in
securing a future for wild tigers. The state of wild tigers is
too
precarious to engage in a suite of diffuse conservation activities
across
vast landscapes. The priority must be to actively
protect
core tiger populations at sites that can provide longterm
refuge.
This has been the Tigers Forever mission since its
inception
in 2006.
The
Solution
The
Tigers Forever (TF ) strategy was originally developed
by
Panthera in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation
Society
(WCS). However, Panthera’s TF Program now includes
a
suite of international and local non-government and
government
partners.
The
Tigers Forever strategy (box 1), available in a separate
document
called, “The Tigers Forever Protocol” which can
be
downloaded at www.tigersforever.org/resources, begins
with
identifying sites that:
•
Are critical to the long-term future of wild tigers,
•
Are large enough to contain a viable breeding population,
•
Have high potential to increase numbers of tigers and their
prey,
•
Have strong governmental support, and
•
Have existing or potential local capacity to enforce wildlife
laws
and collect rigorous scientific data.
At
these sites, resources are focused on the mitigation and
elimination
of human threats to the tiger’s survival. Tiger
and
prey populations are monitored directly to ensure that
these
efforts are effective – increasing the numbers of tigers
and
the prey on which they depend.
Tigers
Forever is mitigating the direct killing of tigers and
their
prey by:
•
Enhancing law enforcement patrols through rigorous training
and
monitoring of park guards and patrol teams in their
efforts
to protect tigers, their prey and habitat in and around
core
areas.
•
Using informant networks to investigate and apprehend
poachers
and others who conduct illegal activities.
•
Using cutting-edge technology such as thermal imagers that
can
“see” poachers through dense forest, and “PoacherCams”
(see
Box
2) developed by Panthera.
•
Training of government and NGO staff to use the best scientific
methods
to collect data on tigers, prey, and the threatsthat they face.
measuring
success
Since
2006, Panthera has hosted annual reviews to assess
progress,
and shift actions if needed, in order to reach our
defined
goals. These reviews are vital, allowing teams to
share
lessons learned, determine solutions for new challenges
and
to ensure that the sites are on track to achieve their ultimate
goal
of increased tiger numbers.
Panthera
also develops new technologies and methodologies
where
these are required to better monitor tiger populations
and
the threats that we target. Since the inception of
Tigers
Forever, Panthera has created and disseminated the
world’s
leading research camera trap (the PantheraCam), a
critical
tool in monitoring tiger and prey populations (Box
2).
Panthera
has also supported the widespread implementation
of
a threats data collection system designed to inform ranger
patrols
(MIST and more recently, SMART ) to improve law
enforcement
across tiger sites (Box
3), and has supported the
development
of new methodologies that measure the distribution
and
abundance of low-density populations throughout
core
sites. We have also developed an innovative partnership
with
the American Museum of
Natural History
(AM NH) in
New York
City, where Panthera now helps to host the largest
felid genetics
database in the world (Box 4).
BOX 1:
The
Tigers Forever St rat egy
The
steps involved in implementing the Tigers Forever
strategy
are:
1) I
dentify a site where potential exists to increase tiger and
prey
numbers.
a. D
elineation of a smaller, core area (500 – 5,000 km2,
depending
on habitat productivity) that can realistically be
protected
given financial and human resources and existing
or
potential government-buy in.
b. T
he core area must be embedded within a larger landscape
that
can hold at least 50 breeding females, and a
growing
and dispersing number of tigers.
2) C
onduct a threats assessment to determine where and how
to
focus efforts on the most critical threats.
3)
Scientifically assess current status of tiger and prey numbers
and
determine population baselines utilizing camera
trapping
and the most advanced statistical techniques for
abundance
estimation.
4) D
esign and implement interventions that will mitigate key
threats,
such as:
a. I
ncrease number and effectiveness of patrol teams and
park
guards.
b.
Confiscate weapons and strictly enforce wildlife laws.
5) A nnually
monitor impacts of threat mitigation, such as:
a. N umbers of
arrests made.
b. Numbers of
weapons or snares confiscated.
c. N umbers of
encounters with poachers.
6) Scientifically
monitor tiger and prey populations ideally on
an annual or
biannual basis.
7) O nce the core
area is secured, identify new core areas
within the larger
landscape.
8) B egin to
address long-term, less immediate threats, and
habitat
connectivity.
Box 2:
Panthera’s
Ca mera Trap
Camera
trapping is a widely used, non-invasive method to survey
and
determine the presence and abundance of tigers, and
other
elusive, low-density species. Camera traps are equipped
with
infrared sensors that automatically fire when an animal
crosses
the beam. Biologists strategically place camera-traps
in
pairs in wild habitats to survey wildlife, including wild cats.
When
an animal breaks the infrared sensor beam, the paired
cameras
take a picture of both flanks. Tigers have uniquely
identifying
marks – stripes, like a fingerprint – that can be used
to
identify individuals. By tallying the number of individuals
photographed
and the number of times each individual is photographed,
scientists
can apply sophisticated ‘mark-recapture’
statistics
that yield accurate estimates of the total density of the
species
in the area.
Historically,
the mass market for remote-triggered cameras lay
largely
with the North American hunting community, leading
to
unsatisfactory camera performance when deployed for
biological
surveys. With these limitations in mind, Panthera
developed
a camera-trap optimized to meet the needs of wild
cat
research and conservation. Since its inception, the “PantheraCam
has undergone five
iterations, with each new version
improving upon the
previous. To date, more than 4,500 of the
4th generation
units, known as the “V4”, have been deployed
across more than
25 field sites in 16 countries. This device has
been acclaimed by
tiger experts as “the best camera trap they
have ever used.”
Panthera’s PoacherCa m
Looking
forward, the fifth generation PantheraCam (V5) will
incorporate
numerous hardware enhancements. Most significantly,
the V5
will feature a wireless version (V5W) that allows
for
data communication over a cellular GSM network. When
deployed
in areas with GSM access, the system will allow immediate
transfer
of certain images, for example, to detect illegal
entry
of people in a protected area. With this technology, a
poaching
patrol leader can receive photos of poachers in real
time,
enabling an immediate targeted response to a potential
poaching
threat. V5W prototypes have been tested in Sumatra,
Indonesia and Malaysia, and
production is expected to be
underway
by summer 2014.
What Ma
kes Panthera’s Tigers Forever
Program
Unique?
Tigers
Forever is the only focused, long-term program, coordinated
among
a suite of partners so that numerous groups are
following
the same approach, to save tigers throughout their
entire
range, relying on rigorous scientific methods and protocols,
and
adaptive management to achieve this objective. While
there
are many activities that can fall under the umbrella of tiger
conservation,
Tigers Forever is unique in its long-term focus on
the
most critical threats to tigers and the specific actions required
to
eliminate these threats.
Now
in our ninth year, Tigers Forever is at the forefront of tiger
conservation
and is gathering invaluable data to help better shape
our
future actions. Already having had measureable success at key
tiger
sites, the ultimate success of our efforts will be judged by our
ability
to reach our goals and measure our impact on conserving
tigers
throughout the species’ entire Asian range.
•
FOCUS: We strategically zero in on the most critical and immediate
threats
to tiger survival.
•
ACCOUNTABILITY: We set clear and measurable goals for increasing
tiger
numbers, and we hold ourselves accountable in meeting
these
goals. Every Tigers Forever site is supported by funds,
equipment,
and scientific expertise to measure and monitor tiger
numbers,
prey numbers, and threat levels.
•
RESULTS DRIVEN: Realizing that we must work with both government
and
private partners, often with other agendas in mind,
the
single most important goal and the only metric that ultimately
counts
for Tigers Forever is to increase tiger numbers at key sitesthroughout
their range.
Box 3:
Monitoring
Human Eff ort
A key
component of the
Tigers
Forever strategy is
law
enforcement. Tigers
and
their prey need
well-trained
‘boots on
the
ground’ conducting
consistent
patrols to
effectively
protect tigers
from
poachers and other
threats.
However, just
having
people on the ground is not enough. Patrols
need
to be undertaken in a coordinated manner
and
patrol effort needs to be monitored to ensure
actions
are being undertaken. SMART (Spatial
Monitoring
and Reporting Tool) is a highly accessible
system
used to measure, evaluate, and improve
the
effectiveness of wildlife law enforcement
patrols.
SMART helps protected area managers
to
monitor their teams by producing standardized
performance
reports. It provides a computer-based
platform
to record signs and activity of wildlife,
maps
the distribution of illegal activities (such as
poaching,
logging, snares, etc), tracks the outcome
of
patrol efforts (number of arrests, snares removed,
guns
confiscated), and maps patrol coverage. In
areas
where SMART has been employed, we have
seen
the decline of poaching activities in core tiger
areas
and a concurrent increase in morale of park
guards
as they see tangible results of their efforts
for
the first time.
Measuring
impacts is a key component of the Tigers Forever strategy. In order to
determine if our interventions are reducing
threats and
ultimately increasing tigers and their prey, monitoring has to occur at all
three levels – from interventions, to addressing
threats, to
achieving conservation targets.
Box 4:
The
World’s La rgest Genetic Data base
for
Felids
Panthera
partnered with the American Museum of
Natural History
(AMNH
) in 2006 to develop a state-of-the-art feline genetics
laboratory
and the largest genetic database for felids in the world.
AMNH
’s Comparative Genomics Laboratory uses the latest techniques
in
conservation biology to provide individual genotyping,
collaborative
research on genetic threats, collaborative research
in
molecular ecology, technical training, sample and data archiving,
and a
web based central source for related information
relevant
to global felid conservation. As part of the Tigers Forever
strategy,
AMMH analyzes genetic data (scat and hair) at no cost
to
tiger sites across Asia, and are readily
available to help others
intent
on using genetics to aid conservation decisions.
How We
Measure Success?
Framework
for Monitoring Effectiveness
Interventions
Threats Conservation target
the
tigers forever Footp rint
Since
2006, the Tigers Forever strategy has been developed with
input
from nine sites across Asia.
It is currently being implemented
in
14 sites. Some highlights include:
Historical
Sites
At
its inception in 2006, Tigers Forever included sites in
Cambodia, China, Russia,
Lao PDR , Myanmar,
and Huai Kha
Khaeng
Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand,
while the work of WCS
and
the Indian Government in the Western Ghats
largely
informed
the Tigers Forever Protocol. In some of these sites, we
discontinued
support because tigers were lost (Cambodia)
or became
so
few and isolated (China,
Lao PDR , and Myanmar)
that
breeding
was absent and there was little hope of recovery. We left
Russia
because the political climate made it difficult for foreign
NGOs
to work and standards of data transparency were not met.
However, Huai
Kha Khaeng (HKK ) in Thailand is one of the
most
successful Tigers Forever sites, with excellent enforcement
and monitoring
programs carried out by the Thai government
with support
from WCS. The region is in the advanced stages of
the Tigers
Forever process - with a stable or possibly increasing
population in
HKK , Panthera works to expand this source population
by supporting
Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary to the south.
This is how
Tigers Forever works, when a source site is secure, it
is time to
expand that site and secure new core populations connected
to that site
in the surrounding landscape.
Endau-Rompin-Johor
Malaysia
The
Endau-Rompin-Johor core site, which began in 2007,
is the longest
running site implementing Tigers Forever, and
has shown
significant results in a short period of time. This
site was
originally selected because it was one of three priority
areas for
tigers outlined in the Malaysian National Tiger
Action Plan,
and had strong political support. In 2008, few
staff were on
the ground, and baseline measures of tigers,
prey and
threats were not available. An initial period of ad
hoc camera trapping
quickly revealed two male tigers and one
female
occupying the northern half of this site. The following
year, an
innovative field technique using occupancy surveys
was developed
by the Tigers Forever technical team and
piloted in
this site. From this work, a robust index of relative
prey abundance
was obtained for the entire site, a valuable
baseline that
will validate the effectiveness of conservation
interventions
in years to come. In 2010-11 a tiger
population
estimate was
established for the entire core area. Collaborative
law
enforcement patrols were launched in 2009 and will
continue as
the project expands during the next few years.
On the ground,
this project grew from several individuals
to over 40
field staff in two years, many of whom are young
women, working
in harsh conditions to collect valuable
information on
threats, prey and tiger numbers. After these
successes in a
short time frame, the Government of Johor
was so
impressed with the Tigers Forever strategy that they
pledged RM
110, 000 (approximately $35,000) per year for
ten years, and
allocated six permanent staff to support these
conservation
efforts. The Malaysian Government has also
placed a ban
on all commercial hunting, including tiger prey
species,
throughout the whole province of Johor, and not one
hunting
license has been issued since April 2008.
This site was
a primary testing ground for Panthera’s new
camera traps
(see Box 2), and
Panthera will continue to outfit
this Tigers
Forever site with the necessary number of camera
traps to
closely monitor the whole site.Negara
central
Peninsular Malaysia
Among
potential source sites for tigers in Peninsular Malaysia,
Taman Negara National
Park is the largest. The park
consists of a
range of habitat types from lowland to montane
primary dipterocarp
forests up to 1,300 meters. Two
important
habitat
corridors, known as Linkage 1 (Sungai Yu) and
Linkage 7
(Kenyir), adjoin the western and northern borders
of Taman
Negara, respectively. These important habitat connections
consist of
regenerating selectively logged lowland and
hill
dipterocarp forests. The current project, which began in
2014, is
focused within Linkage 7 and part of Taman Negara
National Park.
This provisional ‘core area’ is bordered by
plantations in
the west, by a road and lake in the north, and
by major
rivers and ridges in the south east. Working with
the Malaysian
Government’s Department of Wildlife and
National Parks
(DW NP) and the conservation research group
Rimba, the
current project seeks to estimate the number of tigers
in this
transboundary Core Area and assess the feasibility
of its
long-term protection. Field teams comprised of DW NP
rangers,
researchers from Rimba, volunteers, and field assistants
are deploying
200
Panthera V4
camera traps
in a grid
spanning almost
600 km2. Preliminary
results are
expected in
August 2014.
Salakpra
Thailand
Created in
1965, the 898 km2
Salakpra
is Thailand’s first
wildlife
sanctuary. Its notable value at that time was its
assemblage of
large mammals, including tigers, barely 150
kilometers
from Bangkok. In 1980, the
Srinakarin Hydroelectric
dam was built
on the River Kwai, severing Salakpra
from the Erawan National
Park and inundating the
central
portion of southern WEF COM . This severely diminished
the ability of
tigers to utilize Salakpra. However,
Salakpra
remains connected to Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife
Sanctuary.
Huai Kha Khaeng, a priority tiger area, retains
the largest
breeding population of tigers in Southeast Asia
and is
considered a Panthera core population. The tiger
population in
Huai Kha Khaeng is stable and relatively
well protected
with abundant prey. Huai Kha Khaeng is
connected to
Salakpra through the Srisawat reserved forest
corridor.
Recently, this vital corridor area has been granted
protected area
status by the government of Thailand.
Protection of
this corridor will help to ensure that Salakpra
remains viable
tiger habitat.
Adequate
protection of
this
corridor will
allow
tigers from
Huai Kha
Khaeng to
disperse
south,
ensuring the
rapid recovery
of tigers
in Salakpra and
other
protected
areas in
Southern WEF COM .
Panthera
partnered
with ZSL -Thailand beginning in
2013 to monitor tigers
and their prey
in Salakpra. Future collaborations will include
the
strengthening of law enforcement efforts and the
expansion of
monitoring activities in Salakpra, the newly
protected
corridor and adjacent protected areas.
Indonesia
At
approximately
33,000 km2, the
Leuser-Ulu
Masen
Landscape
comprises
one of the
largest
contiguous
forest
blocks in Indonesia. The
landscape contains high biodiversity
and is home to
Sumatran tigers, elephants, rhinoceros and
orangutan. The
importance of the Leuser-Ulu Masen Landscape’s
biodiversity
has led to its inclusion as a UNES CO
Tropical
Cluster World Heritage Site, which also includes
Kerinci Seblat National
Park and Bukit Barisan Selatan National
Park, and is
currently classed as a Level 1 Tiger Conservation
Landscape. The
estimated tiger occupancy is 0.74
(±0.040).
Since 2012,
FFI -Indonesia Aceh Program
have been implementing
Panthera’s
Tigers Forever program in the 7,380 km2
Ulu Masen
section of the Leuser-Ulu Masen Global PriorityTiger Conservation Landscape.
This forest estate consists
of Lowland
(20.4%); hill (39.2%); submontane (29.2%) and
montane
(11.0%) forests. Within the 2011 provincial spatial
plan, the
entire Ulu Masen forest estate is designed as a ‘strategic
area’
consisting of Protected Forest and Nature
Reserve
(74%), Production Forest (12%), Other
Use Area (7%) and
Non-Forest
(7%). Critical threats to tigers are direct poaching
of both tigers
and their prey, and deforestation. However, the
average
deforestation rate in Ulu Masen (0.78%/yr) from 2005-
2010 was
considerably lower than the annual deforestation
rate for Sumatra (2.33%/yr).
To date, the partnership between
FFI -Indonesia
Aceh Program and Panthera has resulted in 1)
the completion
of the first ever Tigers Forever camera trap survey
for Ulu Masen,
2) the establishment of a local informant
network to
tackle illegal logging, 3) the establishment of Ulu
Masen as a
formal SMART pilot site, and 4) the establishment
of six
specialist units in each of the Ulu Masen districts
to tackle
tiger poaching and trade.
Little was
known about the status of the tiger population
in Gunung
Leuser National Park (GLNP) or in the vast
‘Leuser
Ecosystem’ in which the park lies, until surveys
began in 2007
as part of the Tigers Forever program.
Between 2007
and 2009, in collaboration
with the GLNP
and Leuser
International Foundation (LIF ), a landscapewide
occupancy
survey was conducted over the entire
Leuser
Ecosystem – a remarkable area spanning more than
27,000 km2. Analysis
showed that 62% of the landscape
was occupied
by tigers, with a population of around 100
individuals.
Using these data and other information, a core
site of
approximately 2,500 km2 was identified in the province
of North Sumatra. Since March
2010, teams began
intensive
biological monitoring using capture-recapture
camera
trapping in this new core area. As of October 2013,
camera
trapping efforts identified nine tigers roaming the
mountains of
the core area.
Landscapes as
vast and rugged as the Leuser Ecosystem
are a
challenge to protect from determined poachers. However,
the
WCS-Indonesia Program has established Wildlife
Crime Units
(WCU) throughout this landscape to combat
the threat of
tiger poaching and trade. Since 2007, in collaboration
with the
police and provincial wildlife authority
(BKSDA ),
eight
people
involved
in tiger
poaching
and trade
have been sent
to prison, and
an additional
11
cases are
still in
process.
In the Leuser
landscape the deliberate killing of tigers,
driven by fear
or in retaliation for livestock depredation,
is a major
threat to the population at large. In response
to this,
Human-Wildlife Conflict response units were
established in
2008 to respond to conflict incidents in the
Tigers Forever
core area and immediate surroundings. The
teams have
managed to respond to over 90% of reported
conflict
events since January 2008 and were able to reduce
the number of
tiger removals (i.e. known deaths/captures)
by 62% between
2007 and 2009. The threat posed by wire
snares, set
for prey but equally dangerous to tigers, remain
of great
concern and these are now the subject of concerted
law
enforcement efforts in Leuser. Located in west-central Sumatra, the 13,895 km2 Kerinci
Seblat
National Park (KS NP) is one of the largest protected
areas in Asia and is
considered to be a stronghold for many
large mammal
flagship species including the Sumatran tiger.
The KS NP lies
along the spine of the Barisan Mountain
Range and has
a wide range of habitat types, ranging from primary
lowland forest
to tropical sub-alpine forest that supports
high
biodiversity. The importance of KS NP’s biodiversity has
led to its
inclusion as a UNES CO Tropical Cluster World
Heritage Site,
which also includes Gunung Leuser National
Park in north Sumatra, and the
Bukit Barisan Selatan National
Park in south Sumatra. In 2008, it
was estimated
that KS NP
contained approximately 145 adult tigers, which
represents one
of the largest tiger populations in the world.
Consequently,
KS NP has been designated as a Level 1 Tiger
Conservation
Landscape. Despite its biological importance,
primary
threats across the national park include poaching
of tigers and
their prey, encroachment, pressure from transpark
infrastructure
development, and retaliation killing for
human-tiger
conflict. For nearly two decades Fauna and Flora
International
– Indonesia Programme
(FFI -IP ) and the KS NP
management
authority have been working to mitigate these
Located in the
central section of KS NP, the 828 km2 Tigers
Forever core
area comprises predominantly primary hill and
lowland hill
forest that are fully protected under Indonesian
Forestry Law.
Human activities, with the exception
of approved
research, are not permitted inside the national
park. This
affords greater legal capacity for the Kerinci Seblat
Tiger
Protection and Conservation operational units (Tiger
Protection
Conservation Units; TP CUs) and other government
agencies to
address illegal action in the core area. Since
2012, Panthera’s
Tigers Forever program has been working in
partnership
with FFI -IP and the KS NP management authority.
The main
objectives of this partnership are to reduce the
major threats
of poaching and habitat loss in the core area, and
monitor tiger
and tiger prey populations. Panthera provides
technical
equipment, scientific expertise and training. Since
April 2014,
FFI -IP has been implementing SMART in the
core area,
which will be critical for measuring, evaluating and
improving the
effectiveness of the TP CUs. KS NP also represents
the first
testing ground for Panthera’s new V5W PoacherCam
(see Box 2), where these
cameras will undoubtedly
prove to be a
valuable site security tool to assist the existing
law
enforcement efforts to combat poaching and other illegal
activities
within the core area. Located on the eastern coast of Sumatra, the 6,000 km2 Berbak-Sembilang
landscape
forms a large
block of contiguous swamp forest providing one of the last remaining wetland
ecosystems
available for tigers within southern Sumatra. This
landscape straddles the
provinces of
Jambi and South Sumatra and is dominated by Berbak
National Park (BNP)
and Sembilang
National Park (SNP), which cover a combined area of approximately 3,680
km2. BNP and SNP
contain a unique tiger habitat of mainly wetland forest types including
mangroves,
mixed peat and fresh water swamps. Ecologically the region is best known as a
Level I Tiger
Conservation Landscape, as well as for its migratory bird value, having been
established as
a globally recognized ‘flyways site’. However, despite its ecological
importance,
BNP and SNP
have been identified among one of the most threatened protected
areas in Sumatra. The
Zoological Society of London’s Indonesia Program identified critical
threats,
including lethal electric fences, poaching, forest fires and illegal logging.
Despite
these threats,
a previous camera trapping study in SNP captured video footage of a tigress
and her two
adolescent cubs, clearly showing evidence of successful breeding, and therefore
its potential
as a Tigers Forever site.
Since 2012,
Panthera’s Tigers Forever program has been implemented in Berbak-Sembilang
landscape in
partnership with ZSL - Indonesia with the aim
to establish Tiger Protection
and Patrol
Units and Wildlife conflict and crime teams, as well as monitor tiger and
tiger prey
populations using Panthera camera trapping protocols; define a core area for
tiger
conservation
in Berbak-Sembilang Landscape; and address the key threat of electric fences
identified to
tiger populations. In the southwestern tip of Sumatra at the end of
the Bukit
Barisan
Selatan mountain chain lies Tambling, a small 450 km2
park on a
peninsula projecting into the Sunda Strait. While
constituting
the southernmost contingent of the Bukit Barisan
Selatan
National Park (TNBBS ), Tambling has been privately
funded and
managed by Indonesian mogul Tomy Winata, since
1998. Tomy
Winata’s uncompromising attitude towards land
squatters,
creation of an independent patrol force and construction
of a guard
post network toughened the security of the park
and put an end
to the rampant poaching of the 1990’s. Farmland
inside the
park is now reverting back to tiger habitat and
the habituated
herds of sambar deer that can be seen grazing on
the park’s
landing strip are the most obvious manifestation of a
strong,
recovering prey base.
In October
2012, Panthera began a partnership with Tambling
Wildlife
Nature Conservation, providing Tambling with
technical
expertise, hardware and training. In 2013 Tambling
conducted its first
park-wide camera trapping survey revealing
an astonishing
tiger density. A total of 25 tigers were detected
over a nine
month period, with density estimates of 3.6-3.9 tigers/
100 km2 across
the whole site and as high as 5.8 tigers/100
km2 in the south
of the park. This represents the highest known
tiger density
anywhere in South Asia and a remarkable natural
population
recovery. This is important as Tambling connects
directly to
the tiger landscape of Bukit Barisan Selatan and constitutes
a vital source
of dispersing tigers in southern Sumatra.
Tambling’s
Rangers integrated SMART into their law
enforcement
work in July 2013 and have continued with solid
patrolling of
the core area. While its coastline provides Tambling
a degree of
natural protection along the south and western
park
boundaries, there is continual pressure on the park from
communities
all along its eastern border and in the enclave to
the northwest.
In October 2013 a large-scale
operation involving
Tambling
Rangers working with the Indonesian Army and
Ministry of
Forestry successfully evicted encroachers from a
185
Ha area in the north of the park. Ongoing support from
Panthera in
field equipment and law enforcement training is
supporting the
progression of Tambling’s robust patrol force to a
professional,
highly trained unit.
North
West India
The Terai
Arc Landscape
(TAL ) or the
Shivalik
Gangetic
plain has
been
identified
as the most
promising
landscape
for longterm
tiger
conservation. This project focuses on in the western
TAL , specifically
the Rajaji-Corbett Tiger Conservation Unit
(RCTCU). The
landscape consists of a matrix of protected
areas such as
the Corbett Tiger Reserve and Rajaji National
Park
interspersed between multiple use forests. A part of this
landscape,
though having high tiger density, is not managed
from a
wildlife conservation perspective. This landscape is
vulnerable to
threats of poaching, illegal tree felling, livestockgrazing and other threats
to tiger survival.
Tiger
populations within the Protected Areas in the western
TAL have been
well documented in the past. Long-term monitoring
of larger
inter-connected habitats at a landscape scale
instead
provides valuable information on tiger population dynamics
as well as
informing conservation planning initiatives
– such as the
protection of critical habitat corridors. With this
in mind, the
present study, which began in 2012, has three
objectives:
(a) To establish baseline data and monitor changes
in abundance
of tiger, co-predators and their prey within and
outside PA s;
(b) To support government led law enforcement
and protection
through capacity building, equipping and training
NGO-led field
teams known as Special Operation Groups
(SO G); and
(c) To document and establish baseline data on
human-large
carnivore conflict in the landscape.
India
Dibang Valley lies in the
Northeast Indian state of
Arunachal
Pradesh. The valley spans 9,500 km2 and is the
ancestral
homeland of the Idu Mishmi community. The area
is 95%
forested, largely community owned and characterized
by extremely
low human population density (<1person/km2),
with almost
all Idu villages located along the only road passing
through the
valley. Idus keep a semi-domesticated form of
gaur (wild
cattle) called mithun. Mithun are allowed to range
freely in the
forest and are thought to constitute an important
prey for
tigers. Since tigers are culturally highly significant for
Idu people,
their tolerance of mithun depredation is thought to
be much higher
than would otherwise be expected.
Overall, Dibang Valley’s stable
community land tenure system,
legal
restrictions on access to outsiders and strong forestbased
cultural
beliefs are credited with preserving significant
populations of
tigers and prey in this remarkable ecosystem.
However, large
scale development and the arrival of outsiders
now pose major
threats. In
response,
efforts
began in 2014
to assess the
status of
tigers
and prey in
the
valley, and to
test the
feasibility
of
implementing a locally adapted version of the Tigers
Forever
protocol for the long-term protection of the area. The
current
project’s specific goals are: (a) produce baseline density
estimates of
tigers and their principal prey, (b) identify a core
zone for
future protection, (c) understand traditional ways of
wildlife
protection, (d) assess direct threats to tigers using a
SMART based
protocol and indirect threats stemming from
development
and cultural change.
North
East India
Created in
1973 under India’s Project
Tiger, Manas Tiger
Reserve (MTR )
is composed of a string of 18 protected areas
along the
Himalayan foothills of Indo-Bhutan. The reserve
extends across
2,837 km2
with
Manas National
Park (500 km2)
providing the
‘core’, with adjoining wildlife sanctuaries and
reserved
forests making up the buffer.
The MTR lies
within the traditional homeland of the Bodo
tribal
community. In 1989, a local Bodo
insurgent group
started a
heavily armed struggle demanding a separate state for
the Bodo
people. This intense conflict lasted 10 years and led
to the near
total
destruction of
Manas’
wildlife
populations
and
protected area
infrastructure.
The MTR was
reported to
hold
90 tigers and
a few hundred
rhinos but bythe
time the peace accord was signed in 2003, it had lost all
of its rhinos
and all but a handful of tigers. The Bodoland
Territorial
Council (BT C) was created in 2003 as a result of
the peace
accord and is a special autonomous political entity
that now
governs the region. To revive Manas, 14 local NGOs
were formed
with the support of the BT C government. These
NGOs divided
up their resources across MTR and initiated
a wide range
of biodiversity conservation and ecotourism. In
the past 11
years (2003-present), Manas has begun to recover;
camera
trapping conducted in 2012 revealed at least 18 tigers
in the core
area. However, despite improving protection and
management,
the tigers of Manas are still under threat from
poachers
targeting the cats and their prey. To support the
efforts to
save Manas, Panthera partnered with Aaranyak, a
local NGO, in
2014, to develop a Tigers Forever protection
and monitoring
plan for the National Park. Under this project,
Panthera
provides technical support and camera traps for the
annual tiger
camera trapping efforts in Manas, and we are now
working to
bolster frontline tiger protection efforts with NGO
field teams, working
alongside Forest Department staff in joint
patrols to
protect the National Park.
South
West India
The
Western Ghats of Karnataka span approximately
22,000
km2 and currently contain 20 protected areas (PA s)
that,
collectively, safeguard ~10,000 km2 of
wildlife habitat.
This
landscape supports the world’s largest contiguous population
of
wild tigers (~300) and, remarkably, the protected area
network
continues to grow. Recently, the Karnataka state
government,
in collaboration with civil societies, expanded the
region’s
PA network by nearly 2,600 km2, the largest expansion
in
India
since the 1970s
Given
the scope to continue expanding this remarkable
protected
area complex, Panthera has been working with the
Nature
Conservation Foundation (NCF) since 2012 with
three
primary objectives:
1.
T o support the official protection of areas that directly link
reserves,
parks and other wildlife areas, i.e. the preservation
of
habitat corridors between PA s
2.
T o support government initiatives to increase the size of
existing
protected areas by adding adjacent areas of productive
wildlife
habitat
3.
T o support the creation of new PA s, with priority placed
on
those that are sufficiently large to ultimately support
significant
tiger and prey populations in their own right.
Western
Ghats
South
West India
The Western
Ghats of Karnataka span approximately
22,000 km2 and currently
contain 20 protected areas (PA s)
that,
collectively, safeguard ~10,000 km2 of wildlife habitat.
This landscape
supports the world’s largest contiguous population
of wild tigers
(~300) and, remarkably, the protected area
network
continues to grow. Recently, the Karnataka state
government, in
collaboration with civil societies, expanded the
region’s PA
network by nearly 2,600 km2, the largest expansion
in India since the
1970s
Given the
scope to continue expanding this remarkable
protected area
complex, Panthera has been working with the
Nature
Conservation Foundation (NCF) since 2012 with
three primary
objectives:
1. T o support
the official protection of areas that directly link
reserves,
parks and other wildlife areas, i.e. the preservation
of habitat
corridors between PA s
2. T o support
government initiatives to increase the size of
existing
protected areas by adding adjacent areas of productivewildlife habitat
3. T o support
the creation of new PA s, with priority placed
on those that
are sufficiently large to ultimately support
significant
tiger and prey populations in their own right.
Nepal
Contiguous
with Chitwan National
Park to the east, the
499 km2 Parsa Wildlife
Reserve comprises grasslands and
sub-tropical
dry forests and represents a prime tiger habitat.
Yet Parsa has
received limited conservation attention since
its inception
and with only seven tigers, does not support as
many tigers as
it potentially can. Poaching and human-wildlife
conflicts are
the major direct threats to tigers in this region
and tiger
monitoring and measures to address the threats are
urgently
needed. Parsa Wildlife Reserve lies within the 2,000
km2 Chitwan-Parsa
tiger complex, a Level 1 Tiger Conservation
Landscape, and
is home to approximately 135 adult tigers.
Chitwan is a
success story for wildlife conservation in Nepal.
Significant
resources have been invested there, both by the
government of Nepal and by national
and international conservation
groups. Nepali
people have a long history of living
with their
wildlife, and local communities around Chitwan in
particular
have benefitted from eco-tourism revenues. The core
areas of
Chitwan and Parsa are strictly guarded by the Nepalesearmy who
monitor human
activity in
and
around the
park. Tiger
numbers there
have held
steady
as a result of
these efforts.
In September
2014, Panthera will begin a partnership with
ZSL -Nepal to implement
Tigers Forever in Parsa Wildlife
Reserve. To
make our work effective, a strong alliance of
partners,
including the National Trust for Nature Conservation,
with firm
support of the Department of National Parks
and Wildlife
Conservation will be in place. Here, Panthera
will provide
technical and analytical expertise, hardware (V5
PantheraCam
and V5W PoacherCam), and training in order
to implement
SMART , monitor tiger and tiger prey populations,
and establish
an effective Law Enforcement team.
Panthera’s
Exp ertise and Approach
In
the early 1960’s, Dr. George Schaller, now Vice President
of
Panthera, conducted the first intensive, ecological
study
of wild tigers and their interactions with their prey.
His
seminal work on tiger ecology, The Deer and the Tiger,
was
first published in 1968 and still stands as one of the most
comprehensive
titles on the species.
Dr.
Alan Rabinowitz, Panthera’s CEO and a co-founder of
the
Tigers Forever program, worked on tigers in Huai Kha
Khaeng
and elsewhere in Thailand
throughout the 1980’s,
and
then went on to help create the world’s largest tiger
reserve
in the Hukaung Valley, Myanmar.
The
core values of Tigers Forever - focusing resources on the
most
critical threats to tiger survival and diligent monitoring
of
tiger numbers within an adaptive management framework -
came
from one of Panthera’s founding Directors of the Board,
Mr.
Michael Cline. Michael recognized that the conservation
community
needed to apply business principles to track progress
and
determine if the right actions are having the intended
impact.
Panthera’s Tigers Forever Program is implemented
through
our unique Tiger Task Force.
The
Tiger Task Force
Panthera’s
Tiger Task Force is an expert, mobile and growing
team
comprising leading experts in tiger ecology, population
monitoring,
environmental policy, conservation technology,
law
enforcement and human-tiger conflict mitigation.
Led
by Panthera’s CEO , Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, Drs. John
Goodrich
and Joseph Smith, Panthera’s Tiger Program Directors,
are
steering Panthera’s Tigers Forever efforts on the
ground.
Dr. Goodrich has worked on tigers since 1995, leading
the
longest-running telemetry study on wild tigers with
WCS
in Russia
and working to mitigate human-tiger conflict
and
other threats in Russia
and SE Asia. Dr. Smith spent
many
years in Sumatra
studying the impacts of landscape
change
and human disturbances on tigers and other large
mammals,
and was Panthera’s first Tiger Program employee
in
2008. Since hiring John Goodrich in 2012, Panthera has
greatly
expanded their tiger team. Dr. Rob Pickles now
works
directly with sites to implement tiger and law enforcement
monitoring.
Dr. Wai-Ming Wong works as the Tiger
Program
Manager and works with sites on biological monitoring
and
data analysis. Most recently Panthera hired Mr.
Nick
Beale to direct the Tigers Forever site security program.
Mr.
Beale has extensive military and security experience
with
the British Government. Panthera plans to continue to
expand
its tiger team, hiring other biological monitoring and
enforcement
specialists over the next few years. Chris Cline
directs
the technology team with a focus on PantheraCam
and
PoacherCam development and production. Panthera’s
Tiger
Task Force allows us to deliver a range of expertise
where
we are needed most, to a multitude of sites, simultaneously,
to
ensure that activities and progress remain on track.
Current
and future pa rtnerships
While
Tigers Forever was born with WCS in 2006, with
nine
initial long-term sites, Panthera is now working in 14
of
the most important areas required to ensure the long term
survival
of tigers in the wild. Panthera has extended its partnerships
to
include the Zoological Society of London, Wildlife
Institute
of India,
Aaranyak, Fauna & Flora International, the
Nature
Conservation Foundation, RIMBA , the Woodland
Park
Zoo, WildTeam Bangladesh,
the Wildlife Conservation
Trust,
and Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation. We are
not
exclusive. Tigers Forever, the best chance for saving wild
tigers,
can only be taken to scale if adopted by local government
and
non-government partners, who are equally dedicated
to
saving tigers. Panthera does everything we can to help sites
enact
the Tigers Forever strategy. By bringing organizations
together
through its partnerships with other local, national,
and
international NGOs and government organizations, Panthera’s
Tigers Forever
Program likely has more boots on the
ground than
any other single NGO working in tiger conservation.
By recovering
tigers at our current 14 sites, we expect
to gain as
many as 575 tigers, or nearly a 20% increase in the
global
population. In the future, we will continue to expand by
adding new
sites and forging new partnerships.
Building
national capacity to help save tigers, through, for
example active
patrols, is one of the key components of Tigers
Forever. These
activities are helping Tigers Forever to develop
an army of
local conservation leaders, who are truly the ones
to drive tiger
conservation on local, state and national levels.
We need local
sites, which have breeding tigers and adequate
landscapes to
support growing tiger populations, to want to
employ Tigers
Forever, and Panthera wants to assist those who
wish to follow
this strategy.
about
pa nthera
Panthera,
founded in 2006 by Dr. Thomas Kaplan and
his
wife, Daphne Recanati Kaplan, is the only organization
devoted
exclusively to the conservation of the 38 species of
wild
cats and their ecosystems. Utilizing the expertise of the
world’s
premier cat biologists, Panthera develops and implements
global
conservation strategies for the largest, most imperiled
cats
– tigers, lions, jaguars, snow leopards, cheetahs,
cougars
and leopards – and works in partnership with local
and
international NGOs, scientific institutions, local communities,
and
governments..
Recognized
early on as “the most comprehensive effort of
its
kind in wild cat conservation” by National Geographic,
Panthera
continues to receive validation from numerous
partnerships
and endorsements. These include the National
Fish
and Wildlife Foundation stating that “Panthera knows
how
to save tigers” upon handing over the prestigious Save
the
Tiger Fund program to Panthera’s control; the Robertson
Foundation’s
decision to channel its considerable tiger
conservation
efforts through Panthera; publically described
as
“an All Star team” and the “best
of the best” by Doug
Tompkins,
founder of The North Face; the creation of an
educational
initiative with Oxford University
that was recognized
by
WildCRU ’s being awarded the Queen’s Prize for
Innovation
in Education; continuous positive media coverage
from
around the globe, including CBS News’ ‘60 Minutes’,
CNN,
the New York Times, BB C, Time, CNN, and dozens
more
outlets. Panthera has proven itself in just seven years
to
be the leaders in global felid conservation, and the Gold
Standard
for saving cats.
Resources
In
addition to expertise and camera traps, Panthera
provides
a suite of resources to Tigers Forever Partners and
anyone
else who wants to learn more. These include:
1.
The Tigers Forever Protocol
2. F ield manuals that detail
setting up camera trapping
grids,
managing and analyzing data, and use of SMART .
3.
T rouble shooting and support for Panthera’s camera traps
4. A landscape analysis lab
based in our New York
office,
capable
of a variety of GIS -based and other data analyses.
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