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Conservation
30
Mar 10
Fighting the flames
WWF has stepped in to battle annual fires in central Kalimantan, Borneo, which threaten the survival of an estimated 8,000 endangered wild orang-utans.
Every dry season more forest and peatland in the region is cut and burned to make way for plantations, destroying the forests and some of its wildlife, fuelling climate change, and sparking uncontrolled fires.
Beginning in July 2009, the last dry season was marked by a prolonged drought. This triggered wildfires that threatened to spread into vital orang-utan habitat in the Sebangau National Park area, where they could have easily killed the great apes or left them homeless. The park’s 568,700 hectares are made up of peatland, which burns easily when it dries out.
To help tackle any future fires, WWF has been working with local authorities to train and equip a community fire service called RPK. This has already proved successful. In August a joint team from WWF and the Park Office was on a routine fire patrol when locals alerted them to a fire burning above and below ground in a nearby peat area.
A spokesman for the local RPK said they are much better prepared to tackle fires since they have established proper forest fire-fighting techniques. “When the fire started, we extinguished it using techniques that we learned during training sessions conducted by WWF just before the dry season ,” he added.
WWF has also established and fully equipped a forest fire-fighting station in north Ulu Segama – a critical orang-utan habitat in the Heart of Borneo. And we are working with local people to strategically block local canals: this keeps water in the peat bog areas to reduce the risk of fire and allow plants to re-grow. In west Kalimantan, WWF has established two pilot projects in villages pioneering the use of improved farming techniques that do not require burning.
We hope to expand these projects. We are also calling for the government to support us with tougher law enforcement against those found guilty of setting fires as well as action to prevent further incidents.
30
Mar 10
Cracking South East Asia’s Ivory trade
Undercover investigations by TRAFFIC – the wildlife trade monitoring network of WWF and the IUCN – has put the spotlight on the scandalous ivory trade in Thailand and Burma.
In Thailand, a survey of Bangkok and Chiang Mai throughout 2008 revealed 50 more shops offering ivory items than in the previous year. In total 23,000 ivory products such as knife handles, belt buckles, jewellery and statues were found openly for sale. And staff at many of the stores had little hesitation in telling the undercover buyers about smuggling techniques and other illegal activities.
A separate operation involved staff from TRAFFIC posing as potential buyers in areas of Burma bordering Thailand and China. They found 9,000 pieces of ivory and 16 whole tusks for sale. Shockingly, they also uncovered evidence that about 250 live Asian elephants have been smuggled into Thailand from Burma over the last decade. Once there they are used for tourist trekking or street begging.
Taken together, the findings suggest poor policing and a blatant disregard for international conventions and national laws. Neither Burma nor Thailand has reported cross-border trade in live elephants to CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), and Thailand has reported only two ivory seizures (totalling 1.2 tonnes of raw ivory) since 2004.
The discoveries also raise concerns that the legal trade in domesticated elephants is providing cover for illegal trade in wild, highly-endangered Asian elephants.
Tom Milliken , of TRAFFIC, says: “Thailand has consistently been identified as one of the world’s top five countries most heavily implicated in the illicit ivory trade, but shows little sign of addressing the problem. The government needs to reassess its policy for controlling its local ivory markets .”
The reports’ findings are being used to put pressure on authorities in both countries to work together to tackle the problem, and to warn tourists about the issues involved and products to avoid. This work forms a key part of our efforts to reduce illegal trade in major markets for elephant products and help governments enforce restrictions on the trade.
7
Jan 10
It’s a dirty job…
February, 2007
Inspecting elephant dung may not be everyone’s idea of the perfect job, but as Andy Kenworthy found out, it is a key part of WWF’s efforts to conserve the endangered Borneo pygmy elephant.
It takes some serious foliage to hide an elephant, even a pygmy one. Borneo has serious foliage, enough to keep groups of up to 100 of these rare 2.5m high mini-jumbos from the gaze of all but the most determined of humans.
But it’s not enough to deter Engelbert Joseph, Jabanus Muin and Herman Francis from WWF-Malaysia’s elephant monitoring team. Their working day is spent in the sort of jungle conditions used to harden the world’s Special Forces, tracking the elephants themselves and studying their leavings when they are out of sight.
The team counts the number of droppings, measures the distance between them, and notes anything unusual along the way. They also study dung decomposition, comparing how fast it degenerates in the open and in the jungle, so they can estimate the age of each dropping when out tracking.
Occasionally, they DNA test samples for inbreeding, a risk among this small remaining population. In 2005, they also began the largest satellite tracking study of elephants ever conducted in Asia, studying the pygmy elephants by attaching satellite collars to five of them.
“Some times the day is quite easy, some times are really hard,” Jabanus told me. “And it can be dangerous.”
Engelbert was an elephant trainer before he became a tracker and his expertise with these animals has featured on television documentaries. But he still keeps a canister of pepper spray handy as he bends over some dung with his tape measure, to deter charging elephants in an emergency.
He has been charged by elephants many times, and kicked more than once, but his love for them remains undaunted. He and the rest of the team provide important research information on elephant numbers, their health and their diet – data which can be used to find out how the herds are coping with the changing world around them.
And there is no doubt it is changing, fast, because the trees which shelter the elephants are also a vital source of income for Malaysia’s economy. Most of the forest around them is scheduled to be cut again in the coming years.
So as well as a game of high tension hide and seek, this is a race against time – to prove to the world how magnificent and important the Borneo pygmy elephant is, and inspire the action needed to save them, before it is too late.
7
Jan 10
Life in the fauna sauna
My first time in Borneo’s jungle. I was wrapped head to toe in bandana, hat, long-sleeved anti-mozzie shirt, long trousers, leech-proof socks and state of the art hiking boots.
I staggered through the overgrowth like a drunken brass band. Afterwards I discovered six leeches crawling up my trousers, one in my armpit and three sucking the life out of my upper thigh. As I rubbed menthol oil on to my skin to detach the world’s most annoying living bogeys I considered how this gave new meaning to the phrase ‘tough day at the office.’
I had come to Danum Valley in the northern part of the island to find out what it takes to track endangered orang-utans through the jungle. What it takes, other than an air-conditioned spacesuit, is sheer dedication and commitment, which I found among the WWF-Malaysia team who were my guides.
I returned each night to the relatively giant-bug-free safety of our base in a scientists hut. But there are times when the team’s work means camping out inside nature’s full frenzy for up to 10 days at a time.
Field Biologist, Shan Khee Lee, explained: “When we are camping in the jungle we do not have anywhere special to cook or eat. There is no power or entertainment in the evening so we go to bed early.
“When you are working and getting dirty all day it can be hard when you finish to still be in the jungle. For three or four days it is okay, but for ten days or more, it is hard.”
Helicopter surveys check the treetops for the nests which each orang-utan makes each day, and these are followed up by patrols on the ground. How green the nest is, combined with smell of fresh urine or droppings, tells the team how recently it was occupied.
If the nest was last night’s bed, then the target may not have gone too far. Once the animal is spotted, the team moves silently into position beneath it, and begins photographing and making notes of its behaviour. For as long as it takes.
The team does this for about three weeks each month. They spend the rest of the time in meetings, planning, training, and meeting up with the loved ones they leave at the edge of the jungle. Or they write reports for people like us, to tell us how it really is in the wild.
I was relieved to return to my desk, awed and inspired.
“We spend more time with each other than with our families,” said Shan Khee. “We feel like a family, like brothers and sisters. The animals cannot tell us what they need, so we researchers must tell the world for them. We are the messengers.”
7
Jan 10
Troubled Waters
February, 2009
Global warming may be creating the conditions for more frequent and severe hurricanes. In Belize, meanwhile, WWF is fighting to preserve nature’s best defence – the magnificent Mesoamerican reef.
The Mesoamerican reef is a sanctuary for iconic and endangered Loggerhead, Hawksbill and Green sea turtles, and the vulnerable Caribbean manatee. Its warm sapphire waters harbour more than 500 species of fish, 60 species of coral and 350 molluscs.
The mangroves roots bind the shoreline together, protecting the land from erosion, and act as a filter system which helps to protect the ocean from pollution. Here, too, is the nursery for many of the region’s fish.
A recent report from WWF and The World Resources Institute showed the extent to which the reef and the mangroves sustain local people and the national economy.
The study found that the estimated monetary value of coral reef and mangrove-associated tourism in Belize was between US$150 million and US$196 million a year. That’s between 12% and 15% of the Caribbean nation’s entire Gross Domestic Product. Benefits from reef and mangrove-dependent fisheries contribute another US$14 million to US$16 million to the economy.
The reef and the mangrove also form the mainland’s first and second lines of defence against tropical storms and hurricanes. The reef’s defensive effect is estimated to be worth US$120 million to US$180 million in avoided damages each year. The mangroves protect the coastline from both waves and storm surge, providing an additional US$111 million to US$167 million in protection annually.
Storms and hurricanes regularly batter this coastline and there is increasing evidence that climate change is making events like this more common. Warm water helps create the conditions for hurricanes, and the fact that the water at the Mesoamerican reef is getting warmer is obvious to those who live and work there.
When seawater over the reef warms, the corals which make it up suffer stress and expel the tiny micro-organisms they are host to. The resulting loss of colour is evident as ‘coral bleaching’. Whole areas of coral become pale white and lifeless.
At the same time that the reef is being affected by these changes, development, some of it for hotels, is causing whole areas of mangrove to be removed from the coastline.
In response, WWF, The Nature Conservancy, the Healthy Mesoamerican Reef Ecosystem Initiative (HMREI) and other local partners have together studied, assessed and mapped the state of coral at more than 300 sites on the reef.
And WWF is working on a Meso American Reef adaptation project, in partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID). One of the ambitions of this is to ensure the network of marine reserves protecting the region’s varied habitats, including the coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass, includes areas better able to cope under climate-stressed conditions.
These may become refuges provided climate change effects do not become so severe as to destroy the coral reefs completely.
The team has identified locations, currently unprotected, that were less affected or better able to recover from the last bleaching episode, and that are therefore areas that may be more resilient to future bleaching events.
In the meantime, thousands of mangrove trees have been replanted by teams of local people, working in partnership with WWF, some of them installed specifically to help filter waste from local shrimp farms.
WWF is also working to promote more sensitive shoreline development. This has included helping to re-start proper coastal planning for the island of San Pedro and a ‘Mangrove‑Friendly Shoreline Development Contest’.
The contest celebrates docks, homes, piers, and other structures that have done their best to retain the ecosystem services of mangrove shorelines will be featured in local and international publications.
And we are trying to eliminate destructive fishing practices and overfishing by making local communities more aware.
Through the Climate Witness programme and related lobbying activities local people will get the chance to bring this global issue to the attention of local, regional, national and international authorities.
It’s an outstanding case of local conservation helping local people of Belize – and at the same time helping all of us.
6
Jan 10
Financial crisis prompts loggers to target tigers’ habitat
June, 2009
Local authorities in the Russian Far East have sold off more than 400 forest plots of vital Amur tiger habitat for commercial logging, prompting fresh calls from WWF for increased regulation and enforcement.
The sales went ahead amid increasing evidence that Korean cedar pine, the basis of the endangered tigers’ habitat and a vital food source for their prey, is becoming a favoured target for commercial logging.
Prices of many wood types have fallen due to the ongoing economic crisis, while demand for the Korean pine remains strong, and prices high.
WWF is calling on law enforcement bodies to invalidate the sales, since they bypassed regulations on three regional and one federal wildlife refuge. They also ignored the wishes of local people, supported by WWF, who had been hoping to obtain a lease for two of the areas to sustainably harvest nuts, medicinal ingredients and edible plants.
We are proposing that provincial and federal authorities urgently add Korean pine to the list of species that are banned from being logged. Recently, WWF staff joined local authorities in a raid on one wood exporter in the town of Dalnerechensk and discovered enough illegally cut Korean cedar pine to fill three or four Olympic-sized swimming pools. And two logging sites, large enough to have supplied about a quarter of this wood, were found in an area leased by one of the biggest logging companies in the region.
Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF’s International Species Programme, vowed to keep up the pressure : “This rampant and mindless logging is shocking, and it disturbs the habitat and prey of some of the rarest animals in the world.”
6
Jan 10
Reducing the real costs of oil
June, 2009
In 1989 the Exxon Valdez struck a reef off the south coast of Alaska and spilled 40 millions litres of crude oil – enough to fill more than 10 Olympic sized swimming pools.
The pollution spread over 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles) of pristine shoreline, killing 250,000 seabirds, nearly 4,000 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles and more than 20 orcas. If another big spill happens in the Arctic, polar bears could all too easily join the casualty list.
So, in Norway, WWF and our partners have recruited, trained and mobilized more than 300 volunteers to help tackle oil spills on this scale.
Recently we helped to organize training at Svalbard, in the heart of the Barents Sea region which is home to about 3,000 polar bears. This covered everything from hands-on oil spill clean-up techniques like scraping and shoveling oil from beaches, to safety instruction and information on the environmental risks of coastal transport and the petroleum industry.
The extreme weather can make the going tough, but this effort has already proved its worth. WWF’s volunteers were central in the clean-up operation following an oil spill outside Bergen on Norway’s west coast in 2007, where they cleaned up more than 200 tons of oiled wastes.
Meanwhile, WWF campaigners are calling for offshore oil development in the Arctic to be suspended until adequate oil-spill clean-up technologies are in place. We are also working to have the most vulnerable and important areas of the Arctic made permanently off-limits to oil development.
6
Jan 10
Amurous leopard
There are only about 37 wild Amur leopards left on Earth. But a recent WWF-supported study has discovered that their numbers are stable and there is a perfect balance between the sexes – providing an ideal platform for population growth.
It is estimated that 80% of the Amur leopard’s range was lost between 1970 and 1983. They are now limited to just 5,000 sq km, an area only a quarter of the size of Wales. Loss of forest habitat to farmland, loss of prey to poachers and retaliatory killings triggered when leopards prey on deer farms are among the main causes of their tragic decline.
This latest research underlines the unprecedented urgency of our conservation action required to protect them, and the importance of your support. It also gives real hope that our efforts can succeed.
One of the greatest threats to endangered species is that their small, dispersed populations can mean a lack of breeding opportunities. As well as the obvious impact on numbers, it’s vital to avoid inbreeding if a healthy species is to be maintained.
Field researchers tracked the big cat’s prints through the winter snow, and in other seasons used specially trained dogs to track down samples of leopard droppings, scratch marks and hair. These were tested to differentiate between leopards and other animals, then between males and females. They were eventually able to estimate the number of leopards, the sex ratio and even the location of the habitat of each individual. They identified 18 males and 19 females. This is a small increase on the last count and provides good prospects of future breeding pairs.
Sergei Aramilev is Species Conservation Programme Coordinator for WWF-Russia. He hopes this groundbreaking approach will continue to inform WWF’s conservation efforts. We support local communities, regional authorities, government and other non-governmental organisations to increase areas of protected land as well as reduce illegal and unsustainable logging. We also promote responsible forestry and help increase wild deer and boar prey populations. Working with TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, we also help governments enforce trade restrictions on Amur leopard products.
“We hope in the future that the specialists will also be able to evaluate the genetic diversity of the leopard population which will enable us to see the possibilities for population growth,” said Sergei. “Out of all existing research methods this is the most progressive and safe.”
6
Jan 10
Sails on a far horizon
The success of two WWF-sponsored sailing voyages crossing the polar bear’s entire Arctic habitat has brought mixed feelings. Without climate change, they would have been much harder to complete.
Last summer the sailing ship Silent Sound left from Victoria, in British Colombia, for the fabled North West Passage across the top of the American continent. At the same time the Explorer of Sweden left Stockholm to take on the equally notorious North East passage, which hugs the northern coastlines of Scandinavia and Russia.
WWF supported the expeditions to highlight the dramatic decreases in Arctic sea ice triggered by the onset of climate change. In the early 1980’s the ice at summer’s lowest expanse covered about eight million square kilometers. It reached a historical low point in 2007, covering just over half that area. If left unchecked this will disrupt the entire Arctic ecosystem and completely destroy the habitat of the polar bear.
The two voyages described a route right around the top of the Earth that has been extremely difficult and dangerous for non-icebreaking ships throughout recent history. The first confirmed sea crossing through the North West Passage was not until 1906. The North East passage has been explored by many European nations down the centuries as a shortcut from Europe to Asia. But it was only completely navigated from west to east in 1878.
Both modern day expeditions experienced relatively little difficulty and only took about four months to complete their journeys. The fear is that increased commercial shipping and oil exploration activity, made possible by the receding ice, could put further pressure on Arctic wildlife.
The expeditions witnessed more stark evidence of climate change effects on the region. The Explorer came across tens of thousands of walruses marooned onshore because of a lack of sea ice and had a close encounter with an inquisitive polar bear that nearly climbed on board the ship.
Geoff York, WWF’s Arctic Program’s polar bear expert said: “The lack of summer sea ice which made our trip possible makes life for polar bears much more difficult. As the ice recedes, bears are forced to travel far offshore in search of prey or to gamble and risk spending a summer on land.”
In order to preserve polar bear habitat it is now imperative for us to combat climate change by reducing worldwide carbon dioxide emissions. This has now become a key focus for WWF’s global activities.