Implementation of CEPF’s conservation strategy in the Indo-Burma Hotspot is well under way. Recently I traveled with CEPF Grant Director Jack Tordoff and members of the regional implementation team, BirdLife International, to visit grantees and project sites in the region.
During the two-week trip, the team met with 16 grantee organizations and conducted site visits of projects run by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT) and Community Economic Development (CED).
In 2008, CEPF began a $9.5 million investment into the region, covering land in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The five-year investment focuses on the Northern Highlands Limestone and the Mekong River and Major Tributaries corridors, and prioritizes 28 key biodiversity areas, 67 animal species and 248 globally threatened plant species.
Of Earth’s 34 biodiversity hotspots, Indo-Burma is one of the most threatened, with only 5 percent of its natural habitats remaining in relatively pristine condition. The natural resources of the region face mounting threats caused by economic development and growing human population. Widespread poverty throughout the region puts more pressure on the region’s resources, specifically forests, wetlands and grasslands, since they provide livelihoods to a large percentage of the population. Because the region’s landscapes and species are inextricably linked to the prosperity of the region’s human population, CEPF has built a portfolio of grants focused on scientific research, species protection and livelihood development. To date, there have been 33 large grants contracted and 36 small grants of under $20,000 awarded. Additionally, there are 11 large grants in the process of being awarded in 2011.
We visited grantee projects in Laos and Cambodia. In Xonnabuly, Laos, we dropped in on WWF’s “Integrated Eld's Deer Project,” which focuses on the CEPF priority species, the Endangered Eld’s deer. Using Integrated Spatial Development Planning as a tool, the project aims to reconcile conservation and development objectives for forests in Laos. Communities in the Eld’s deer sanctuary “core zone” are trained in survey techniques and paid to conduct regular patrolling to assess the species’ population. The village we visited plans to use their payment for patrols to support their school. Additionally, we went to the site of WWF’s project, “Co-management of Freshwater Biodiversity in the Sekong Basin,” in Sekong, Laos. The aim of this project is to demonstrate to government agencies and policy makers the importance of aquatic biodiversity and healthy river systems for the benefit of local communities. WWF is fostering relationships with community groups to establish freshwater protected areas. Any information generated by these groups will be used to produce material to influence policy makers through tools such as press releases, technical reports and policy briefs.
Along the central section of the Mekong River, in Cambodia, our team visited project sites of WWF and two local NGOs: CRDT and CED. These three CEPF grantees, having a shared desire to protect the environment while working with communities, are coordinating their efforts. They formulated their project proposals together, and meet regularly to discuss projects goals and successes.
CRDT, founded in 2001 as a voluntary university student initiative, has built programs covering a variety of livelihood, natural resource management and community development components, in order to raise living standards and contribute to environmental conservation. On the trip along the Mekong, we visited CRDT projects in Koh Prea, Tbong Klah, Koh Dambong and Koh Pdao. These villages are pursuing sustainable livelihoods via aquaculture, ecotourism and chicken farming.
Like CRDT, CED focuses on livelihoods in Cambodian villages. Using the law, CED empowers rural and indigenous communities to achieve sustainable economic development through engaging in sustainable development and environmental management. In Pontacheer and Koh Khnear villages, CED is helping the indigenous Bunong and Kooy people with land titling projects to protect their rights from incoming corporate land development.
Meanwhile WWF is working to protect the Critically Endangered Irrawaddy dolphin, found in the Mekong. With support from government and local communities, WWF established the Cambodian Mekong Dolphin Conservation Project in 2005. This project aims to support the survival of the remaining population of this species of dolphin, believed to be less than 100 individuals worldwide, through targeted conservation activities, research and education. While traveling down the Mekong River, our team was able to see these dolphins, along with other emblematic species, including birds such as the white-shouldered ibis, Mekong wagtail, green peafowl and the gray-headed fish eagle.
CEPF-funded projects in Indo-Burma are set to be completed by June 2013. If the progress so far is any indication, grantees will make real and lasting impacts for the benefit of the hotspot’s landscape and population.