Management effectiveness of 23 Marine protected areas in Thailand

Thailand’s Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPAs) are important assets in terms of biodiversity conservation, economic development and livelihood security. Therefore, a well managed MCPA system in Thailand lies at the heart of achieving a balanced and healthy marine and coastal ecosystem for sustainable development and livelihood security. In recognition of the need to improve management effectiveness in Thailand’s MCPAs, a new project has been launched on evaluating and improving the management effectiveness of Thailand’s Marine and Coastal Protected Areas’. The project is a collaborative, inter-organisational process between IUCN and the Department of National Parks (DNP- part of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, MONRE), with support from Mangroves for the Future (MFF), Strengthening Andaman Marine Protected Areas Network (SAMPAN), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the French Development Agency (AFD).

Restoring China’s water supplies

The Miyun reservoir supplies up to 80% of the water used in Bejing, China’s capital city. Worsening water shortages are directly linked to the disappearance of much of the original forest in the Miyun watershed. Over the last 30 to 40 years, substantial efforts have been made to reforest the Miyun landscape. But these strictly protected, mainly young stands of trees are in poor condition, and make a limited contribution to soil, water and biodiversity conservation because they have not been properly managed. To address this, a new set of forest management practices have been introduced, representing a shift from a strict protection approach towards more sustainable resource use through active management by forest-based communities.

Manas Wildlife Sanctuary on the road to recovery

Manas Wildlife Sanctuary in the eastern Himalaya foothills of India has been removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger, following the advice of IUCN. A UNESCO/IUCN monitoring mission to the Sanctuary earlier this year noted the progress made so far to increase the population of key species, including tigers, Indian elephants and Great One-horned Rhino.
Other threats such as illegal logging and wildlife poaching in the Pambari Range have declined significantly and the park infrastructure has improved, according to the mission report. “The great efforts by the Indian authorities to support recovery of wildlife populations and improve the overall park management have brought about a positive change for one of India’s natural treasures,” says Tim Badman, Director of IUCN’s World Heritage Programme. “The Sanctuary is on a good track, but the work and funding to secure its future need to be sustained.”

Clean Up Day promotes sustainable water resource management along the Nam Xong River

In Vangvieng lao PDR, the Nam Xong Clean Up Day brought together more than 400 people to learn about water resources management and to collect garbage and waste from along the river. Participants in the event included representatives from local government, the Nam Ngum River Basin Committee Secretariat, local villages, business associations, students and tourists. The objectives of the Clean Up Day are to reduce water pollution in the Nam Xong, improve the surrounding environment and build a common understanding on the importance of water and the environment of the Nam Xong for local livelihoods.

5th IUCN Asia Regional Conservation Forum

Greening Asia's Growth: Nature + is the theme for IUCN's 5th Asia Regional Conservation Forum (RCF) to be held from September 27 to 30, 2011 in Incheon, Republic of Korea. IUCN holds Regional Conservation Fora every four years around the world in advance of IUCN’s World Conservation Congress (WCC), the next to be held in Jeju, Republic of Korea 6-15 September 2012. The Asia Regional Conservation Forum will be co-hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea and the IUCN National Committee of Members in Korea. The RCF is being organized with the Korean Organizing Committee for 2012 WCC. The RCF brings together some 500-700 representatives from IUCN’s Membership, Commissions, Secretariat, Council, donors and partners in Asia. The RCF will facilitate the identification of critical conservation issues facing the region and build consensus on how these concerns can be addressed.

IUCN Asia observes World Environment Day 2011

The World Environment Day (WED) is the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. The theme for the year 2011 is Forests: Nature At Your Service. “Although individual decisions may seem small in the face of global threats and trends, when billions of people join forces in common purpose, we can make a tremendous difference.” say, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.  IUCN celebrated World Environment Day with a range of events in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

Sepon mine considers biodiversity offset plan

A partner organisation to the Mekong Water Dialogues is implementing an offset plan that has the potential to maintain levels of biodiversity around the MMG LXML Sepon mine (the gold and copper mine located in Savannakhet province, Lao PDR) . Miners are usually interested mainly in rock samples. However, over the last year they have also been collecting samples of something rather different – elephant dung. Elephants, gibbons, tigers and several other important animal species can be found in the eastern part Savannakhet province. Collection of dung samples is just one of the methods that have been used to estimate animal populations and habitats in the area surrounding the mine.This field research has been coordinated by WCS (the Wildlife Conservation Society), with whom the mine has worked on a variety of projects since 2006. The work recently culminated in the production of a draft ‘biodiversity offset plan’ which is now being considered by MMG LXML Sepon.

Agroforestry: Balancing the need for nature conservation and livelihood betterment in China

While the term agroforestry has only been used since the 1960s, it has been a practice in China for thousands of years. IUCN has begun ecological agro-forestry trainings in Northern China. In the first training workshop in June this year, Xiaowopu villagers were taken on a study tour to Huai Rou county to learn about various ecological agro-forestry models and how these models could help to protect watershed while improving their livelihoods.

Protected Areas of East Asia

IUCN-WCPA and the IUCN Asia Regional Biodiversity Conservation Programme presents ‘Protected Areas of East Asia; Evaluating and strengthening implementation of the CBD Porgramme of Work on Protected Areas and the East Asian Regional Actions Plan’.

Groundwater in the Mekong Delta

Illegal bear bile trade rampant in Asia

Poaching and illegal trade of bears, driven largely by the demand for bile, used in traditional medicine and folk remedies continues unabated across Asia on a large scale, a new report by TRAFFIC, a joint programme of IUCN and WWF, has found.

Draft IUCN Programme for 2013-2016

The Draft IUCN Programme for 2013-2016 is a result of extensive discussions that have taken place over recent months with the IUCN Council and representatives of IUCN Commissions. The Draft IUCN Programme for 2013-2016 is now in its consultation process with Members and Commissions as well as the distributed IUCN Secretariat. Once the consultation process is complete, the revised draft of the Programme will be considered and endorsed by the IUCN Council at its November 2011 meeting. The final draft of the Programme, will be sent out to the entire IUCN membership in January 2012 and submitted for adoption at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in September 2012.

Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh receives national award for conservation

The Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB), a member of IUCN since 2008, received the Bangabandhu Award for Wildlife Conservation from the honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 1 June 2011. Professor Dr Md Anwarul Islam, Chief Executive of WTB, collected the award on behalf of organization at the inauguration ceremony of the National Tree Plantation Camp and Tree Fair organized by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. WTB has been working since 2003 to conserve critically endangered species, such as tigers, gibbons, elephants and bears.

Felicitation to Mr. Rajendra Khanal, IUCN Nepal

On the Occasion of World Environment Day, Hon. Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Deputy Prime Minister, Nepal, awarded Mr. Rajendra Khanal with the National Civil Service award-2011 on behalf of Jagriti Samaj Nepal. His 32 years of contribution to biodiversity conservation, agriculture, food security, forestry, watershed management and improvements in the livelihoods of the rural communities in Nepal were highly appreciated and acknowledged by all.