Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot Indochina Region
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Ecosystem Profile Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot Indochina Region FINAL DRAFT FOR SUBMISSION TO THE CEPF DONOR COUNCIL MARCH 8, 2007 CONTENTS Executive Summary..............................................................................................................v Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 The Ecosystem Profile ........................................................................................................ 3 Biological Importance of Indochina ................................................................................... 4 Conservation Outcomes.................................................................................................... 15 Socioeconomic Features ................................................................................................... 29 Legislation and Protected Area Networks ........................................................................ 41 Synopsis of Current Threats.............................................................................................. 48 Synopsis of Current Investment........................................................................................ 57 CEPF Niche for Investment.............................................................................................. 72 CEPF Investment Strategy and Program Focus................................................................ 74 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 93 Abbreviations Used in the Text ........................................................................................ 94 References......................................................................................................................... 96 Appendices...................................................................................................................... 108 ii Prepared by: BirdLife International in collaboration with: Bird Conservation Society of Thailand Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden WWF Cambodia Program and with the technical support of: Conservation International-Center for Applied Biodiversity Science Drafted by the ecosystem profiling team: Andrew W. Tordoff Michael C. Baltzer Peter Davidson John Fellowes Ha Quy Quynh Tran Thanh Tung Assisted by the following experts and contributors: CAMBODIA McLellan Richard Withington Dale An Dara Mead David Yok Lin Austin Sean Men Soriyun CHINA Bradley Amanda Meoun Sam Ang Bleisch William Chan Sophal Meynell Peter-John Busstra Bram Chheang Dany Nong Divan Chan Bosco Chin Vibol Ouch Kim Nary Chen Kelin Ching Uy Oum Saven Chen Ronggui Delattre Etienne Paley Richard Dudgeon David Emmett David Pel Piseth Fan Bo Gauntlett Suwanna Poole Colin Gao Yu-ren Hak Song Prum Sovanna Han Lianxian Heffernan Joe Sam Han Hau Billy Heng Sovannara Seng Kim Hout He Zhaorong Hogan Zeb Seng Teak Hu Jian Hong Chamnan Shambhu Dangal Hu Zhihao Kong Kim Sreng Simms Anthony Huang Chengming Kry Masphal Shore Robert Jiang Hong La Peng Ly Sona Sok Jiang Xuelong Lic Vuthy Soun Phalla Kirkpatrick Craig Ly Saveth Tan Setha Kou Zhitong Mam Kosal Tek Vannara Lau Michael Marris Guy Walston Joe Leven Mike McLellan Liz Weiler Hunter Li Yuyuan iii Li Zhaoyuan Nabhitabhat Jarujin Vu Thi Minh Phuong Liang Wei Nadee Nivesh Vu Thi Quyen Long Yongcheng Parr John Weil Martin Ng Sai Chit Pattanwibul Anak Wind Jan Pan Wenshi Pimathai Rungratchanee Shi Haitao Prayoonsith Theerapat JAPAN Wang Yingxiang Redford Tim Chan Simba Xie Yan Round Philip Grimmett Richard Yang Fan Santisuk Thawatchai Yang Wenzhong Srikosamart Sompoch Yang Xiaojun Theerakup Kamtorn KENYA Young Lew Vidthayanon Chavalit Hunter Nigel Zhang Qun Webb Edward Zhang Xiaohong MALAYSIA Zhou Fang VIETNAM Compton James Mundkur Taej Zhou Wei Becker Aaron Zhu Jianguo Coull Eric Zou Fasheng Cox Nick THE NETHERLANDS Dinh The Hung van Dijk Peter Paul LAO P.D.R. Eames Jonathan van Rijsoort Jeannette Baird Ian Hendrie Douglas Cobey Sarah Hoang Hoe UK Eve Roland Infield Mark Crosby Mike Hansel Troy Koeman Annelisa Darwall Will Hedemark Michael Le Van Lanh McGowan Phil Johnson Arlyne Long Barney Reece Rick Martin Bettina USA Sylavong Latsamay Momberg Frank Brooks Thomas Nadler Tilo Brunner Jake THAILAND Nguyen Duc Tu Elkin Chantal Langhammer Penny Boonsai Kunakron Nguyen Luong Duyen Peters James Brockelman Warren Nguyen Phuc Bao Hoa Sterling Eleanor Chan-ard Tanya Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy Vynne Carly Chayamarit Kongkanda Nguyen Thi Thu Huong Chutima Gawin Oda Kensei Duangkhae Surapon Pham Thi Phuong Hoa Eawpanich Piyathip Pham Tuan Anh Rambaran Girish Gale George Galster Steven Roberton Scott Grindley Mark Stenke Rosi Hankaew Charoenwitt Swan Steven Kanchanasaka Budsabong Thomson Julie Lynam Anthony Tran Minh Dung Manopawitr Petch Tran Triet Trinh Le Nguyen iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is designed to safeguard Earth’s biologically richest and most threatened regions known as biodiversity hotspots. CEPF is a joint initiative of Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the government of Japan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the World Bank. The program focuses on biological areas rather than political boundaries and examines conservation threats on a hotspot-level basis. CEPF targets transboundary cooperation in areas of high importance for biodiversity conservation that straddle national borders, or in areas where a regional approach will be more effective than a national approach. CEPF provides civil society with an agile and flexible funding mechanism complementing funding available to government institutions. The Indo-Burma Hotspot, with its unique assemblages of plant and animal communities and threatened and endemic species, and high levels of threat, is a global priority for conservation. The ecosystem profile focuses on the Indochina Region, which covers 1,496,000 km2 of land within the hotspot and comprises all non-marine parts of Cambodia, Lao P.D.R., Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as Hainan Island and southern parts of Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guangdong provinces in southern China. The ecosystem profile for Indochina was developed through a process of consultation and desk study coordinated by BirdLife International in collaboration with the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand, Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden, and the WWF Cambodia Program with the technical support of the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS) at Conservation International. More than 170 stakeholders from civil society, government, and donor institutions were consulted during the preparation of the ecosystem profile. Myanmar is not covered by this ecosystem profile. The ecosystem profile presents an overview of Indochina in terms of its biodiversity conservation importance, major threats to and root causes of biodiversity loss, socioeconomic context, and current conservation investments. It provides a suite of measurable conservation outcomes, identifies funding gaps, and opportunities for investment, and thus identifies the niche where CEPF investment can provide the greatest incremental value. The ecosystem profile contains a 5-year investment strategy for CEPF in the region. This investment strategy comprises a series of strategic funding opportunities, termed strategic directions, broken down into a number of investment priorities outlining the types of activities that will be eligible for CEPF funding. Civil society organizations or individuals may propose projects that will help implement the strategy by fitting into at least one of the strategic directions. The ecosystem profile does not include specific project concepts, as civil society groups will develop these as part of their applications for CEPF grant funding. v Conservation Outcomes The biological basis for CEPF investment in Indochina will be conservation outcomes: the quantifiable set of species, sites, and biodiversity conservation corridors that must be conserved to curb biodiversity loss globally. The species, site, and corridor outcomes for Indochina were identified during the preparation of the ecosystem profile and then prioritized as part of developing the CEPF niche and investment strategy. Selecting priority sites and corridors enables CEPF investment in site-based and landscape-scale conservation actions to focus on geographic areas (particularly sites) of the highest priority, while selecting priority species enables CEPF investment in species-focused conservation actions to be directed at those globally threatened species with conservation needs that cannot be adequately addressed by site- based and landscape-scale conservation actions alone. In all cases, the most important selection criteria were urgency for conservation action and opportunity for additional investment. Priority species, sites, and corridors were only selected where current threats, if not mitigated, were predicted to cause extinction of species or the loss of key elements of biodiversity in the case of sites and corridors within the next 20 years. During the preparation process, 492 species outcomes, 362 site outcomes, and 53 corridor outcomes were defined for Indochina. Other Important Considerations The profiling process also included an analysis of threats, socioeconomic features, and current investments to help design the most effective investment strategy. The major threats to biodiversity in Indochina include a combination