Indo-Burma Ecosystem Profile, 2007
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Ecosystem Profile Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot Indochina Region FINAL VERSION MAY 2007 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 Mead, David An Dara Men Soriyun CHINA Meoun Sam Ang Austin, Sean Bleisch, William A Bradley, Amanda Meynell, Peter-John Busstra Bram Chan Sophal Nong Divan Chan, Bosco Chheang Dany Ouch Kim Nary Chen, Kelin Chin Vibol Oum Saven Chen Ronggui Ching Uy Paley, Richard Dudgeon, David Delattre, Etienne Pel Piseth Fan, Bo Emmett, David Poole, Colin Gao Yu-ren Gauntlett, Suwanna Prum Sovanna Han, Lianxian Hak Song Sam Han Hau, Billy Heffernan, Joe Seng Kim Hout He, Zhaorong Heng Sovannara Seng Teak Hu, Jian Hogan, Zeb Shambhu Dangal Hu Zhihao Hong Chamnan Simms, Anthony Huang, Chengming Kong Kim Sreng Shore Robert Jiang, Hong Kry Masphal Sona Sok Jiang, Xuelong La Peng Ly Soun Phalla Kirkpatrick, Craig Lic Vuthy Tan Setha Kou, Zhitong Ly Saveth Tek Vannara Lau, Michael Mam Kosal Walston, Joe Leven, Mike Marris, Guy Weiler, Hunter Li, Yuyuan McLellan, Liz Withington, Dale Li, Zhaoyuan McLellan, Richard Yok Lin Liang, Wei ii Long, Yongcheng Parr, John Vu Thi Quyen Ng, Sai Chit Pattanwibul Anak Weil, Martin Pan Wenshi Pimathai, Rungratchanee Wind, Jan Shi, Haitao Prayoonsith, Theerapat Wang, Yingxiang Redford, Tim JAPAN Xie, Yan Round, Philip Chan, Simba Yang, Fan Santisuk, Thawatchai Grimmett, Richard Yang, Wenzhong Srikosamart, Sompoch Yang, Xiaojun Theerakup, Kamtorn Young, Lew Vidthayanon, Chavalit KENYA Zhang, Qun Webb, Edward Hunter, Nigel Zhang, Xiaohong Zhou, Fang VIETNAM MALAYSIA Compton, James Zhou, Wei Becker, Aaron Mundkur, Taej Zhu, Jianguo Coull, Eric Zou, Fasheng Cox, Nick Dinh The Hung THE NETHERLANDS LAO P.D.R. Eames, Jonathan van Dijk, Peter Paul Baird, Ian Hendrie ,Douglas van Rijsoort, Jeannette Cobey, Sarah Hoang Hoe Eve, Roland Infield, Mark UK Hansel, Troy Koeman, Annelisa Crosby, Mike Hedemark, Michael Le Van Lanh Darwall, Will Johnson, Arlyne Long, Barney McGowan, Phil Reece, Rick Martin, Bettina Sylavong, Latsamay Momberg, Frank USA Nadler, Tilo Brooks, Thomas THAILAND Nguyen Duc Tu Brunner, Jake Elkin, Chantal Boonsai, Kunakron Nguyen Luong Duyen Langhammer, Penny Brockelman, Warren Nguyen Phuc Bao Hoa Peters, James Chan-ard, Tanya Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy Sterling, Eleanor Chayamarit, Kongkanda Nguyen Thi Thu Huong Vynne, Carly Chutima, Gawin Oda, Kensei Duangkhae, Surapon Pham Thi Phuong Hoa Eawpanich, Piyathip Pham Tuan Anh Gale, George Rambaran, Girish Roberton, Scott Galster, Steven Grindley, Mark Stenke, Rosi Hankaew, Charoenwitt Swan, Steven Kanchanasaka, Budsabong Thomson, Julie Lynam, Anthony Tran Minh Dung Manopawitr, Petch Tran Triet Nabhitabhat, Jarujin Trinh Le Nguyen Nadee, Nivesh Vu Thi Minh Phuong iii CONTENTS Executive Summary............................................................................................................ iv 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 Logical Framework........................................................................................................... 94 Abbreviations Used in the Text ........................................................................................ 98 References....................................................................................................................... 100 Appendices...................................................................................................................... 112 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, l'Agence Française de Développement, 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