Annual Report 2017
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ANNUAL REPORT 2017 ANNUAL REPORT 2017 www.treekangaroo.org Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program Annual Report 2017 Seattle, Washington, USA • 2018 3 Contents About Us 6 Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program Team Members 10 Five Strategies for Achieving TKCP’s Mission 12 STRATEGY ONE: Managing the YUS Conservation Area 26 STRATEGY TWO: Applying Our Research 20 STRATEGY THREE: Planning for a Sustainable Future 24 STRATEGY FOUR: Supporting the Communities 34 STRATEGY FIVE: Operating TKCP 38 Media & Outreach 40 Support 42 Cover: Matschie’s tree kangaroo at TKCP’s Wasaunon research site. Photo by Jonathan Byers. Thanks Back Cover, from left: YUS Junior Ranger Program volunteer teachers Eunice Limson, Jenilah Jethro, and Emily Jacob, Yawan village. Photo by David Gillison. Title Page: A boy poses next to his home for photographer David Gillison’s “Voices of YUS” book project. Photo by David Gillison. 46 Left, top: Matschie’s tree kangaroo in YUS. Photo by Doug Bonham. Maps Left, bottom: Children at play in YUS. Photo by David Gillison. Village and landscape in YUS. Photo by Mikal Nolan Common Acronyms AZA – Association of Zoos & Aquariums (USA) NGO – Non-governmental Organization AZA TK-SSP – Association of Zoos & Aquariums Tree Kangaroo PHE – Population Health Environment Species Survival Plan PNG – Papua New Guinea CA – Conservation Area TKCP – Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program CAMC – Conservation Area Management Committee TKCP-PNG – Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program – Papua New CBO – Community-based Organization Guinea (local NGO) CEPA – Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (formerly UNDP - United Nations Development Program the Department of Environment and Conservation) UNDP GEF-SGP – United Nations Development Programme Global CIC - Coffee Industry Corporation Environment Facility Small Grant Programme GEF – Global Environment Facility WPZ – Woodland Park Zoo IUCN – International Union for the Conservation of Nature YUS – Yopno-Uruwa-Som LLG – Local Level Government YUS CO – YUS Conservation Organization (landowner association and community-based organization) LUP – Land-use Planning 2 About Us Vision Mission The Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program The Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program envisions a sustainable, healthy, and resilient fosters wildlife and habitat conservation and Huon Peninsula landscape which supports the supports local community livelihoods in Papua area’s unique biodiversity, human communities, New Guinea through global partnerships, land and culture. protection, and scientific research. Three Organizations, One Common Vision The Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) is the umbrella name for the partnership between Woodland Park Zoo’s TKCP and TKCP-PNG. TREE KANGAROO WOODLAND PARK ZOO’S CONSERVATION PROGRAM TREE KANGAROO – PAPUA NEW GUINEA CONSERVATION (TKCP-PNG) PROGRAM (TKCP) An independent non-governmental Woodland Park Zoo’s TKCP serves organization registered in PNG. as a model for the “living landscape” TKCP-PNG is the implementing approach to conservation among partner of TKCP. Based in Lae, PNG. the zoo’s Partners for Wildlife field conservation program. Based in Seattle, Washington, USA. Seattle, Washington USA Lae, Papua New Guinea (PNG) YUS CONSERVATION ORGANIZATION (YUS CO) To ensure local ownership and continued community support of our work, TKCP partners with the community-based YUS Conservation Organization which represents the interests of local landowners and their communities. Based in YUS, PNG. 3 International Partnerships for the Protection of Tree Kangaroos TKCP is the designated field program for the Association of Zoos & Aquariums Tree Kangaroo Species Survival Plan (AZA TK-SSP). Species Survival Plan programs focus on animals in danger of going extinct in the wild, using breeding in zoos as one approach to help the species survive and to link AZA institutions to field conservation work. TKCP is supported by zoological institutions throughout the globe which are working together for the conservation of tree kangaroos. Through the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and its affiliate zoological associations, the international tree kangaroo partnership network promotes greater integration and a more holistic approach to protecting tree kangaroo species. Top: Matschie’s tree kangaroo with tracking collar. Photo by Daniel Solomon Okena, TKCP. Bottom: Annie Ogate and children pose in Yawan village for photographer David Gillison’s “Voices of YUS” book project. Photo by David Gillison. 1996 2004 2008 2011 First land pledged First YUS Teacher’s Scholarship students TKCP receives five-year grants from The YUS for conservation graduate from Balob Teacher’s College and Conservation International and from the Conservation by YUS landowner return to teach in YUS primary schools Lifeweb Initiative of the German Federal Endowment is Mambawe Manaono Ministry of Environment (BMU) and established at and his clan German Development Bank (KfW) Woodland Park Zoo to provide Tree kangaroo 2005 sustainable funding conservation Landmark YUS landowner workshop for conservation research begins with the Department of Environment and 2009 Conservation (now CEPA), Conservation The YUS Conservation Area is formally efforts in YUS International, and TKCP to apply for gazetted by PNG’s national government, YUS Conservation 1999 Conservation Area status protecting 187,000 acres of wildlife habitat Coffee farmers’ first TKCP’s education TKCP’s health project starts with the visit bags of coffee are project starts of its volunteer team of physicians exported to Caffe 2010 Vita in Seattle TKCP’s livelihood project starts with a focus on coffee 4 History Building a Model for Community-based Conservation in Papua New Guinea The Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) is country’s first nationally-protected Conservation Area in 2009. Woodland Park Zoo’s flagship international conservation The 187,000-acre YUS Conservation Area is the first protected program, focused on conserving the endangered Matschie’s area of its type in PNG –providing protection at the landscape tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei) and the habitat in scale, wholly owned by local people, and with the support of which it lives. From its beginnings in 1996 to determine the the PNG government for long-term protection. status of the Matschie’s tree kangaroo in the wild, TKCP has Under PNG’s customary land tenure system in which local evolved into a holistic program supporting habitat protection people own and control over 90% of the land, long-term habitat for a wide range of threatened species, as well as initiatives to protection relies on the commitment and participation of the local enhance local community livelihoods and access to government communities who depend on the forest’s products and services. services. TKCP is now the umbrella name for the partnership Together with local landowners and communities, TKCP partners between WPZ’s TKCP and TKCP-PNG, the locally-registered with the PNG government, conservation biologists, social nongovernmental organization in Papua New Guinea. scientists, universities, research institutions, and other NGOs to Over the course of more than 20 years, the program has build local capacity for the sustainable management of the YUS grown from its mountainous roots to embrace a broad Conservation Area (YUS CA) and the surrounding landscape. landscape encompassing marine and coastal reef ecosystems, Through these efforts, TKCP strives to create a healthy landscape lowland and montane rain forests, alpine grasslands, and the for humans, wildlife, and the environment. agricultural areas and settlements belonging to more than 50 Through these partnerships, local residents build a strong villages within the Yopno, Uruwa, and Som (YUS) watershed connection between their commitment to conservation in YUS areas on the Huon Peninsula. with better opportunities for their families and communities. With Together with the local landowners in YUS, the PNG more than two decades of effort and experience, TKCP continues government, Conservation International, Lifeweb Initiative, to shape the concept of conservation for the country, setting a and many other supporters, TKCP helped to establish the benchmark to which other national protected areas can aspire. 2012 2014 2016 2017 Team of 12 YUS TKCP receives the YUS Junior Ranger YUS Conservation Coffee & Cocoa Cooperative is formally Conservation United Nations Program developed registered with the PNG government, representing the interests of Area Rangers Equator Prize and piloted to more than 600 farming families in YUS is established engage the future Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tools (SMART) are integrated to patrol and leaders of YUS in into YUS Conservation Area Ranger patrols to enhance YUS CA monitor the YUS local conservation 2015 management Conservation Area YUS Conservation efforts In partnership with Microsoft software engineer Doug Bonham, Area expands its TKCP receives TKCP developed and deployed a new type of tree kangaroo collar protection and five-year grants equipped with GPS tracking and altitudinal sensors, enabling TKCP 2013 management to from the Global to collect much more data on tree kangaroo ecology and behavior TKCP-PNG is include coastal and Environment Facility registered as a local marine ecosystems through the UNDP PNG’s Healthy Island Concept is incorporated into TKCP’s nongovernmental with the launch of and from Rainforest health program organization in a community-based Trust Papua New Guinea marine monitoring “A Life