The Biodiversity of the Proposed Western Siem Pang Protected Forest Stung Treng Province, Cambodia
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Biodiversity of the Proposed Western Siem Pang Protected Forest Stung Treng Province, Cambodia August 2012 The Biodiversity of the Proposed Western Siem Pang Protected Forest Stung Treng Province, Cambodia BirdLife International Cambodia Programme August 2012 BIODIVERSITY OF WESTERN SIEM PANG CONTENTS CONTENTS BirdLife International also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Forestry Bureau, Council of Agriculture for the continuing v Acknowledgments vi Abbreviations conservation management of Western Siem Pang forest vi Acronyms vii Conventions and Terms used ix Foreword by Jorgen Thomsen xi Foreword by Chheng Kimsun xii Executive Summary in English xv Executive Summary in Khmer 1 CHAPTER 1: Introduction 2 Purpose and Background 7 International Support 11 Surveys and studies Recommended citation: BirdLife International Cambodia Programme (2012) The Biodiversity 19 CHAPTER 2. Forests and other Wildlife Habitats of the Proposed Western Siem Pang Protected Forest Stung Treng Province, Cambodia. Phnom 37 CHAPTER 3. Mammals Penh, Cambodia. BirdLife International Cambodia Programme. 42 Key species accounts © BirdLife International Cambodia Programme 57 Other large mammals #9, Street 29 Tonle Bassac, Chamkarmon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 61 CHAPTER 4. Birds P.O. Box 2686, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 62 Bird species richness BirdLife International 65 Key species accounts Wellbrook Court, Girton Road, Cambridge, CB3 0NA, United Kingdom. 97 Selected riverine and other wetland associated bird species accounts ISBN: 978-0-946888-77-1 113 CHAPTER 5. Other Wildlife in Western Siem Pang First published in August 2012 by BirdLife International Cambodia Programme 114 Reptiles and Amphibians Photographs copyright © 2012 Jonathan C Eames or as credited. 119 Butterflies All views expressed within are the authors’ and editors alone unless attributed otherwise and do not 121 CHAPTER 6. Threats To Western Siem Pang necessarily reflect the opinion of BirdLife International, the Forestry Administration, or the MacArthur 122 Landscape scale loss of dry forest Foundation. While the authors and editor strive for rigour and accuracy in presenting this report, 122 Timber extraction we make no representations as to completeness, suitability or validity of any information contained, and will not be liable for any errors or omissions. The designation of geographical entities in this 124 Harvest of wild animals document, do not imply the expression on the part of the authors, or editor concerning the delineation 131 Fire of frontiers and boundaries. The authors and editor take no responsibility for any misrepresentation of 132 Livestock management and agricultural intensification material that may result from the translation of this document into any other languages. Reproduction of any part of this report for educational, conservation and other non-profit purposes is authorised 134 Invasive species without prior permission from the copyright holders, provided that the source is fully acknowledged. 134 Hydropower development on the Sekong Reproduction for commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission from the copyright holders. i BIODIVERSITY OF WESTERN SIEM PANG CONTENTS CHAPTER 7. Discussion: The global significance of Western Siem Pang for 83 Map 4.4. The hypothesised range of Slender-billed Vulture in Indochina 137 wildlife conservation showing the movements of two satellite-tracked individuals caught in Preah Vihear Protected Forest in May 2005 145 REFERENCES 156 ANNEXES Annex 1: Clearance schedule for the zone of overlap between Western 156 Siem Pang and the Green Sea Concession Annex 2: Provisional list of some plant species reported from Western 159 TaBLES Siem Pang 167 Annex 3: Large mammal species confirmed from Western Siem Pang Table 1.1. Summary of White-shouldered Ibis counts across Cambodia July to 171 Annex 4: Bird species recorded in WSP and surrounding areas 74 October 2010 Annex 5: Bird species characteristic of Deciduous Dipterocarp Forest, Table 3.1. Globally Threatened and Near-threatened Large Mammal Species 192 39 and their status in Western Siem Pang that occurred or predictably occurred in Western Siem Pang Annex 6: Provisional list of reptiles and amphibians from Western Siem Table 4.2. Counts of the three resident vultures during monthly vulture 199 80 Pang restaurants in Western Siem Pang Table 4.3. Breeding data for Red-headed Vulture in Western Siem Pang from 202 Annex 7: Butterflies recorded within Western Siem Pang 81 late 2009 onwards Table 4.4. Yearly census results for the three resident vultures from all 82 restaurants across northern Cambodia Table 4.5. Known nesting sites of Slender-billed Vulture in Cambodia and 84 numbers of birds fledged Table 4.6. Numbers of Greater Adjutant visiting the vulture restaurant in 89 Western Siem Pang MAPS Table 4.7. Monitoring team observations of Lesser Adjutants and their group 91 sizes in 2010 3 Map 1.1. Western Siem Pang and its relationship with surrounding protected Table 4.8. Monitoring team observations of Lesser Adjutants and their group 91 areas sizes in 2009 Table 4.9. Monitoring team observations of Sarus Cranes and their group sizes 6 Map 1.2. The main landscape features of Western Siem Pang 92 in 2010 10 Map 1.3. Proposed Western Siem Pang Protected Forest showing the extent of Table 4.10. Monitoring team observations of Sarus Cranes and their group sizes overlap with the Green Sea Concession 94 in 2009 15 Map 1.4. Locations of sample plots for carbon stock assessment 103 Table 4.11. River Lapwing counts along the Sekong 21 Map 2.1. Lower Mekong Dry Forests Ecoregion 104 Table 4.12. River Tern counts along the Sekong 22 Map 2.2. Different interpretations of vegetation cover at Western Siem Pang Table A1. Clearance schedule for the zone of overlap between Western Siem 156 25 Map 2.3. Vegetation map of the proposed Western Siem Pang Protected Forest Pang and the Green Sea Concession 51 Map 3.1. Distribution of Eld’s Deer within Western Siem Pang Table A5. Bird species characteristic of Deciduous Dipterocarp Forest, and 192 64 Map 4.1. Areas within Western Siem Pang that were surveyed for birds in 2006 their status in Western Siem Pang 67 Map 4.2. Distribution of Giant Ibis Thaumatibis gigantea at Western Siem Pang 75 Map 4.3. Locations and numbers of White-shouldered Ibis Nov 2009–Sept 2010 ii iii BIODIVERSITY OF WESTERN SIEM PANG ACKNOWLEDGMENTS BOXES Acknowledgments 4 Box 1: Local Communities of Western Siem Pang The first draft of this report was initially compiled by Frank Lambert in early 2011. Following 5 Box 2: Important Bird Area (IBA) High Conservation Value (HCV) a survey of the eastern part of Western Siem Pang, whose biodiversity values were then largely 5 Box 3: BirdLife Cambodia Programme unknown, in December 2011, the report was thoroughly revised and updated with new information by R. J. Timmins. Significant contributions to the data presented in the text were 9 Box 4: Local Conservation Groups also made by David Buckingham, Jonathan C. Eames and Hugh L. Wright. The maps were 28 Box 5: Water Buffalo and Wetland Vegetation drawn by Liam Costello and Ung Sochead. The report was designed and layout completed by Tran Thi Thanh Huong. 35 Box 6: Threatened species Thanks are due to members of BirdLife staff based at the Western Siem Pang field office, 62 Box 7: Vulture restaurant notably Lourn Bunpaeng, Mem Mai and Net Norin who, as the BirdLife monitoring team, 116 Box 8: Frogs and ibises in Western Siem Pang collect and collate the monthly biodiversity data. 132 Box 9: Grazing and White-shouldered Ibises We are also grateful to David Ashwell, Andrea Claassen, Bou Vorsak, Gordon Congdon, Peter Paul van Dijk, Frédéric Goes, Douglas Hendrie, Keo Omaliss, Kry Masphal, James Maxwell, Pech Bunnat, Hugo Rainey and Phil Rundel. We would like to thank His Excellency Cheng Kimsun, Head of the Forestry Administration and Mr. Men Phymean, Director of the Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity, Forestry Administration for their strong support to the project in Western Siem Pang. This report is an output of the project entitled Evaluating, consolidating and sustaining conservation of key sites in the Lower Mekong which was funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. iv v BIODIVERSITY OF WESTERN SIEM PANG CONVENTIONS AND TERMS USED Abbreviations Conventions and Terms used asl above sea level BirdLife International implements a conservation programme in Cambodia. Throughout this km kilometres report we refer to BirdLife. m metres ha hectare Citation of wildlife data from Western Siem Pang: much of the data presented in this report has not previously been published even within ‘grey literature’ reports. For future clarity significant data or interpretations of the data are attributed to their primary source. There are six main sources of data derived from separate project related activities. For brevity these sources are abbreviated in the text. ‘SSG’ refers to data collected by the BirdLife SSG / LCG Acronyms and later BirdLife monitoring teams and sometimes the source is given as such in the text (occasionally a specific team member is cited if the data is very specific in origin); ‘CVCP’ refers to data collected by the Cambodian Vulture Conservation Project, largely in the form a.k.a also known as of monthly reports compiled from data received from each of the restaurants; D Buckingham CCBA The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance pers. comm. refers to data collected by Prach Pich Phirun and he in 2006; H L Wright pers. CEPF Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund comm. refers to data collected during the course of his field work in Western Siem Pang; CVCP Cambodian Vulture Conservation Project (and data attributed R J Timmins pers. comm. refers to data and observations made in Western Siem Pang in to the CVCP) November 2003, May and December 2011, as well as data inferences relevant to Western Siem DDF Deciduous Dipterocarp Forest (sometimes called Dry Deciduous Forest or Dry Pang that have come as a result of extensive field work in Indochina over the course of nearly Dipterocarp Forest) two decades; J C Eames pers.