Wildlife conservation efforts in south Asia and the success met?

Question

Wildlife conservation efforts in south Asia and the success met?

Answer 1

From Conservation to Restoration:

The Future of Wildlife in Asia

A Summary

November 12, 2003

Panelists:

Joshua Ginsberg, Director of the Asia and Pacific Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society

Minh Duc Le, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University

Mark Ashton, Professor of Siliviculture and Forest Ecology at Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Photo montage by Eleanor Briggs, award-winning photographer for the International Crane Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Society and other organizations

Wildlife and forests in Asia are in rapid decline. One thousand years ago, tropical Asia was largely covered with forests. Orang-utans used to be found from central China southward throughout South East Asia. This is no longer true. Sightings of the massive Mayanmar tigers are limited to only 3 of the 17 original areas. In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, the number of nesting marine turtles has dropped by 90%, the range of the proboscis monkey is greatly limited and riverbanks are quiet with the decimation of the strawheaded bulbul. While total extinction of wildlife species takes a while, if we don't start protecting wildlife now, we will be in trouble 20 to 30 years from now. The rhino is essentially extinct in Southeast Asia. The tiger will be next.

This was the sobering message of Joshua Ginsberg, Director of the Asia and Pacific Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which co-hosted the Asia Society's program on wildlife and forestry conservation. In order to protect wildlife, humans must reestablish the forests where they live, say experts. And there are signs that well-trained professionals and governments in Thailand and different states in India are aware of these issues. Working against this message is the commercial logging of forest lands, with estimates that over 50% of Asia's remaining forests are under contract for future logging activity. Logging, which has a minor affect on wildlife directly, brings on the devastating effects of more roads, increased risk of fires and hunting.

The hunting of wildlife is the single biggest factor leading to the extinction of certain species in Southeast Asia, according to a report by Dr. Elizabeth Bennett, who directs WCS's hunting and wildlife trade program but was unable to attend the Asia Society panel. But hunting is difficult to condemn. Wildlife is a source of protein for the area's mushrooming population and hunting is an important cultural component for many Southeast Asians. And hunting has existed since mankind. What has happened? The area's population explosion, increased logging and fewer forests have made their marks on the immediate wildlife population and its chances for procreation.

Minh Duc Le, who worked for Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and was involved in community-based conservation projects before enrolling in graduate school in the United States, described the enormous number of species indigenous to Vietnam, with new ones discovered every year. But primary forests continue to decrease drastically, with less than 10% of the country's forests remaining. Worse, what forests remain are miles from each other, causing trouble for mobile species that travel a lot.

The reasons for Vietnam's deforesting: uncontrolled logging, road construction, coffee plantations and other agricultural expansion and normal pressures of an expanding population. Vietnam is the size of the state of Oregon but with twenty times the population. Minh Le reports that the Vietnamese government is supporting creative conservation efforts.

Mark Ashton, ecology professor at Yale and a leading authority on the subject of tropical forest restoration, gave some hope that with local community help, healthy forests can be revived from a degraded status. Chronic or what he calls sub-lethal deforestation, like acid rain, harvesting herbs or canopy tree logging, can be stopped or controlled by enrichment planting. But to reforest after acute or lethal degradation, such as what happens to land under tea or rubber crop production, requires much more knowledge, money and effort. It is possible, however, for tropical forests to be revived and this must be done.

In response to questions from the audience, Dr. Ashton offered two thoughts to consider in the future. One is how water shortage can serve as a pressure towards forest restoration. As drinking water becomes a more precious and dwindling commodity, humans will be forced to restore the upland watersheds that serve to catch the surface water. Water will become wildlife and forests' best friend. Secondly, although Southeast Asian governments are becoming pro-actively involved in conservations of wildlife and forests, the underlying problem of land tenure stability, property rights, education and culture in the disparate countries of SE Asia will play a larger part than government action in whether forests can be saved or not. In short, to bring back the forests, a country must address poverty and other social problems so that land use and hunting can be seen with a long-term perspective.

Answer 2

they have gone a long way by establishing wildlife conservation in asia and have forests guards but they still have to do more

Answer 3

I wish there was a lot more conservation going on around the world.

Answer 4

Not @ all .. Most of South asian economy is Developing.. so ppl & governments have less interested in this field!!