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2003 | |
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In December 2003 it was the Upper Baram area yet again - it looks like I'll be working in
the area more or less full-time next year, so trips there are not
going to be so news-worthy any more! This time I went to the
northern side of the logging area, where no logging has been done as
yet. I flew in to the airstrip at the Kelabit village of Long
Lellang together with a colleague who has been doing a study of wild
meat as a food resource for the local people. She introduced me to
leaders of two communities there, and we talked about their views of
an expanded research project to look at the ecology of the area.
Both groups were positive, but they had good questions and
suggestions. I plan to visit the other villages in the area for
similar discussions after the rice harvest season, which is in
January.  |
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Another trip out to the Upper Baram area in Sarawak, where we are
working with the logging company and Sarawak Forestry to stop
commercial hunting in the logging area, so that local residents
stock of protein will not be depleted. We are also in the early
stages of planning a major research programme to see how wildlife
use the forest matrix, including logged and unlogged patches with
various sizes and silvicultural treatments. The aim of this trip was
to meet up with some community leaders and explore arrangements to
visit them to discuss hunting and research projects. |
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I recently helped to run a WCS training course in Wildlife
Identification for ten of the enforcement officers of the Sarawak
Forestry Corporation (SFC).
The focus was on what they needed to know when patrolling markets
and checking on pet shops and souvenir shops. The law on the sale of
wildlife in Sarawak is very tight, but depends on good enforcement.
The course went well, and we will be running more courses in 2004 to
improve the skills of all their enforcement staff. |
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With just 2 days in Kuching to wash my socks, I was off again, this
time to New Zealand, where Lincoln University had laid on a mini
study tour for Wilfred Landong, SFC's head of Protected
Areas and Biodiversity Conservation Division. Quite apart
from the pleasure of visiting some of the most spectacular sites in
South Island, we were able to talk to many of the Department of
Conservation staff about their work, their organizational
strategies, and the issues which they face.
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July and August were busy but bity. I went to the Biotourism
Conference in Miri and Lincoln University alumni held a reunion in
Kuching. We
went up to the logging area in the Upper Baram where WCS is working
on hunting issues; an enforcement officer came along with us and he
found wildmeat in a couple of freezers in the concession. We also
went across to Deramakot in Sabah to look at a logging area
certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as sustainably managed.
The Sabah Forest Department has invested a lot in management, but
they are getting premium prices for their timber and will soon be in
the black. Then in September I spent a couple of weeks back in
the UK again. |
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In June 2003 I spent a week in Vientiane, Lao PDR. When I first
arrived in Laos in 1995, WCS was doing wildlife surveys in the
catchment of the proposed Nam Theun II hydropower scheme and we got
involved in the Environmental Impact Assessment. The project is now
being revived after the Asian financial crisis, and I helped to
collate the original wildlife work with research which has been done
in the area since that first EIA report. It was good to meet old
friends in Vientiane and to visit some of our old haunts, but a pity
that I didn't have time to get out of the city. It was the height of
the wet season, so probably just as well! |
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At the Manila WCPA meeting I met Dr Imelda
Stuckle of BIOTROP
in Bogor, Indonesia, and she invited me to brief her colleagues on
the Lincoln University programme we had run in Sarawak. So in June I
was back in Bogor for the first time since 1996. Apart from
BIOTROP, I met people at the Bogor Agricultural University, the University
of Indonesia, CIFOR, and the Forest Department. Perhaps the most
interesting initiative for training protected area staff is the Conservation
Training and Resource Center (CTRC), jointly established by WCS and
CI and supported by institutions including government, NGOs, BIOTROP
and the Universities. |
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A topic we seemed to be getting into more and more is the management
of wildlife within logging areas. Logged areas are much more
extensive than protected areas and can play an important role
in providing habitat for rare and wide-ranging species. With that in
mind, we went across to Peninsula Malaysia to see the Perak
Integrated Timber Complex, a logging operation which has been
certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as being sustainably
managed. The rate of regeneration of vegetation after careful
extraction of timber was impressive, and there is obviously scope
for studying the response of wildlife to the changes which have
taken place. |
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In March I had a few weeks back in UK, then to Manila for the
regional meeting of IUCN's World
Commission for Protected Areas. This was a follow-up to the meetings
in Pakse in 1999 and in Bogor in 1996, and met many old friends.
I delivered a paper
on the Lincoln programme in Sarawak and presented a paper by WCS
on our work with communities and timber companies in the Upper Baram
area. The programme included a trip out to Biak na Bato
NP, a limestone area north of Manila. It was interesting to see how
park management works in the Philippines, where local communities
and local government units are very much involved. |
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I was back in Kuching in time for Chinese New Year - and a
spectacular view of the fireworks from my eighth floor balcony. The
weather was determinedly wet and relatively cool, so it was not too
much of a shock after freezing in Korea. I'm working once again for
the Wildlife Conservation Society, specifically to assist with their
work in Malaysian protected areas. The first stage of this will be
to work with the newly-formed Sarawak Forestry Corporation Sdn Bhd
on the details of WCS's future role in protected areas. The month
was mainly meetings and drafting documents, but I did get out for a
few days at Kuala
Selangor Nature Park in West Malaysia, which is managed by the
Malaysian Nature Society for the Selangor State Government. It has
large numbers of grey herons and some purple herons, both of which
were nesting. |
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January 2003 was the time for a third visit to DPR Korea. It was
mid-winter, with temperatures below -20șC, but fortunately little
wind. The river in front of the hotel was frozen over and made
a great skating rink for the kids. This was a follow up to the
visit nearly two years before, when I had helped to start the
planning process for the Mount Myohyang protected area. The Korean
team had done a lot of work in the intervening months and we managed
to get through the final stages of the planning process, though a
lot of loose ends need to be tidied up before the plan can be
finalised and implemented. |
| © 2001-2004 Michael E Meredith | |