Cambodia Tiger Conservation Program
Progress report to Save the Tiger Fund
August 1999
by Kristin Nowell, Cat Action Treasury
David Phemister
Save the Tiger Fund
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
1120 Connecticut Ave NW Ste 900
Washington DC 20036
August 27, 1999
Dear David,
Enclosed please find materials to inform you on the progress of CAT's Cambodian Tiger conservation program, and to request payment of the final installment of our grant.
Survey Data Analysis, Write-up and Publication
Funds were used to support translation of the 307 hunter and official interviews from1998 from Khmer to English. This was done by the "Tiger Team" which had actually done the interviews, the five former Khmer wildlife students, now Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (MAFF) staff. Sun Hean, Hunter Weiler and I met with David Smith at his lab in October 1998 at the University of Minnesota to plan a data analysis strategy. Sun Hean flew back to Cambodia in December 1998 to collect GIS maps, and help plan and organize the 1999 hunter interviews and tiger conservation workshops. Our key results on tiger distribution and estimates of population size were presented in an article published in the Spring 1999 edition of the Cat Specialist Group newsletter Cat News (I presume you have a copy for this project's records, and have not included one here). The project has been discussed in London Sunday Times and Phnom Penh Post articles which I sent you in a previous package; here I am including some additional press clips. The project is also discussed in articles being prepared for Conde Nast Traveller and International Wildlife. Our tiger distribution records have been forwarded to the Wildlife Conservation Society to help develop a complete map of tiger records for use in the Cambodian conservation community.
A more complete reporting of our results will be in the project final report. We may ask for additional funding to support data analysis. This project has collected a great deal of valuable information on tiger prey and other rare species in Cambodia. I am including three examples to illustrate the significance of what we have learned: a report by Hunter Weiler, "The Status of Wild Cattle in Cambodia: August 1999 Update" and a chapter prepared for the IUCN Asian Antelope Action Plan on the enigmatic khting vor. Reports of continued presence of Javan rhino in the Cardamoms region are discussed in "Tiger Conservation Workshops and Hunter Interviews in Koh Kong and Pursat Provinces".
Interview Survey for Developing a Tiger Monitoring Program
71 hunter interviews were conducted in areas selected from the 1998 survey data as being rich in wildlife. MAFF Wildlife Protection Office (WPO) staff took the lead in articulating the interview questionnaire, designed to gather more information about the hunters themselves, to build good working relationships, and to test the results of the first survey and evaluate the feasibility of using hunter reports to monitor wildlfe populations. The methods used and a brief summary of results are described in the enclosed progress report "Overview of 1999 Interview Survey of Hunters in Cambodia". The final grant installment will pay stipends to the Tiger Team authors to compile a detailed joint report for WPO in Khmer, which will be edited and approved by Deputy Director Sun Hean. We may seek additional funds to translate the report into English and adapt it for publication.
The enclosed report, "Tiger Conservation Workshops and Hunter Interviews in Koh Kong and Pursat Provinces" (see pages 28-40) gives a more detailed description of the information yielded by both the 1998 and 1999 interviews in the Cardamoms mountain region. This paper will be published as part of a report on a May 1999 wildlife survey in the Cardamoms by Fauna and Flora International. CAT project consultants participated, getting valuable training in biological survey techniques while helping the FFI consultants with logistics, strategy and background information.
Tiger Conservation Training and Awareness Workshops for Government Officials
After a good deal of discussion and planning, provincial and district level workshops were combined, and six were held in key areas around the country in March-April 1999. A total of over 200 government officials, from the level of provincial governor to district police chief, attended. It was the first time many of them had heard about the importance of tiger conservation. Many of them presented new and valuable information at the workshops about the specific situations of tigers and other wildlife in their home areas. At the same time, a total ban on hunting and illegal logging had been declared, and the issue of tiger conservation was given prominence as part of new serious attitude towards enforcement of environmental protection in the country.
The workshops were designed and led by the WPO. Advance teams visited provincial capitals and spent several days making contacts with officials and putting together invitation lists. Workshops were held in six provinces. Ratanakiri province was not included because of a WWF/WCS sponsored workshop held there in June with similar aims.
An English translation of the workshop agenda is included. In addition, the Tiger Team prepared English summaries of the workshop minutes, which are also enclosed. (WPO only has one computer, and most staff work with pen and paper.) An example of the format our final report on the workshops will take may be found in the abovementioned report on workshops and interviews in Koh Kong and Pursat provinces (the Cardamoms region).
WPO designed and produced a poster to educate the public on the benefits of tigers. Points raised by this poster were focused on in workshop discussion groups, and posters were given to participants for distribution and display back in their home territories. A copy and English translation is enclosed.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you require further information.
Sincerely,
Kristin Nowell