Cat rescue
The upgraded Gua Musang highway will feature viaducts, enabling wildlife such as tigers, to traverse fragmented forests without having to cross the road.
OVER the last century, tiger numbers have plummeted from 100,000 in the 1900s to 3,200 today. Three out of nine tiger species are already extinct, and the animal’s habitat range stands at 7% of what it used to be. With human population growth still accelerating, and development pressures continuing to encroach on tiger habitats, a revolution is needed in the way we approach tiger conservation.
Smart green infrastructure
The concept refers to designs that either avoid cutting through core wildlife habitats, or those that minimise adverse impacts from infrastructure development.
Malaysia got its first piece of Smart Green Infrastructure in 2008 at Sungai Deka, Terengganu, identified as an important green corridor under the Central Forest Spine Master Plan.
Among the green features of Sungai Deka are:
> The original alignment of the Simpang Pulai-kuala Berang highway was modified to shift it further away from the northern portion of Taman Negara, to prevent easy access for poachers into the protected area.
> In 2008, three wildlife viaducts were constructed at a cost of Rm30mil. Terengganu designated 15,000ha around the viaducts as forest reserves.
> In 2009, over 20km of the highway was furnished with electric fencing to funnel wildlife through the viaducts. The habitat around these structures was enriched with grass pastures and salt licks to attract wildlife.
> Some Rm3.5mil has been allocated for various conservation components, including elephant holding facilities before translocation and construction of a temporary ranger post, from which patrolling is done almost daily.
> An 11-man management team under the Terengganu Department of Wildlife And National Parks (Perhilitan) was approved by the Public Service Department for Sungai Deka last year.
Similar wildlife-friendly infrastructure are being carried out at the Gua Musang Highway which bisects the wildlife corridor between the Tanum and Sungai Yu Forest Reserves in Terengganu and planned for the Gerik-jeli Highway at the wildlife corridor between the Temenggor Forest Reserve and Royal Belum State Park in Perak.
Citizen action
Aside from habitat loss, another daunting issue in tiger conservation is the killing of tigers and their prey by poachers. With limited resources for patrolling, enforcement is a major challenge, which is why the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT, a coalition of conservation groups) started Citizen Action for Tigers (CAT) in 2010. With CAT, volunteers go on nature walks at poaching hotspots in Sungai Yu on weekends when Perhilitan enforcement staff might be offduty, to keep an eye on illegal activities.
A form of eco-tourism, this project has had a real impact: volunteer reports to the Wildlife Crime Hotline (019-3564194) on suspicious activities have led to snare removals and poacher arrests by Perhilitan.
This success story led to CAT Trailblazer, a joint project between MYCAT and Perhilitan, where the public go on five-day “bushwhacking” trips with rangers to boost the presence of people at the borders of Taman Negara, thus deterring encroachment.
“Adventurous tourists love it, and the local communities benefit financially from increased tourism,” says MYCAT general manager Dr Kae Kawanishi. She says the functional effectiveness of smart green infrastructure must be supported by enforcement patrols as well as citizen conservation activities. “It is not just the responsibility of the government.”
Kawanishi says such conservation-cumecotourism activities will be a vital element of the eventual Tiger Trail tourism around Taman Negara. (For more about CAT, go to malayantiger.net or facebook.com/themalayantiger.)
International co-ordination
Such partnerships between citizens and government are a welcome addition to the fight against illegal wildlife trade which remains a major threat to wildlife, according to Keshav Varma, programme director for Global Tiger Initiative (GTI).
East Asia has seen a surge in demand for illegal wildlife products, and the Mafia has moved in to take advantage of this Us$10bil (Rm30.2bil) market.
“It (the mafia) is getting more aggressive and more organised. What is emerging is a need for an organisation that can truly counter crimes in illegal wildlife trade. Right now, we are trailing behind,” says Varma.
He says the GTI encourages the formation of an international consortium for combating of wildlife crimes, by bringing together Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Customs Organisation, CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), and the World Bank.
Currently, the consortium is trying to tackle a previous lack of international co-ordination – which is vital because illegal wildlife trade often involves crimes that are transboundary – by building up the institutional architecture to deal with this.
“One part of the agenda is advocacy work, the other is better co-ordination and better flow of information.”
Varma is particularly concerned about Malaysia, and feels there is a need for stricter enforcement.
“Malaysia definitely has an image of being a hub, a hotspot for poaching and illegal trade, and there is a need to clamp down on this.”