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Numéro du projet : THA/B7-6201/IB/1997/0457 |
Direction : D | |
Pays/région : Thaïlande |
Intitulé : Phu Kheio Wildlife Sanctuary | |
Ligne budgétaire : B7-6201 |
Resp. géog. : N. Wennekes | |
Numéro direction : 1997/0457 |
Resp. tech. : A. Roby | |
No SEM/ALA : |
Resp. fin. : F. Duniel |
A. Objectif de l'action envisagée :
General Objective:
The sustainable management of the Phu Kheio Wildlife Sanctuary:
Specific Objectives:
1. To improve the management of the Wildlife Sanctuary and to propose guidelines for the whole integrated protected area complex;
2. To reduce human pressure on natural resources within the Wildlife Sanctuary;
3. To raise environmental awareness of the communities in the buffer zone, in particular with regard to the Wildlife Sanctuary.
B. Description :
The project will last 7 years, made up of a pilot phase of 2 years, followed by an implementation phase of 5 years.
The project has three components;
1. Protected area management of the Wildlife Sanctuary through the development and implementation of a management plan; research into key biological processes, developing wildlife monitoring capacity, management planning and recommendations for nearby areas, restoration of degraded habitats, monitoring encroachment
2. Integrated buffer zone development; supplementing villagers incomes to a level sufficient to reduce the need to extract natural resources from the wildlife sanctuary, and to facilitate sustainable management of natural and man-made resources within the existing buffer zone.
3. Environmental education; raising awareness of conservation and sustainable resource use in target villages, focusing on school children, village leaders, women and men's groups, monks, sanctuary headquarters and existing training structures.
C. Justification :
Phu Kheio Wildlife Sanctuary includes some of the last remaining habitats of a number of wildlife species, notably the Sumatran rhinoceros, Sarus crane, White-winged duck and Siamese crocodile. As such these are indicators of high biodiversity, although the paucity of information on the sanctuary makes it difficult to be more specific.
The sanctuary consists of an area of 156,000 ha, part of a complex of 6 other protected areas adjacent or nearby. The sanctuary is on a sandstone plateau that rises steeply from the surrounding plains, providing a natural barrier to human encroachment, together with the surrounding protected areas. There are no people living within the sanctuary other than sanctuary staff and their families. Nevertheless pressure on the sanctuary is rising due to population pressure around the edges (in the project's "buffer zone") resulting in forest degradation through hunting, timber collection, fire and other agricultural or gathering activities. The integrity of the site is thus threatened.
Currently however, the sanctuary is in fairly good condition, with only peripheral damage. Although the Royal Forest Department has a presence in the area, both within the sanctuary and around the edge, technical assistance is required with the management of the different ecosystems, and to reduce the threat from outside the sanctuary.
The Royal Thai Government's commitment to the project and it's capacity to carry it out, is evident in a number of new national policy measures, and by the 51% cofinancing agreed for this project. The EC input is effectively providing incremental costs in order to mount an effective management plan. On current indications there is a high probability that the RTG will be able to continue to implement the management of the sanctuary once the project is completed, thus enhancing sustainability.
D. Modalités d'exécution :
The project will be implemented by the Royal Forest Department, who will provide a co-manager to be joined by a European Co-director financed by the EC. The other EC inputs will be managed in the normal way according to the current agreement with the Royal Thai Government. Provision has been made to contract local expertise and NGO's in order to fill gaps in project expertise.
A project steering committee will be established made up of representatives of the Royal Thai Government, the EC, project staff, and local communities which will provide overall guidance on project objectives and key outputs, and approve general and annual work plans.
The project will be subject to two evaluations; one at the end of the pilot phase, and a second one halfway through the implementation phase, on the basis of which changes may be suggested to the project, including extensions and additional funding needs.
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