Deploying Global Park Defense in Thung Yai – Huai Kha Khaeng UNESCO World Heritage Site, Thailand

Global Conservation is partnering with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Thailand on a multi-year Global Park Defense deployment to protect a critical wildlife habitat area of over 300,000 acres for recovery of endangered tigers and large mammal in Umphang and Thung Yai East Wildlife Sanctuaries (UP-TYE) in Thung Yai – Huai Kha Khaeng UNESCO World Heritage Site, Thailand.

Huai Kha Khaeng and Thung Yai (HKK-TY) is an UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1991 encompassing an area of 6,400 square kilometers and is the core area of Thailand’s Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM), one of the largest forest landscapes in Southeast Asia.

Due to its importance and outstanding value for mankind and biodiversity, Global Conservation will invest to deploy Global Park Defense systems in partnership with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Thailand, and national park and wildlife authorities, law enforcement and the military.

Located in the heart of the Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM) of Thailand, this triangle-shaped area is now protected by 10 ranger stations and about 60 park rangers.

The Umphang and Thung Yai East Wildlife Sanctuaries protect globally endangered large mammal species including tigers, leopard, Asian elephant, gaur, banteng, sambar and tapir.  These wildlife sanctuaries are plagued with serious problems of encroachment, illegal logging, and poaching by poachers from many surrounding villages.

The photograph found in the cellular phone of a poaching killing this big male tiger in Thung Yai Wildlife Sanctuary in 2010.  He was arrested in 2011 on another poaching incident.  The court sentenced him to 5 years in prison. 

Poacher gangs killed more than 10 tigers and some elephants in recent years and in 2013, two park rangers in TYE lost their lives and the two others were seriously wounded in the gun fight with the poachers.

Deploying the SMART patrol system and cellular trailcameras, park rangers have arrested many poachers and stopped them from killing more tigers and elephants and now tiger, elephant and gaur are recovering in this area. Now we can see herds of gaurs and elephants roaming the abandoned grasslands used to be human settlements and farmlands. Tiger numbers detected in TYE has grown from 3 to 16 adult tigers in the last decade.

Primary Goals – Global Park Defense  Deployment

 - Strengthen the SMART patrol system

 - Install cellular phone signal boosters and antennas

 - Deploy anti-poaching cellular trailcameras

 - Strengthen intelligence systems

 - Tiger and wildlife population monitoring

Working closely with the Government of Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, we are working to save endangered wildlife species and their habitat through capacity building and law enforcement strengthening using up-to-date technologies.

Example SMART Patrol mapping. smartconservationsoftware.org

Objective 1: Strengthen SMART Patrol System in the zone of high potential for tiger and large mammal recovery in Umphang and Thung Yai East Wildlife Sanctuaries.  Strengthening the law enforcement system and training of park rangers in Umphang and Thang Yai East is critical.

 - To train 35 park rangers from UP-TYE in SMART patrol system.

 - Support provisions, GPSs, Digital cameras, high quality uniforms, field gears, and other necessary supply to improve the morale of park rangers and patrol effectiveness.

 - Support the analytical techniques for park officers on SMART and NCAPS.

 - Support the use of a new function of SMART named SMART Profile for investigations and intelligence about local and cross-border network of poaching and wildlife trafficking.

Objective 2: Deploy Anti-Poaching Cellular Trailcameras, locally known as the network-centric anti-poaching system (NCAPS) in high risk of poaching in UP-TYE

 - Install the cellular phone boosters and antennas to expand the cellular phone signal to cover high-risk of poaching between UP-TYE.

 - Install anti-poaching cellular camera traps in high-risk of poaching area and rotate them regularly.

 - Support data maintenance costs and analysis for park officers of UP-TYE.\

Objective 3:  Monitor Tiger and Megafauna Populations using camera trapping system a high potential zone of tiger and large mammal recovery in UP-TYE.

 - Setup and run camera trapping system for 70 camera trap points to cover about 500 square kilometers in a high potential zone of recovery of tigers in UP-TYE for 2-3 months.

 - Organize and analyze the data for tiger numbers and density.

Adding cellular repeaters in the buffer zone between Umphang and Thung Yai East will enable the area to be covered by cellular phone signal allowing use of protection system technologies anti-poaching cellular trailcameras to provide real-time photos and video clips of poachers for park rangers to take quick action.

Success in the recovery zone between Umphang and Thung Yai East becomes a good example for the efforts to recover endangered wildlife species, especially tiger, elephant, gaur, for next generations of wildlife conservation professionals and Thai society at large. As a model, the area will be a study site for other protected area managers in Thailand and SE Asian region.

Partners in Conservation -  WCS Thailand

WCS Thailand is focused on the recovery of tigers and their prey in the core area of Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM), which is a World Heritage Site named Huai Kha Khaeng and Thung Yai Wildlife Sanctuary (HKK-TY). During 2016-18, WCS Thailand, with the support from Global Conservationrescued another important World Heritage Site named Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex (DP-KY) out of the consideration of World Heritage in Danger list.

Thap Lan World Heritage park was the focus of a multi-year intensive park and wildlife protection program including SMART patrol systems, Anti-poaching cellular trailcameras, park-wide communications and GPS tracking system of rosewood smuggling. Now Thap Lan is a model for other protected areas in Thailand in the use of Global Park Defense techn ologies and systems.

Other work in progress includes intelligence systems and rewards for successful cases against illegal activities.  By sharing detailed mapping of land used for agriculture we can negotiate clearly with villagers the boundaries of the World Heritage Park and make a rules together for living peacefully in the protected area.

UAV Drones will be used for overall inspection of critical wildlife habitats against, clearing, fires and illegal wildlife poachers camps.

Due to WEFCOM’s importance and outstanding value for mankind and biodiversity, Global Conservation will invest to deploy Global Park Defense systems in partnership with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Thailand, and national park authorities, law enforcement and the military.

Park rangers on river patrol.

Large herd of Asian Elephant in the “Thung Ka Ngae Kee” grassland at the boundary between Thung Yai East and Umphang Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Waterfalls in Umphang and Thung Yai East Wildlife Sanctuaries (UP-TYE).