Global Conservation is assisting Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park to deploy Global Park Defense across the park and buffer zone, including advanced training of the AKNP Ranger Team by international experts, and help with first deployments of Cellular Trailcams for 24/7 surveillance to more effectively arrest illegal loggers and hunters by a small number of rangers over huge areas.
Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park is Myanmar’s oldest and largest national park. Established in 1981, the park includes some of the last remaining intact forests and endangered wildlife habitats for Asian Elephants, Banteng, Leopards, Gibbons and other primates, Pangolins, and many other threatened or endangered species.
A crown jewel of Asia, and a UNESCO World Heritage tentative nominee, the park contains majestic mountains, beautiful rivers, pristine forests, and trekking trails into eight ecosystems. Over 150,000 pilgrims and visitors come each year to a sacred cave containing the remains of Lord Alaungdaw Kathapa, the namesake of the park.
Unfortunately, today the Sagaing Region of Myanmar has the highest rates of illegal logging of any area of the country, and the park’s 10 kilometers buffer zone is already cut and cultivated for agriculture and wildlife poaching. Commercial hunting and subsistence hunting are rampant and uncontrolled.
While the Sumatran Rhino became extinct there long ago, Asian Elephants are now under attack for their ivory and a growing trade in elephant skin for jewelry and trinkets. The illegal harvesting of Siamese Rosewood and other valuable hardwoods is happening deep in the park as well as other illegal activities. Almost anything of value is hunted in the park including orchids, the most delicate of plant species. Even the majestic peacock, the national bird of Myanmar is endangered in the wild.
Global Conservation is deploying Global Park Defense for park and wildlife protection including:
New motorcycles and vehicles
A new Command Center
SMART Ranger Patrols
Fuel, maintenance and repairs
Satellite Communications
24/7 Forest Monitoring for fires and land clearing
We are funding more Cellular Trailcam network installations and monitoring, and providing joint training with international experts.
Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park has less than 30 rangers working on minimal budgets, many without motorcycles or other patrol vehicles, covering over 160,000 hectares of deep forests and rivers.
Global Park Defense is a 'Force Multiplier' for rangers, leading to more arrests and prosecutions, and increasing protections, both actual and perceived.
Great News - 2018 New Stricter Laws in Myanmar against Illegal Logging and Wildlife Poaching
The government of Myanmar passed two new laws in 2018 dramatically increasing jail sentences and fines for wildlife poaching and illegal logging.
These new penalties present a powerful set of tools for ranger teams and law enforcement – and we will be aggressively using them in the next four years in our interdictions, arrests and prosecutions of illegal loggers and wildlife poachers.
Tech for Parks: Global Forest Watch
Forests are being destroyed at a rate of fifty football fields a minute. One of the reasons that deforestation is out of control is because it often happens out of sight of people who have the power to stop it. Analyzing satellite data can take years, and by the time large-scale deforestation is identified, the damage has already been done. It’s hard to manage what you can’t measure. That’s where Global Forest Watch comes in.
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Tech for Parks: Smart Fence Technology Helps Protect One of the World's Most Endangered Mammals
Global Conservation is funding the construction of a Smart Fence in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP), a rhino conservation hotspot and the oldest proclaimed game reserve in Africa. The new fence will detect and deter rhino poachers, protecting HiP’s wildlife and keeping rangers safer.
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Battling Cambodia's Wildlife Snaring Crisis in Cardamom National Park
Over the past decade, snares, which are traps made of wire or rope, have become the biggest threat to wildlife in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. That’s why the work of our partner, Wildlife Alliance (WA), is so critical. WA has a team of 110 rangers who work tirelessly to remove snares from Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains. Read about their work to protect wildlife over the past 3 years.
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Leuser Ecosystem, Sumatra 2019-2020 Progress Report
Global Conservation is working with Forum Konservasi Leuser and Forest, Nature and Environment of Aceh to protect the Leuser Ecosystem on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Leuser is the last place on earth where wild tigers, orangutans, elephants and rhinos coexist, and its 2.6 million hectares comprise one of the last remaining intact rainforests in all of Indonesia.
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